Chapter 142 Honorary Doctorate
After Xu Yuan sent the paper to Holt, he slept until the afternoon because he had to return the next day according to his schedule. After getting up and washing up, he went to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, thinking of paying a final visit to Professor Deligne and Professor Witten to express his gratitude to them.

He was now familiar with the location of Professor Deligne's office.

We arrived safely soon.

He stopped at the door of the office and knocked on it.

"Please come in."

Hearing the familiar voice coming from inside, Xu Yuan pushed the door open.

As soon as I stepped into the office, I noticed that in addition to Deligne, Professor Witten was also here.

It saves him from making an extra trip.

"Professor Deligne."

He approached and greeted him first, then said to Professor Witten, "Professor Witten, you are here too."

“We were just talking about you,” Witten said with a smile.

When Deligne saw that it was Xu Yuan, he immediately greeted him warmly: "Come and sit down."

Although Xu Yuan had only spent a few days with these two big guys, he felt that he was already very familiar with them. Although this was mainly due to his performance in mathematics, he did not care too much about it.

Hearing this, he walked over and sat down.

As soon as my butt touched the sofa, I heard Deligne say happily: "I didn't expect that you actually completed the paper, and the quality has not declined at all. Now the mathematics community is talking about you."

"You are now the real prince of mathematics." Witten couldn't help but agree.

When Xu Yuan heard these words, he naturally understood that his paper had played a role.

I wasn't too surprised.

After all, if things don't develop as he expected, why would he stay up late to write the paper?

The thought stayed here, and then I heard Deligne continue: "But now scholars in the entire field of geometry are verifying it. Are you worried that your proof process will be overturned?" He kept a faint smile on his face when he asked this question.

Xu Yuan naturally understood this point. As long as a problem in mathematics is solved from a conjecture to a theorem, it is bound to be verified by others.

This is exactly what ensures the rigor of mathematics and makes it recognized by the entire mathematical community.

Take the world’s seven most difficult mathematical problems for example. If they can be proved by chance, it will take at least a year to verify them in the mathematical community.

Only when it is confirmed that the conclusion is true will it be officially announced that the world's mathematical problem has been solved.

Compared with this kind of treatment, his current situation is naturally nothing.

Moreover, when he finished writing the proof on the spot, the progress on the panel had reached 100%, which showed that his proof was completely correct and contained no errors.

So let alone all the geometers in the mathematical community have started to verify it, even if they really verified it, it would take a year.

Guaranteed they won't find anything wrong.

Therefore, in response to Deligne's question, he said confidently: "I am confident in my proof process."

Upon hearing this, Deligne and Witten both smiled and nodded, obviously very satisfied with this answer.

As a scholar studying mathematics, if you don’t have confidence in your research results, how can you dare to challenge higher levels of difficulty?

And Deligne did not discuss this matter too much, and then changed the subject.

"By the way, Xu Yuan, are you going back tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Xu Yuan nodded and replied: "After attending the closing ceremony dinner tonight, I will leave tomorrow morning."

"I came here just to talk to the two professors."

After hearing Xu Yuan's answer, Deligne and Witten did not hide the depressed expressions on their faces.

Deep down, everyone wants to have a talented student like Xu Yuan.

If possible, the final plan would be to let Xu Yuan stay and study directly at Princeton University.

However, they all knew that Xu Yuan had refused before. Moreover, Xu Yuan had achieved such results in Qinghua, so Princeton University was indeed not very attractive to them.

But after a little thought, Deligne finally thought of something and started to speak again:
"I hope you can stay one more day before leaving."

"Stay one more day?" Xu Yuan repeated with a surprised look on his face.

He didn't know why Deligne made such a request, and the key point was that it didn't seem like he wanted him to study in Princeton.

Confused, he could only ask, "Professor Deligne, is there anything else that allows me to stay here for a while?"

"Is such that."

"We would like to present you with an honorary doctorate." Deligne saw Xu Yuan's confusion and answered directly without keeping him in suspense.

However, when Xu Yuan heard this, he was quite surprised. He did not expect that it was Princeton University that wanted to award him an honorary doctorate.

He is naturally familiar with honorary doctorate, which is an honorary title recognized by many countries in the world.

Used to recognize the contributions made by domestic and foreign scholars to a certain field.

However, in his opinion, those who received this honorary title were all famous people in the world. Now it was his turn to receive this title.

It is said that he has not yet graduated with a Ph.D. degree certificate, but he has received an honorary doctorate certificate from Princeton University first. I don’t know what to say about this.

Just when he was thinking about this and was not sure whether to accept it, Deligne's voice came to his ears again.

"Your talent in mathematics is unparalleled even in the entire history of mathematical development. In just a few years, you have solved difficult problems in mathematical branches such as number theory, partial differential equations, and geometry. It can be said that you have greatly promoted the study of mathematics."

"You deserve this honor for your contributions to the field of mathematics."

Having said that, Xu Yuan naturally had no reason to refuse, and besides, this was not a bad thing.

Thinking of this, Xu Yuan immediately said, "Then I will postpone the flight for one day."

"Great."

"We will hold an honorary doctorate ceremony for you in the Department of Mathematics tomorrow," Deligne said with a smile on his face.

……

By the time this matter was finalized, it was almost dark, and this academic exchange meeting on mathematics theory finally came to an end.

Although Xu Yuan did not attend the report on the third day, everyone would attend the closing ceremony in the evening, so he and Zhang Yitang naturally rushed over.

Unlike the day before when he gave a report, Xu Yuan only wore casual clothes tonight.

When the ceremony was over and there was free time, he ordered a drink and chatted with Zhang Yitang in a quiet place.

"Won't you come back with me tomorrow?"

When Lao Zhang heard Xu Yuan say that he would stay for one more day, he asked casually.

Xu Yuan nodded and answered truthfully: "I can't go back until the day after tomorrow. Princeton University is going to give me an honorary doctorate certificate."

"It's a good thing to be awarded an honorary doctorate, but it's not surprising considering your talent for mathematics." Old Zhang said with a relatively stable mood.

Actually, he has not even received the title of honorary doctorate, while Dr. Xu Yuan got it before he even graduated, and it is a very prestigious doctorate from Princeton University. It would be a lie to say that I am not envious.

But because of the recent period, he has received so many surprises from Xu Yuan.

Now it's not surprising at all.

Just as the two were chatting about this, they saw Terence Tao walking over with a glass of red wine.

"I'm going back tomorrow too. I'm glad to meet a math genius like you this time."

After Terence Tao approached and stopped, he took the initiative to talk to Xu Yuan, giving people a sense of mutual respect between geniuses.

Upon seeing this, Lao Zhang turned around and started chatting with other people, leaving space for Xu Yuan and Tao Terence to communicate alone.

Xu Yuan also raised his drink and clinked it with the other person: "I'm glad to meet you, too."

"The International Congress of Mathematicians will be held next year. I hope we can meet again at the conference." Tao Terence put the wine glass to his lips, took a sip and then said to Xu Yuan in a deep voice.

The International Congress of Mathematicians, which is held every four years, is undoubtedly a grand event for the entire mathematics community.

In addition to being able to communicate with world-renowned mathematicians, a number of very valuable awards will also be presented on site.

It has long been rumored in the academic community that Terence Tao has won the Fields Medal, so it was natural that he would be invited to attend.

Xu Yuan has never experienced such a grand event. It would be very helpful for him to be able to see it and discuss with senior masters in the academic world. As for whether he would win the award or not, he didn't take it too seriously.

Anyway, his research results in mathematics are obvious to all. If he can really solve the seven major mathematical problems in the world one day, then these awards will need him to ensure their value.

After quickly coming to his senses after thinking this, he uttered two words in a deep voice.

"of course."

The two agreed on the next time to meet, exchanged a few words of greeting, and then left and returned to their respective hotel rooms.

Tao was preparing for his return trip tomorrow, while Xu Yuan was thinking about what to wear to receive his honorary doctorate certificate.

While Princeton was completely shrouded in darkness, work had already begun at home.

Although the Internet is still in its growth stage, events happening overseas have already begun to spark widespread discussion among netizens after being spread.

Everyone learned that Xu Yuan had proved Qiu Chengtong's conjecture on site overseas, and even made a group of well-known overseas scholars squat on the ground to verify it. Later, he unexpectedly published a paper, giving a loud slap in the face to those questioning voices.

The pride and national pride in our bones continue to emerge, and almost all major news and forum penguin groups in the country are discussing this happy event.

Even those who had originally said that they could only win gold medals in mathematics in China and could not achieve any academic results, have completely remained silent this time.

Of course the happiest people must be the Qinghua Mathematics Department. Seeing their students doing so well, it can be said that the smiles on their faces never disappeared.

"Xu Yuan can make such a big fuss just by attending an academic exchange conference. It's really surprising. Even Professor Qiu Chengtong agreed to join our mathematics department."

In the morning at the Qinghua Academy of Mathematical Sciences, Liao Fangyi said to Tang Shihong with a happy smile on his face in the director's office.

You can see that I'm in a good mood today.

Hearing this, Tang Shihong, who was sitting on the sofa, also smiled and said, "Who would have thought that he would prove Qiu Chengtong's conjecture at the conference? No wonder the overseas mathematics community has been so lively these past two days."

……

(End of this chapter)