Poor math students who once dropped out of school won the fields award this year

Yang Jing Abundant color From the Aofei temple
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Math was bad when I was a child 、 Drop out of high school and become a poet .

Later, I worked as a reporter for livelihood studies , It turns out that 24 At the age of, I happened to listen to a class of fields prize winners , Suddenly, Ren Du's two veins were opened , Start learning math .

This is the new winner of the fields Award Xulong er The legendary experience of —— Enter mathematics 15 It will be on the highest podium in .

△ source ： Princeton University

There is a view that , The degree of its impossibility , Equivalent to a person 18 I picked up my tennis racket at the age of ,20 Won Wimbledon open at the age of .

It is worth mentioning that , This is also following Qiu Chengtong 、 Tao zhe Xuan 、 After Wu Baozhu, Asian scientists won this honor .

15 Annual grinding sword

The reason for this recognition is that he will The idea of Hodge's theory is introduced into combinatorics , Proved several conjectures .

Including several grids Dowling–Wilson guess 、 Matroid Heron–Rota–Welsh guess 、 Johnson conjecture , Lorentz polynomials are also developed .

One of the most famous jobs , It is he who pioneered a new idea , Explain and prove Heron–Rota–Welsh guess （ Later referred to as rota conjecture ）.

Rota guessed at 1971 in , The research objects are “ Matroid ” Combine objects .

Simply speaking , Take the graph composed of points and lines as an example , Coloring the vertices of a graph , Two adjacent dots have different colors . When the number of colors is specified , The possibility of coloring can be calculated by an equation of characteristic polynomial .

Rota's conjecture predicts , The coefficients of the characteristic polynomial of any matroid are always logarithmically concave .

It is worth mentioning that , The other two partners , A former cook gave up studying mathematics , The other is a veteran rock music lover , As a result, a world-class problem was solved by mistake .

He is also famous for this work , And soon won the Princeton Institute of advanced studies （IAS） Title of long-term researcher .

Before he , Only three young scientists have been awarded this title .

Two scientists, including Wu Baozhu , All got Fields Medal .

So at that time , Years old 34 Year old , Has been recognized as a popular winner of the fields Award .

It is hard to imagine , This kind of bull like life experience will happen to a mathematician who became a monk halfway .

in fact , At the beginning of his mathematical journey , Even if there are fields prize winners Guangzhong Pingyou （1970 The winner of the year ） The order of , But it is still not popular with others in the academic circles .

After finishing the master's degree in our school , He applied for more than a dozen doctoral programs in the United States .

Helpless research experience is really mediocre , Graduate courses are also mediocre , Even if there is Daniel's recommendation , American universities are not moved by it , Traditional schools are even more resistant . Finally, he only got one offer——UIUC.

But soon , Things have come to a turning point .

Maybe it's just because I became a monk halfway , So from the beginning, it is different from the thinking of general mathematicians .

In the first semester , He found that singularity theory could be used , That is, the knowledge learned in Guangzhong Pingyou , To prove many properties of graph theory .

Among them is a famous conjecture —— Reed guessed , It can also be said to be a special case of rota's conjecture . The two are very similar , But the research objects are inconsistent .

One is a picture , The other is matroid .

And before that , He didn't even know the existence of this conjecture .

He will prove the process po Go online , As a result, the University of Michigan invited him to give a report .

At that time, a mathematician Mircea Mustaţă Gave a high opinion of , Later, he also became Xu long er's doctoral supervisor .

To some extent , This report is very beautiful and clear ; It hit the point at once .

For those who are just beginning to study in Graduate School , Few people can make such a clear report .

After the meeting , The University of Michigan immediately invited him to transfer . And then in 2011 In, he came to Michigan to study for a doctoral degree , At that time, he came to the United States less than two years .

At this time, after proving Reed's conjecture , He began to move to the next battlefield , That is, the advanced version of reed conjecture —— Rota guessed .

After graduating from Dr. Michigan , He was in IAS、 He was a researcher at Stanford University , Now he is a professor of mathematics at Princeton University .

today , He will also return to South Korea every summer to study , The starting point of everything .

I went to college 6 year

1983 year , Xu Long'er's parents gave birth to him when he was a graduate student in California .

2 At the age of , Their family returned to Korea , Dad teaches statistics at Korea University , Mother teaches Russian at Seoul University .

According to the Quanta Magazine Introduce , School is very painful for Xu long er , Because he can't concentrate in class , Can't learn something .

contrary , He likes reading alone very much , Read all of a set of biological encyclopedia 10 volume , I also touched all the mountains near my home .

Mathematics for it , It's also not very interesting . The exercises assigned by his father , He chose to copy the answer directly .

My father tore up the answer after he knew it , He ran to the bookstore to copy the answer .

During primary school, he got a bad math score, which made him thoroughly “ Rotten ”.

In a moment to 16 At the age of senior one ,“ perceptual ” Xu long er chose to drop out of school to write poetry ：

When I hear good music , I really cry .”

I know I'm smart , But it can't be proved by achievements , So I started writing poems .

at that time , He wrote something about nature and his own experience , I want to finish all my works within two years before I go to college .

But he found the writing process a little painful and depressing , I just like the aura of being a great poet , Plus writing poetry can't support yourself ,

After careful consideration , Or I went back to school, finished high school and got into College .

When I entered Seoul National University, I was very happy 19 year , This age is not too late , But he still felt very confused ： I don't know what I want to do , I don't know what I'm good at .

△ source ：quantamagazine

Because I once wanted to be a science reporter , He chose to major in astronomy and Physics , But in the end, I often skipped classes 、 Many courses have been retaken and ended .

I'm probably lost .

24 At the age of , My classmates graduated long ago , He hasn't , I read it until the sixth year .

But coincidentally ,“ Fortunately, he hasn't graduated yet ”, I met Hironaka Pingyou, the winner of the fields prize, who came to visit and teach at the school (Hironaka).

Because I want to make this famous person my first interview , He took his algebra and geometry class .

What I didn't expect was , I was attracted by the charm of this teacher , And he found the course itself very interesting ： Unlike ordinary undergraduate courses “ Exquisite ”, Instead, it's “ simplify ”.

It's opening up , The mathematical seal is removed ！

He found mathematics more and more interesting , And unlike writing poetry ：

Don't pay too much attention to yourself in Mathematics , You are free to find “ Beauty beyond oneself ”, And this kind of beauty is objective 、 The real thing , You can open your heart better than writing .

meanwhile , It's different from the time when he was a poet , Learning mathematics also makes him no longer always want to seek external recognition .

That's it , Xu Long'er became the most active student in Guangzhong Pingyou class ——

at that time 200 After a few weeks in my class only 5 Famous students , He insisted until the end .

Guangzhong Pingyou saw the potential of Xu long er , I also received him .

That's it , Xu Long Er had dinner with the teacher 、 Exchange mathematical ideas , In particular, I learned Hodge's theory from him .

Even Hironaka Pingyou returned to Japan , Xu Long Er also followed .

ps. What's interesting is that , Xu Long Er first took the initiative to go to Guangzhong Pingyou for lunch , I mainly want to ask some personal information about him as interview material , As a result, Hironaka Pingyou always shifted the topic to mathematics .

But Xu long er pretended to understand , The professor later recalled this matter , I really don't remember that he didn't understand .

Obsessed with Mathematics , For months, I lived on frozen pizza 、 The wife is still solving problems in childbirth

Actually , Except for the ones mentioned earlier “ Twists and turns ” Mathematics enlightenment experience , There are also some interesting episodes on Xu long er .

Many people who work with him think of him as ： Very modest 、 Feet on the ground .

When I learned that I had won the fields prize , He said , I'm really happy , But deep in my heart, I will doubt whether I am really so excellent ？

Quanta Magazin When the reporter interviewed him , I found that he actually spoke very slowly 、 Use words carefully 、 Often pause , In a very peaceful way 、 Express yourself in a calm way .

This is the same as another collaborator's evaluation of him ：

Xu long er is a person who is not easily excited . If you talk to him 5 Minute calculus , You will think that this person may not even pass the qualification exam .

But in fact , He is understanding some seemingly simple concepts in a deeper way , These things later proved to be very useful .

△ source ：quantamagazine

In the life , Xu long er boasts that he is a very tolerant person , Keep the same routine every day .

There are few things in his office , Often work in noisy children's areas of public libraries , Because a quiet place will make him doze off .

He is obsessed with Mathematics , Unwilling to waste time cooking , I used to live on frozen pizza for months .

After graduation, I moved to catch the winter , There is no blanket at home .

He thinks the shopping center is too far away to waste time , I bought ten pieces of cloth at the nearby drugstore + A huge staple , I made myself a blanket .

……

All this , So that the girlfriend he met when he was studying for a master's degree in Korea came to see him , Find him “ Survival skills are so worrying ” Time of day , Are hesitant to marry him .

△ source ：quantamagazine

After marriage , As a result, when giving birth , He is still doing math problems ……

Fortunately, after the child was born, Xu cuar “ convergence ” A lot , Can also put aside time to play with children 、 do housework .

What remains unchanged is , Xu Long Er still can only concentrate on working for a few hours a day .

His wife described him ：“ Others work 1 Hours , rest 5 minute , He's been doing something else for an hour , And then focus on 5 minute 、10 minute .”

Another female mathematician won the prize this year

The wonderful story of Xu long er, a mathematician, is over , The other three mathematicians who won the prize with him today also deserve attention .

The first is from Professor at Oxford University James Maynard, His research direction is number theory .

The reason for the award ： Awarded for his contribution to analytic number theory 2022 The fields Award , This contribution has made great progress in the understanding of prime structure and Diophantine approximation .

I believe many people are already familiar with him , He once won 「 The highest prize in number theory 」 The cole prize , Another way to prove the twin prime conjecture Tao Zhexian, a winner of the fields award, lamented that Furu .

The second is from University of Geneva, Switzerland / Professor of the French Institute of higher Sciences Hugo Duminil-Copin, His research direction is probability theory .

The reason for the award ： Because it solves the long-term problem of phase transition probability theory in Statistical Physics , Especially in the three-dimensional and four-dimensional fields .

The last one is from the Federal Institute of technology in Lausanne, Switzerland Ukrainian mathematician Maryna Viazovska.

She is the second female mathematician in history to win this award （ The first is 37 Year old Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, On 2014 received ）, The research direction is the same as that of Xu long er , It's combinatorial geometry .

The reason for the award ： Because she proved that in 8 In the dimension E8 Lattice provides the densest encapsulation under the same sphere , And further contribute to the related extreme value problem and interpolation problem in Fourier analysis .

Last , so far , Altogether 64 The mathematician won the fields prize , Most of the winners are Americans and Europeans , Few Asian Americans have won ：

So far 11 position , Besides our professor Qiu Chengtong （1982 Award in ）, It also includes Vietnamese mathematician Wu Baozhu （2010 year ） And Chinese mathematician Tao Zhexian （2006 year ）.

The latter two were in the same session IMO Win gold medals at the same time .

Reference link ：
[1]https://www.quantamagazine.org/june-huh-high-school-dropout-wins-the-fields-medal-20220705/
[2]https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-path-less-taken-to-the-peak-of-the-math-world-20170627/
[3]https://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2022/7/482148.shtm
[4]https://www.maigoo.com/news/539426.html

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