Chapter 11: Of Course Not Starting From Nasa
Lin Ran’s words were half true and half false.
Finding the Apollo Moon Landing puzzle is fine, but who said to seek advice from those old men in their eighties or nineties in 2020? What I want to do is go to 1960 to find the puzzle, or even personally assemble the Apollo Moon Landing puzzle.
Secondly, using Blue Origin to get the first pot of gold—the main risk points have already been mostly covered by Li Xiaoman.
And Lin Ran hasn’t decided yet whether to really approach Blue Origin, or after returning to China, use China’s resources to replicate the Apollo Moon Landing.
Similarly replicating the Apollo Moon Landing, returning to China to do it, the cost might be around 100 million in both places, but in China the unit is RMB, while in America it’s US Dollars.
But no matter what he wants to do, Lin Ran needs to return to 1960 as soon as possible.
“Of course not. Good, I accept this cooperation. I’ll handle these issues for you,” Li Xiaoman said.
Lin Ran reached out: “The badge and keys.”
Li Xiaoman looked at him helplessly: “Now?”
Lin Ran pulled out his passport from his backpack and handed it over: “That’s right. I’ll head to Columbia University first thing tomorrow morning. To show sincerity, I’ll leave my passport with you.”
Columbia, the headquarters of the Frankfurt School.
Five seconds later, Li Xiaoman said: “Good, communicate anytime there’s progress.”
Although this matter seemed outrageous from start to finish, her intuition told her that he could really do it.
The outrageousness of this matter was comparable to buying America’s military radar on Xianyu.
Very outrageous, no doubt, but it really happened.
Leaving his mobile phone in 2020, bringing some prepared materials, wearing the same clothes, he reappeared in the guest room that Haines had prepared for him in his New York suburban villa.
He deliberately walked to the living room on the first floor pretending to drink water, but actually checked the time, and Lin Ran’s suspended heart finally settled.
The time flow rate should be about sixty to one.
Eight hours had passed for him in 2020, but here only a short few minutes had gone by.
The next morning, Lin Ran got up and prepared to bid farewell to Haines: “Haines, I plan to go find my friend. I can’t keep bothering you here.”
Haines was somewhat surprised. He thought the other wanted to join NASA, and in his view, NASA needed top talent like Lin Ran: “Won’t you wait a bit longer?”
“I’ve contacted NASA for you. They’ll arrange an interview.”
“If you pass the interview, you can become a member of NASA.”
Lin Ran shook his head: “Although I’m an aerospace enthusiast, I have no plans to join NASA.”
Lin Ran’s words were half true and half false.
To be precise, he had no plans to join NASA right now.
A nobody joining NASA now, even if he played a crucial role in the Apollo Moon Landing, might not get what he wanted and could very well have his achievements buried due to his identity as a Chinese person.
In 2020’s America returning to the Moon, he indeed needed to keep an extremely low profile—just take the money, not the fame. But participating in NASA’s Moon Landing in 1960’s America, what Lin Ran wanted was fame, not money.
And big fame at that.
In the future, whenever the Moon Landing was mentioned, all the newspapers would have to go through him.
“But…” Before Haines could finish, Lin Ran interrupted: “I think I’ll go to Columbia University. If you’re interested, you can come find me there.”
Columbia University, teeming with Frankfurt School scholars, known as the Frankfurt School’s headquarters in America.
And the meeting gift Lin Ran prepared for Columbia was the proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem.
Once he achieved fame in the mathematics community, turning to join NASA wouldn’t be a piece of cake?
And that would also be a more suitable time.
Soviet Union astronaut Gagarin would, on April 12, 1961, orbit Earth for 108 minutes, covering 40,000 kilometers.
Find Fabian Society scholars to back his academic achievements, use the proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem as a meeting gift to become an academic star, and after gaining fame, rely on Fabian Society officials in the government to urge NASA to come knocking.
The entire plan was simply too perfect.
This was also why the plan absolutely needed the Fabian Society badge.
Without the Fabian Society as backing, as a Chinese person, the difficulty would rise more than one level.
The reason he delayed eight hours in 2020 was because the last three hours were all spent copying the proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem.
Professor Andrew Wiles’s paper proving Fermat’s Last Theorem was 130 pages in total, later condensed to 50 pages by mathematicians.
This didn’t mean he only needed 50 pages to prove it, because the later 50 pages were built on theorems already proven by many mathematicians.
Key theorems among them, like the Yoshiyuki Goro Conjecture, were the core pillar of Wiles’s proof approach—it proved that all elliptic curves are associated with modular forms, proposed in 1955 and only fully proven in 2001.
The Kolyvagin-Flach method wouldn’t be proposed until the 1980s; he constructed the Euler System to solve the Selmer group calculation in “modular lifting.”
And the bridge connecting number theory and automorphic forms, the local part of the Langlands Program, wouldn’t come until the late 1970s either.
So what Lin Ran needed to copy would be more than the 130 pages of Wiles’s original paper.
“Professor Horkheimer, a young Chinese person is looking for you. He says he has something very important to discuss with you.”
Professor Horkheimer stood by the diamond-shaped window at the bedside looking down, and saw a young man wearing a suit somewhat different from the current style, standing ramrod straight gazing ahead without moving:
“Have him come up.”
Professor Horkheimer recalled his Chinese colleague Li Junnan from his time at Frankfurt University’s Center for Social Sciences; the first time he met this Chinese person, Li Junnan’s demeanor and age were about the same.
“It’s a pity. Li died too early. If he were still around to see his homeland give America a piece of its mind in Korea, he would surely be gratified.”
“Hello, Professor Horkheimer. I’m Randolph Lin, son of Professor Larry Mayer’s student. After many twists and turns, I’ve finally arrived in New York and hope to receive your help.” Lin Ran walked briskly.
Professor Horkheimer fell silent: “Larry Mayer?”
What a familiar name. After the Nazis came to power, instead of coming to America like them, he resolutely chose to stay in Frankfurt.
Because he wasn’t Jewish; he was Slavic.
After the war ended, when everyone went back to look for him, they found Larry Mayer had died in the war.
Ten-plus years after the war ended, suddenly the son of Professor Larry Mayer’s student pops up seeking his help.
Professor Horkheimer found it baffling; he’d never heard that Larry Mayer had a student of Chinese descent.
