Chapter 12: Accident
Some long-forgotten names were awakened, and past events and old acquaintances flooded his mind.
To be honest, Horkheimer and Larry Meyer were not that close; besides their colleague relationship, they had little private friendship, and their academic research topics also lacked intersection.
He had never heard that Larry Meyer had a student of Chinese descent.
“Alright, child, what do you want from me?” Horkheimer asked, suppressing his inner doubts.
Lin Ran did not choose Li Xiaoman’s great-grandfather Li Junnan, but chose Larry Meyer, precisely because Larry Meyer had passed away. In this era of poor information flow, whether it was Horkheimer or other big shots of the Frankfurt School, it would be hard for them to judge the truth of what he said.
Li Jannan’s son, that is, Li Xiaoman’s great-grandfather, was still living well in New York. If he took out the badge and said it was Li Jannan’s, and then someone with ulterior motives found another badge from Li Xiaoman’s great-grandfather’s hands, it would be no small hidden danger.
Furthermore, for Lin Ran, he needed the protection of the Frankfurt School, and the Frankfurt School in turn surely needed top talent like him to make a name for them in the government and academia?
Who says the Frankfurt School’s critical theory can only be used in the humanities and social sciences? Critical theory applied to mathematics, solving Fermat’s Last Theorem that had puzzled for hundreds of years; applied to engineering fields, helping America achieve manned moon landing ahead of the Soviet Union.
It must be known that before the Frankfurt School’s top talent Lin Ran joined NASA, NASA was behind the Soviet Space Agency in both satellites and manned spaceflight.
By then, the Frankfurt School’s massive influence in America would naturally help promote him, and the main members of the Frankfurt School were all Jewish people.
And Lin Ran would also become the Frankfurt School’s representative figure in the science and engineering fields, helping them expand the influence of critical theory in academia.
This was a win-win.
“I hope to take a professor position in Columbia University Mathematics Department.” Lin Ran said.
Horkheimer raised an eyebrow: “That’s not an easy thing. Do you have a PhD from a European university?”
Horkheimer was clearly amused by the young man’s wild idea, and this greatly reduced the credibility of the other’s claim to be a descendant of Larry Meyer’s old acquaintance.
In his impression, Larry Meyer was at most a literary commentator, and the distance from mathematicians was really too far.
“No.” Lin Ran said straightforwardly.
Horkheimer shook his head: “Then that’s not an easy thing. Even with my recommendation, you still need to convince Ralph Fox.
He’s not that easy to convince.”
Ralph Fox served as head of Columbia University Mathematics Department from 1952 to 1962, and in 1960 he was in the middle of his term as director.
The reason Lin Ran chose Columbia University as his first foothold was also because this place was very friendly to Chinese people.
At this time node, Zhou Yuanshen was serving as an assistant professor in statistics at Columbia University, and on New Year’s Day 1960, that is, the day Lin Ran arrived in the 1960s, he was transferred to work at IBM’s Watson Laboratory.
For a long time, IBM had close ties with the military, and Zhou Yuanshen was able to be transferred to work at IBM’s current core Watson Laboratory.
Plus, in the future, Wang An of Wang An Computer also rose in New York, and in the future, Professor Zhou Yuanshen’s student Professor Shaw-Hwa Lo even directly became head of Columbia University Mathematics Department.
All these combined are enough to show that at present, New York is friendly to people of Chinese descent, and Columbia University is friendly to people of Chinese descent.
“I have enough confidence to convince Professor Fox.”
Lin Ran’s unfounded confidence gave Horkheimer a strange feeling.
The room fell into a moment of silence.
Before Horkheimer could speak, a noisy sound of footsteps came from outside, followed by the security personnel’s loud shout: “Sir, without permission, you can’t enter Professor Horkheimer’s office!”
The door was banged open, and the leader was a man with a typical Germanic appearance, among whom was one Lin Ran recognized, Ebenezer Haines.
Ebenezer Haines said apologetically: “Randolph, this is Arthur Rudolf, my superior.
I’m very sorry, after I provided him with your manuscript, he insisted that I bring him to find you.”
Before Haines finished speaking, Arthur Rudolf interrupted: “Alright, stop. Randolph, NASA needs your help. Please come with us.”
Haines originally hadn’t told Rudolf about Lin Ran’s matter, but because he had delayed too long in New York, under Rudolf’s pressure, he told Rudolf the whole story.
After hearing it, Rudolf was dissatisfied that Haines had let the person go, and after having the math experts at Redstone Arsenal review the derivation process of the gravitational perturbation correction formula that Haines sent back, this dissatisfaction reached its peak.
Such a genius was let go by you? Whether genius or not, he must first be brought back to the base for verification.
Therefore, under performance pressure, Rudolf personally brought two federal staff from Redstone Arsenal to New York to grab the person.
Lin Ran secretly thought the situation was bad, knowing that only Horkheimer could save him now.
With Arthur Rudolf’s style of doing things, if he really went to NASA, who knows what trouble it would cause.
Although he had a way to ensure personal safety, he didn’t want to expose such an ability.
“Professor Horkheimer, these two are NASA staff. Doesn’t that prove my ability sufficiently?”
Then Lin Ran walked to Horkheimer’s side, took out the Fabian Society badge from his pocket, and said in a low voice: “Professor, this is proof that my father once followed Larry Meyer.
And that I have proved Fermat’s Last Theorem.”
At this point, no more needed to be said.
Horkheimer took the Fabian Society badge from Lin Ran’s hand and rubbed it in his palm. Looking at the four aggressive men, his face suddenly changed: “Get out!
I don’t think Mr. President has given NASA the power to forcibly conscript personnel. This is Columbia University. You have no say here.”
With Professor Horkheimer’s words, the security personnel who had been waiting outside finally rushed in and dragged the four out.
Among them, as they were being dragged out, Haines clasped his hands together apologetically toward Lin Ran; Lin Ran didn’t even glance at him.
Once the office quieted down again, Horkheimer’s earlier furious expression had vanished without a trace, and he looked like an ordinary harmless professor again:
“Don’t overthink it. I didn’t do it for you. That executioner Arthur Rudolf is no good guy. I didn’t expect to see him in this setting.”
