281 Correcting Mistakes, Your Thesis Is Wrong!
Joshua’s arrival seemed to be an intermission. Under everyone’s surprised gazes, the big shots entered the auditorium one after another.
Slowly, the seats in the auditorium filled up.
The Dean of the Mathematics Faculty and Professor Vincent walked into the auditorium and looked at the magnificent scene in front of them with mixed emotions.
“Dean, you don’t look too happy.” Professor Vincent smiled bitterly.
“Neither do you.” The Dean of the Mathematics Faculty wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. “If we mess up this time, our Oxford Mathematics Faculty will become a joke. Our reputation… Sigh, can I handle it?”
Professor Vincent also sighed. “With so many big shots, I have no regrets saying whatever I want.”
The Dean of the Mathematics Faculty said, “May God bless…”
The scale of the seminar was beyond their imagination. As scholars, it was very enjoyable to gather together to discuss problems and use everything they had learned in their lives to argue.
Oxford University’s Mathematics Faculty was very famous in the country, but none of the scholars here had a small influence.
If something went wrong, they might be mocked by the academic world for the rest of their lives…
“Trust in Luo Feng,” the two of them said in unison.
At nine in the morning, the seminar officially began.
Professor Jing went on stage as the host. After a simple opening speech, he went straight to the point.
“Now, let’s invite the author of the thesis, Luo Feng, to report on stage!”
Luo Feng walked up to the podium.
The moment he appeared, the crowd below the stage whispered incessantly, filled with controversy.
“He’s Luo Feng?”
“He’s too young. He’s just started university.”
“Looks like he hasn’t graduated yet.”
Luo Feng’s appearance was too young, so scholars could not help but doubt his authenticity. Or perhaps the organizers had made a joke to liven up the atmosphere.
There was no shortage of geniuses in the mathematics world. Moreover, many geniuses had become famous a long time ago. For example, Jian Yang had won the first prize of the National Mathematics Competition at the age of 12. At that time, he was also a prodigy who received a lot of attention.
However, they had never heard of the name Luo Feng before. He seemed to be a monk who decided to become a monk halfway.
It was also unheard of for a person’s talent to awaken in their twenties.
It was normal that the scholars did not believe him.
Luo Feng stood on the stage and looked indifferently at the commotion below.
Everyone’s eyes were on his face, filled with distrust and scrutiny. They were just short of asking directly.
Luo Feng did not waste his breath. He did not introduce himself at all. The mouse in his hand slid, and a formula appeared on the screen behind him.
Everyone knew that this was the key formula for Hodge’s conjecture!
“I believe everyone here has read my thesis. Next, I will use thirty minutes to reproduce my proof process. After that, I will focus on answering everyone’s questions.”
Luo Feng began to explain.
The audience was in a mess, but the hall gradually quietened down as Luo Feng explained further. In the end, only Luo Feng’s voice could be heard.
Most people listened attentively. A few people were distracted and were calculating the proof.
“I see!”
“The argument is quite ingenious!”
“I didn’t understand when I was reading the paper. So this is a topological manifold!”
The sounds below the stage rose again.
However, this time, they all turned into surprise and admiration.
Luo Feng’s explanation was very detailed, allowing most people to understand the origin of the argument. When they were immersed in the sea of knowledge, they gave up on their prejudice against age.
At the edge of the podium.
The Dean of the Mathematics Faculty, who had been protecting Luo Feng, could not help but laugh when he saw the reaction of the people below the stage.
“It seems to be going well.”
His main research was not in this area. He still did not understand much from listening to the lecture. However, he would look at the reactions of the people below the stage. Very few people revealed doubtful gazes.
On the side, Professor Vincent’s expression was calm. It was rare for him to not say anything.
“In summary, Hodge’s conjecture is proven.”
Half an hour passed.
Luo Feng’s explanation ended.
The audience was completely silent. The auditorium was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop!
The Dean of the Mathematics Faculty asked, “Why didn’t anyone say anything?”
“Then does anyone have any questions?” Luo Feng entered the answer mode.
First, a hand was raised hesitantly. Then, one after another, like spring bamboo shoots after a rain, they scrambled to break out of the ground.
The Dean of the Mathematics Faculty was so excited that his heart almost stopped.
Half of the scholars raised their hands! It seemed that there were many questions. Could Luo Feng really deal with them smoothly?
When the scholars saw that more and more people were raising their hands, some directly stood up. The Dean of the Mathematics Faculty even saw Jian Yang and many familiar faces. There was actually something wrong with the big shots!
At this moment, a withered tree-like arm was raised.
The owner of the arm was Mr. Gray.
“It’s over…” Seeing that Mr. Gray was also involved, the Dean of the Mathematics Faculty felt his vision go dark.
If Joshua was the founder of mathematics, Mr. Gray was one of the top three mathematicians in the world!
During Joshua’s decades of recuperation, Mr. Gray was one of the most influential mathematicians, exceeding the other two mathematicians and Joshua.
What made the Dean of the Mathematics Faculty even more anxious was that Hodge’s conjecture was in the field of Mr. Gray’s research!
When Mr. Gray put his hand up, the others immediately put theirs down.
It was as if a newly-grown bamboo shoot had been flattened by a knife, leaving Mr. Gray alone.
Luo Feng was still a little puzzled. There were so many people just now, so why was there suddenly only one person left? When he saw Mr. Gray’s face, all his questions were answered.
Of course he knew this famous mathematician.
When Luo Feng searched for papers, many of the papers he read were written by Mr. Gray.
“Please speak.” Luo Feng smiled.
“Luo.” Mr. Gray slowly got up. His voice was gentle but old. “Thank you for your report. It was very interesting.”
His words made everyone nod. No one looked down on Luo Feng anymore because of his youth and treated him as a scholar who had truly contributed to mathematics.
Mr. Gray continued, “It’s just that I need to point out that on pages four to six, you give a very clever theorem that avoids some complicated elaborations. But at the same time, you also ignored another problem…”
When Jian Yang heard this, he slapped his thigh.
He was thinking about the same issue as Mr. Gray!
When the others heard this, they lowered their heads and flipped through the papers. After Mr. Gray’s call, they instantly understood the source of the feeling of inconsistency.
There was indeed a mistake in Luo Feng’s thesis!
“I see. The Boundary has been ignored.”
“That’s not the right proposition.”
“Sigh, what a pity…”
Seeing this, everyone could not help but feel sorry for Luo Feng on the stage.
Luo Feng’s thesis had indeed displayed the talent of a mathematics researcher, which resonated with them after all. Unfortunately, his efforts might end in failure.
This Hodge’s conjecture stumped generations of mathematicians.
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