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Nankai University: 58-year-old subverts the academic world! He was "chased by stars" in Nankai!

Who is coming

Teachers and students shouted

"In Nankai,

There are 'the world's most brilliant minds' to teach me math! ”

It ignited everyone's infinite enthusiasm for academic star chasing

Nankai University: 58-year-old subverts the academic world! He was "chased by stars" in Nankai!

This year marks the 105th anniversary of the founding of Nankai University

The 120th anniversary of the establishment of Nankai series of schools

September 18

Famous Chinese mathematician

Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States

Zhang Yitang, honorary director of the Min Sihe Center for Number Theory at Peking University

He was a guest at the academic report meeting of the 105th anniversary of the founding of Nankai University

Chern Institute of Mathematics

Lecture of the highest level "Chern Shiing-Shen Lecture"

Gave a presentation entitled "My love of mathematics".

Nankai University: 58-year-old subverts the academic world! He was "chased by stars" in Nankai!

Before the lecture, Chen Yulu, President of Nankai University, met with Zhang Yitang in the Provincial Building, and the two sides exchanged views on the development process of Nankai mathematics and how to use the scientific and educational resources of Nankai University to help Tianjin's economic development. Bai Chengming, vice president of Nankai University, Zhang Weiping, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor of the Chern Institute of Mathematics, heads of the Chern Institute of Mathematics and the School of Mathematical Sciences and teacher representatives attended the meeting. Also present at the meeting was Mr. Chen Youwei, the son of Chen Jingrun. The latter made a special trip from Beijing to visit Professor Zhang Yitang. This was also the first meeting between Professor Zhang Yitang and Mr. Chen Youwei.

Nankai University: 58-year-old subverts the academic world! He was "chased by stars" in Nankai!
Nankai University: 58-year-old subverts the academic world! He was "chased by stars" in Nankai!
Nankai University: 58-year-old subverts the academic world! He was "chased by stars" in Nankai!

On that day, the scene was full. An hour before the start of the report, the lecture hall of the provincial building was already crowded, and the two sides of the aisle were full of students listening to the report, and even three live broadcast classrooms were temporarily opened. With his hobby of mathematics as the theme, Zhang Yitang affectionately told the teachers and students of Nankai about his years of companionship with mathematics.

Yitang Zhang is one of the "legendary scholars" in the field of contemporary mathematics, and has become one of the leading mathematicians for his landmark contributions to the famous twin prime conjecture. He was an invited speaker at the 2014 International Congress of Mathematicians and has received numerous awards, including the Rove · Shock Prize in Mathematics, the Cole Number Theory Award, the MacArthur Genius Grant, the Qiushi Distinguished Scientist Award, and the Asian American Scientist Lifetime Achievement Award in United States.

Zhang Yitang, who has long focused on big questions, made a splash in 2013, proving a weak form of the twin prime conjecture: there are countless pairs of primes that differ from 70 million or less. This discovery quickly attracted wide attention from the academic community and stimulated a subsequent research boom. Many mathematicians, including Fields Medalist Tao Zhexuan, devoted themselves to the field of optimizing the relevant constants, and in the process a new Fields Medal winner, Maynard. After that, Zhang Yitang did not stop, but set his sights on another more important mathematical problem, the Landau-Siegel zero point problem, which is closely related to the Riemann conjecture, and continued to explore freely in the field of mathematics.

Nankai University: 58-year-old subverts the academic world! He was "chased by stars" in Nankai!
Nankai University: 58-year-old subverts the academic world! He was "chased by stars" in Nankai!
Nankai University: 58-year-old subverts the academic world! He was "chased by stars" in Nankai!

Prime numbers are the most basic research objects in number theory, and the study of prime numbers has given rise to a number of long-standing classical problems, and the twin prime conjecture problem is one of them. At the scene of the report, Zhang Yitang wrote a handwritten board book, analyzed and dismantled the problem layer by layer, explained the twin prime conjecture to the majority of teachers and students in popular language, started from a concise inequality, expounded the method he adopted when proving the weakened form of the twin prime conjecture, and briefly described the brief history of the research on the distribution of prime numbers.

Zhang Yitang introduced a groundbreaking new method that combines methods in algebraic geometry with twin prime problems, which is more flexible than previous methods and ultimately takes a big step forward in the development of twin prime conjecture problems. The findings were published in Annals of Mathematics, a top journal in mathematics.

When talking about the story behind the study of the twin prime conjecture, Zhang Yitang mentioned that the United States Mathematical Center had convened a group of the world's top mathematicians to discuss the feasibility of the problem, and these scholars agreed that there was no way to solve it, but his inner dissatisfaction drove him to continue to study the problem. "When doing research, we must always maintain curiosity and dissatisfaction", he stressed, we should be bolder, do not blindly believe in "famous experts" and be bound by the research thinking of predecessors, and believe that we can make breakthroughs.

Nankai University: 58-year-old subverts the academic world! He was "chased by stars" in Nankai!
Nankai University: 58-year-old subverts the academic world! He was "chased by stars" in Nankai!

Finally, Zhang Yitang also answered questions from teachers and students about mathematics research and career development. He encouraged young people to pursue their interests and passions in the field of mathematics, and said that only with a sincere love and persistent pursuit of mathematics can breakthroughs and innovations be made in this field.

Nankai University: 58-year-old subverts the academic world! He was "chased by stars" in Nankai!

After the report, the audience applauded, and teachers and students rushed to ask questions. "This lecture provided us with a rare learning opportunity. Through face-to-face communication with this internationally renowned mathematician, we not only have a deeper understanding of the importance of mathematical research, but also have a deeper understanding and mastery of mathematical research methods. Zhang Junming, a doctoral student at the Chern Institute of Mathematics in the class of 2022, said.

Mathematics of Nankai University

It originated from the Department of Mathematics founded by Mr. Jiang Lifu in 1920

It was the second mathematics department of Chinese University at that time

After several generations of Nankai people's hard work

It has become a complete range of majors and strong research strength

Mathematics independent research and talent training base

In Nankai

Feel the historical accumulation of 100 years of mathematics

Experience the beauty of pure rational mathematics

Discover the style of an admirable master

Realize the life ideal of "fairness, fairness and ability".

In 2024, we will stand at a new historical starting point

Nankai mathematicians will

Based on Nankai, facing the whole country and looking at the world

Write a more splendid chapter of youth

Continue to strive for China to become a mathematical power as soon as possible!

Source: Financial Media Center, Nankai University

Correspondent: Pei Junling

Reporter: Liu Zhexuan

Photo: Zong Qiqi

Video: Wang Han Xu Yangyang

Editor: Xue Jianing, Liu Zhexuan

Review: Wu Junhui, Nie Jici