When it comes to the place name of Strasbourg, France, Chen Muwu is no stranger.

But the first thing he thought of was the famous "East Malaysia Little Three, Snow Cabbage Blue Pond" "White Album 2".

But Hilbert's mention of this place name certainly did not mean that, and Chen Muwu thought about it for a few seconds before he understood his deep meaning.

France had already hosted the second International Congress of Mathematicians in 1900, when they chose to host it in Paris, the capital of France, and the host was the University of Paris.

Although France hosted the International Congress of Mathematicians for the second time in 1920, it is understandable that it was reluctant to choose the location of the conference in the capital Paris, but wanted to arrange it in another city.

But France's second largest city, apparently Marseille on the Mediterranean coast, is also where their national anthem was born.

However, the French Mathematical Society did not choose the venue of the conference in Marseille, but arranged it in Strasbourg, in fact, it has a deep meaning.

Strasbourg is located on the border between France and Germany, and there have been many wars between the two countries as to whether the region belonged to France or Germany.

At present, the most recent war was in the First World War.

After the victory in World War I, France acquired large territories from the German side, and Strasbourg was one of them.

The French Mathematical Society chose Strasbourg as the venue for the meeting of the International Congress of Mathematicians, of course, in order to publicize its country's victory in the just-concluded First World War, and to embarrass the Germans, one of the defeated Central Powers.

Hilbert looked at Chen Muwu and pondered for a long time, wondering if he understood the deep meaning of his words.

Chen Muwu saw that Hilbert had been staring at him, so he cautiously asked: "Is it because the French chose Strasbourg that the German mathematicians boycotted the International Congress of Mathematicians first?" ”

Hilbert smiled and nodded, "Exactly. ”

He carefully explained the ins and outs of the matter to Chen Muwu from beginning to end.

When a country loses a war, its economy is in difficulty, and it cedes a large area of land, it is a time when national sentiment is high.

Therefore, at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1920, it was not the International Mathematical Union that wanted to boycott the Allied countries such as Germany, the former Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria, but the German mathematicians who first boycotted the International Congress of Mathematicians held in Strasbourg, France, the homeland of Germany.

In order to counteract these ignorant German scientists, the International Mathematical Union had to attend the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1920 against mathematicians from former Allied countries.

Because mathematics has always been the brightest jewel in the crown of science, this resolution of the International Mathematical Union has also directly or indirectly affected other scientific disciplines.

In 1921, the year after the International Congress of Mathematicians, the following year after the International Congress of Mathematicians, at the Third Solvay Conference in Brussels, Belgium, there were also no German physicists.

Of course, this was partly due to the influence of mathematics, and partly because Belgium was also a sworn enemy of the German army in the First World War.

Later, the Germans could not afford to pay the war reparations for their defeat in World War I, and Belgium, together with France, sent troops to occupy important industrial areas in western Germany.

Then there is the classic story of the great depreciation of the Deutsche Mark, and 500,000 marks cannot afford to buy a loaf of bread.

By 1924, the International Mathematical Union (IMU) was still intending not to admit mathematicians from those countries to the conference as a punishment for refusing to attend the Congress of Mathematicians four years earlier.

But many of the alliance's members, such as the United States, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the United Kingdom, do not agree with this idea.

In particular, the venue of the 1924 International Congress of Mathematicians was initially determined to be New York, a large city in the United States, and the host was New York University.

But the American Mathematical Society hopes to invite mathematicians from former Allied countries, primarily German mathematicians, to New York for the International Congress of Mathematicians.

The International Mathematical Union would not agree to invite those mathematicians who were unwilling to attend the conference to attend the conference, so it simply deprived the United States of the right to host the conference, and temporarily changed the address of the conference to Toronto, Canada, a neighboring country not far from New York, before the opening of the conference.

Therefore, at the beginning, because of some careful thinking in the selection of the location of the conference, German mathematicians did not attend the International Congress of Mathematicians for eight years in a row, exchanging the latest discoveries in mathematical research with their peers.

In Bologna, Italy, more and more members of the International Mathematical Union are hoping that German mathematicians will come to the conference.

In Germany, Hilbert, the "king of mathematics" with the highest status in Germany, took the lead in leading German scientists over the Alps to Italy to attend a conference, despite his accidental illness.

After a gap of eight years, Germany is finally back in the international mathematical community.

The news newspaper reported this incident very enthusiastically, and Chen Muwu also knew in the newspaper that Hilbert was going to lead German mathematicians to participate in this International Congress of Mathematicians, so he accepted the official invitation of the conference and came to Bologna, Italy, to meet Professor Hilbert, who had always wanted to meet him.

Chen Muwu didn't know what Hilbert meant by telling him about this matter, so he could only stare at the old man standing opposite him suspiciously.

Hilbert also understood the question in Chen Muwu's sight, so in the end he concluded: "Dr. Chen, I don't mean anything else when I want to talk to you about this, but I just want to say that although science is a precious treasure for all mankind, whether in Germany or in China, one plus one is equal to two."

"A long time ago, when I was chatting with Professor Sommerfeld of your University of Munich, where I studied physics, I heard from him an interesting remark: 'Although science has no borders, scientists have nationality'.

"I think that's a good point, for example, first of all, I'm a German, and secondly, I'm a German mathematician.

"I think you did a good job in your speech today, whether it is your starting point or what you said.

”

Chen Muwu smiled on the surface, showing a sense of embarrassment for Hilbert's praise.

But in his heart, he felt that this matter was very strange, because the words that Hilbert relayed actually came out of his mouth at first.

I think that in 1924, in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, in the Institute of Theoretical Physics managed by Bohr, in order to persuade his good brother, he swept away Yoshio Nishina, a former international student, and asked him to leave Denmark to study low-temperature physics at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Sommerfeld was Heisenberg's teacher in Germany and a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Munich.

It may be that Heisenberg exchanged what he had seen and heard in Copenhagen with his teacher Sommerfeld after returning to Germany.

Later, Sommerfeld met the German mathematician Hilbert by chance, so he inadvertently told the latter this sentence.

Chen Muwu didn't expect his words to be passed around, and in the end, it was like a paper airplane in his childhood, and finally flew back into his hands.

Hilbert didn't know why Chen Muwu was laughing, and probably thought that his praise made him happy.

So the old professor said that he sent another favor: "Dr. Chen, when do you have free time, it is best to sort out the speech draft of yesterday's speech in the history of mathematics branch in the form of text for a paper." Then I'll write an essay and recommend it for publication in a mathematics journal, what do you think? ”

"That couldn't be better. Thank you for your kindness, Professor Hilbert. ”

Chen Muwu didn't expect that he would invite Hilbert to his wedding, and there would be such an unexpected joy.

He gave a speech at the International Congress of Mathematicians in order to use his limited strength to carry a sedan chair for ancient Chinese mathematical research.

Now I will write the speech as a paper and publish it in a professional mathematical journal, and it will be recommended by Hilbert himself, and I will write a proverb for this paper.

This shows that Hilbert is using his influence in the field of mathematics to help Chen Muwu's paper on the history of ancient Chinese mathematics to stand on the platform.

Although it is not known why Hilbert did this, this does not prevent Chen Muwu from expressing gratitude for Hilbert's kindness.

"That's right, Dr. Chen. You've made quite a fuss in Stockholm, Sweden, and I've heard about it in Göttingen, Germany. What is the situation of the Prince's College where you gave me the Journal? Are you really going to run a school in Sweden from the ground up? If so, how is your school treated? ”

Chen Muwu knew that Hilbert had done him a favor inexplicably, and he should also have something to say to him.

However, he asked himself what he meant by treatment.

Could it be that Hilbert is going to leave the University of Göttingen and follow him to the Prince of Stockholm Academy?

How to think about it, how impossible.

Because in Chen Muwu's memory, Hilbert had been working at the University of Göttingen until he retired.

Chen Muwu stared at Hilbert suspiciously: "Professor, although I don't understand what you mean. But in terms of salary, I can guarantee that as long as the teacher who comes to the Prince's College of Stockholm will have the highest salary in the whole of Europe, even higher than the level of most American public universities - because of the support of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Sweden. ”

The big financiers of private schools in the United States are all Jews who have made a lot of money, and various educational foundations have been established, such as the Rockefeller Foundation under the name of the oil magnate Rockefeller, and so on.

Hilbert felt that Chen Muwu had misunderstood what he meant, so he hurriedly explained: "Dr. Chen, don't get me wrong, let me first clarify that I have no plans to leave the University of Göttingen and teach mathematics elsewhere.

"I don't know how many times the Americans have come to me, and each time the salary is higher than the other, but I haven't left.

"The reason I'm asking you this question is because of one thing.

"You know that although Germany is a big country in mathematics, there are only a few universities in the country, and the number of teaching positions is very limited.

"However, if we don't talk about other schools, just our University of Göttingen, many students graduate every year and face the problem of not being able to find a job.

When Professor Einstein first graduated, didn't he also find a job?

"These students, who can't find a teaching position, could have gone to Germany's neighboring countries, such as Austria, and Switzerland to find jobs at German-speaking universities.

"But now universities in these two countries and regions are also facing a state of saturation of teaching staff, so I have to find new schools for these students.

"But there are quite a few American universities that come to the University of Göttingen every year during the graduation season and wait to recruit teachers.

"But these students don't want to go too far away from Germany, they prefer to stay in Europe, preferably in Germany's neighbouring countries.

"Austria and Switzerland are saturated with universities, Poland has a delicate relationship with us, and Denmark is a very small country, so Sweden is actually a good choice.

"And you've just set up a prince's academy in Stockholm, so I want to ask you if there's a shortage of people in mathematics.

"I can assure you that the students who have come out of our University of Göttingen are all rising stars and top-notch talents in the field of mathematics.

"Of course, they probably won't be in cold Stockholm for a lifetime.

"As soon as there are vacant positions at universities in Germany, I guess everyone wants to come back to Germany to teach."

Regarding the theory put forward by Hilbert in the end, Chen Muwu actually did not approve of it.

I am afraid that in a few years, a large number of vacancies will be available in German universities.

However, German students who have already left to teach in other countries in advance may be glad that they have left Germany early to go elsewhere, and will not even think about returning to Germany to teach.

But for the other parts mentioned in Hilbert's words, Chen Muwu himself was still very excited.

Prince College is in its infancy, and there is a need for a large number of teachers within the school.

Mathematics is the foundation of all sciences, and mathematics teachers have a high status and are naturally indispensable.

So Chen Muwu nodded like a chicken pecking rice: "Professor, you have done me a great favor, we need these mathematical talents very much." ”

(End of chapter)