Chapter 102: Radiance

On August 19, the Twenty-Sixth International Congress of Mathematicians officially opened.

More than two thousand mathematicians from all over the world had gathered here, and with students and other companions in attendance, the total number of participants had reached four thousand. International giants of towering renown, brilliant scholars shining on the world stage, celebrated mathematicians of every rank, and rising young figures from country after country were far too numerous to count.

At that moment, the venue had the unmistakable air of a constellation of stars in the mathematical firmament. Everywhere one turned, there were greetings, inquiries, and courteous salutations.

“Mr. Wiles! Mr. Deligne!” Terence Tao greeted them with a smile. “You’ve come too!”

“Of course. We guessed you’d definitely be here,” Andrew Wiles said with a shrug. “Mind pointing out that astonishing child for me later? You know how it is—just as it can be hard for you to tell us apart sometimes, I sometimes find Eastern faces hard to distinguish as well. I’ve worked very hard to remember Wu’s appearance: a beautiful little girl like a flower, as lovely as my own precious daughters!”

To be doubly certain, as soon as Andrew Wiles arrived at the venue, he enlisted Tao, who was Chinese, to help him find her.

“They should be over there,” Tao said, scanning the room until he spotted the familiar figure of Zhou Wenping and, beside him, the young girl whose back could be seen in partial profile. “Mr. Wiles, Professor Zhou Wenping is over there, and the little girl next to him should be Wu Tong. They’re talking with Chenyang Xu!”

Wu Tong had entered the venue shortly after eight with Zhou Wenping and the others. Under Zhou’s guidance, she had met several renowned Chinese scholars, many of whom had graduated from Peking University.

“This is Chenyang Xu, your senior brother. He’s currently doing postdoctoral research at MIT. He has been outstanding in algebra, especially in algebraic geometry, and has already been invited by the University of Utah for a faculty appointment!”

“Professor Zhou, you’re putting me on the spot. In front of a junior sister with such dazzling accomplishments, how could I possibly claim to be outstanding? Proving two major conjectures is something I, as a senior brother, never even dared to imagine!

Once I finish my postdoc here, I hope my alma mater will take in this wandering child and let me return. Junior sister, I’ll be counting on learning from you in the years ahead, so please do not hold back your guidance!”

With respect and a touch of teasing, Chenyang Xu bantered with Zhou Wenping, making it clear that he intended to return home and serve his country, and then turned with a cheerful smile to greet Wu Tong.

“You’re too kind, Senior Brother Xu. I merely took one small step ahead in number theory; in algebra, I still have much to learn from you!” Algebraic geometry was an intriguing field, but Wu Tong’s research in algebra was not as deep as her work in number theory; she could only say she had a modest foundation.

One should not try to swallow too much at once; it was better to advance step by step. After she finished the smaller project in hand, turning to this field might well be an excellent choice.

“Chenyang, are you really certain you’re coming back to your alma mater? We should talk this over properly later!” Zhou Wenping understood his meaning at once, and his heart was filled with delight.

For Peking University, as his alma mater, the return of Chenyang Xu, one of the four great prodigies of the millennium generation, to teach there was naturally something to be warmly welcomed. This was no small matter, something that could not be settled in a sentence or two, so after making plans to meet again, Zhou Wenping turned with a smile to introduce Wu Tong to another acquaintance.

“This is Professor Shouwu Zhang. He currently teaches in the Department of Mathematics at Princeton, and is a leading scholar in number theory and algebraic geometry!”

“Hello, Professor Zhang!”

“Hello, Wu Tong. It is a great pleasure to see a child from our own country making such a name for herself on the international stage!” Zhang Shouwu smiled and shook Wu Tong’s hand. Though he taught in the United States, his heart remained with his homeland, and seeing such an extraordinary mathematical talent from China causing a sensation abroad filled him with sincere joy.

“Zhou, Zhang, long time no see. Lovely young lady, so you are Wu—the one who proved Zhou’s conjecture, the twin prime conjecture, and Polignac’s conjecture!” As he was speaking, a warm greeting suddenly cut in. When everyone turned, they saw Andrew Wiles’s beaming face.

“Mr. Wiles, Mr. Deligne, Terence, long time no see!” Seeing the three of them, Zhou Wenping was naturally overjoyed as well. He hurried to shake hands and exchange greetings one by one. “Yes, this is Wu Tong. She is the one who proved those three major conjectures!”

“Mr. Wiles, Mr. Deligne, Mr. Tao, hello. It is an honor to meet you!” Caught off guard by the sudden attention, Wu Tong did not panic. She followed Zhou Wenping’s lead and greeted them one by one.

Three Fields Medalists, true giants of the international mathematical world—she had only ever seen them in articles and records before, and now she was meeting the real people in person. They were all senior figures in mathematics, each with his own dazzling achievements. Compared with them, her own results were truly only a small advance.

To have these people come over to meet her, honestly, Wu Tong felt both honored and pleasantly surprised.

“At last I’ve met you, brilliant girl. In April you settled Zhou’s conjecture, and in July you ended both the twin prime conjecture and Polignac’s conjecture, while also creating the infinite-group proof method. In just three months, you took down three conjectures. You accomplished a miracle that even I never managed!” Andrew Wiles praised her with a fervent thumbs-up. As someone who had encountered Fermat’s Last Theorem at the age of ten and had been known as a child prodigy, he rarely admired anyone.

And yet now, this little girl truly made them all marvel! They rejoiced in the progress of mathematics and marveled at the brilliance of youth.

“Wu Tong also solved Polignac’s conjecture? And what is this infinite-group proof method?” Zhang Shouwu and Chenyang Xu asked in unison, both astonished. When had that happened? Had it not even been published yet? And these three Fields Medalists had already recognized it? They had thought they had already paid Wu Tong more than enough attention, but they had not expected her to possess two even more significant achievements capable of shocking the world once again.

“You can look forward to Wu Tong’s lecture. By now, the staff on the organizing committee should already have uploaded her paper to the official website, so her report ought to be available for download,” Terence Tao said with a faint smile, offering his guidance. When it came to the internet, mathematicians and their familiarity with it, he was among the best.

“I heard that, for the congress lecture, Wu Tong finished Polignac’s conjecture in just ten days!” Thinking of the news he had heard, Tao could not help feeling shaken again. To settle a world-class conjecture in ten days—though he was hailed as a high-IQ genius, he probably could not have done it himself.

The girl’s gift for mathematics seemed kissed by heaven itself, astonishing and enviable beyond words.

“You flatter me. Actually, before this, when I was studying twin primes, I had already touched on Polignac’s conjecture as well,” Wu Tong said, somewhat embarrassed by such direct praise, and hurriedly offered a modest explanation. Ten days had been enough, but she had not started from zero.

Chenyang Xu rubbed his forehead. Wu Tong had only just turned seventeen. Even if one counted all the time she had spent in contact with number theory, how much time could that possibly amount to? Was this what a true genius looked like?

Back then they had been called the millennium generation’s golden four, the so-called four great mathematical prodigies... but standing before this junior sister, he somehow felt unworthy even of those words.

...

The end.