Chapter 51: If You’re So Awesome, Why Didn’t You Say So Earlier?!
Regret, true regret.
Carl Ludwig Seagull is one of the greatest number theorists of the 20th century. In 1947, after the war ended, he returned to the University of Göttingen from Princeton. His research directions covered analytic number theory, Diophantine equations, modular forms, and quadratic forms theory.
He was also a representative figure in rebuilding the Göttingen Mathematics Center throughout the entire 1950s, attracting a large number of students and visiting scholars through his own lectures.
It was precisely because of Seagull’s fame that Horkheimer came to him, hoping he would accept a nominal student of Chinese descent.
Horkheimer even specially brought this student of Chinese descent named Randolph Lin to the University of Göttingen to meet him. Seagull took a liking to this young student of Chinese descent, and the two had a very pleasant conversation. He could sense the other’s mathematical foundation from the dialogue; getting a PhD in Mathematics from Göttingen would be more than enough.
So, whether out of personal fondness for Lin Ran or for Horkheimer’s face, Seagull agreed. He even cooperated by adding the existence of Randolph Lin to the records of the Göttingen Mathematics Department.
He was the head of the Göttingen Mathematics Department throughout the entire 1950s. In that era without electronic records, adding a person was not difficult at all.
However, the subsequent developments were somewhat beyond Seagull’s expectations.
You solved Fermat’s Last Theorem, why didn’t you say so earlier? Can’t the University of Göttingen host academic reports?
You have the Randolph Program that can unify mathematics, why didn’t you say so earlier? With my Seagull’s human relationships carefully cultivated over many years on the European mainland, calling all German mathematicians to Göttingen for pilgrimage would be effortless.
You created such a useful tool as the linear form in logarithms theory, why didn’t you say so earlier? It wouldn’t be impossible for me to find a way to get you the title of Number Theory Emperor.
Seagull’s regret couldn’t even be described in words.
Even within the University of Göttingen, he was eyed with strange gazes by other professors, who thought he was a traitor to Göttingen. With such an impressive student, how could he let him go to Columbia University?
Max Döblin, holding the latest issue of New Progress in Mathematics, is the current head of the Göttingen Mathematics Department.
He is the most restrained among the professors in the Göttingen Mathematics Department, yet he couldn’t help rushing to his office to question him: how could you let Randolph get away.
“No, I…” Seagull couldn’t think of any reason to defend himself, “No, this.” “This matter.”
“Anyway, this matter is very complicated.” Seagull finally found a way to put it, “Yes, anyway, this matter is not that simple.”
He had promised Horkheimer and couldn’t bear or wanted to reveal the true inside story.
He didn’t want to because in front of an old friend, it was fine if he was impressive, but his student being so impressive too was simply too much face.
Not long ago, when leading a team for an academic visit to Paris, Grothendieck talked about Randolph, saying he envied his student for achieving even greater results than him. As an old man nearing retirement, Seagull felt as refreshed inside as eating watermelon in summer.
Including Berlin newspapers, when reporting, they had to mention that mathematician Seagull’s student Randolph Lin proved Fermat’s Conjecture, which had troubled the mathematics community for over three hundred years.
They also gave him a wave of praise along the way.
Lin Ran is his last disciple. If not considering the University of Göttingen, this matter would definitely be a good thing for him.
But this is Göttingen, the post-war recovering Göttingen, the Göttingen that wants to return to its status as a mathematics center.
More critically, the strategy for the Göttingen Mathematics Department’s post-war recovery was to start with number theory.
Why? Because number theory conjectures are famous and ordinary people can understand them too. Solving a few big problems would allow them to reclaim the mathematics high ground in public opinion.
Then use the fame to attract talented young people, spread from the number theory field to geometry and algebra, and spend a few decades to achieve the reconstruction of the mathematics center.
You talk about Fermat’s Last Theorem, Goldbach Conjecture, Twin Prime Conjecture—these famous number theory problems—even self-media can explain them clearly. You talk about relationships between modular forms, Galois representations, and L-functions—who outside knows what you’re saying?
Rebuilding starting from number theory is the fastest and most effective way.
This is what Seagull thought; he is a master in the number theory field. His successor Max Döblin thought the same; he is also a master in the number theory field.
At least four consecutive heads of the Göttingen Mathematics Department were doing number theory.
In the end, everyone is doing number theory to rebuild Göttingen, and you just handed over a world-class achievement like the proof of Fermat’s Conjecture to Columbia University?
He endured it last time, but this time seeing the latest New Progress in Mathematics, Döblin really couldn’t hold back.
Hearing Seagull beating around the bush, Döblin really couldn’t hold back and passionately went off:
“Professor, back in the day, the University of Göttingen was the holy land of mathematics. Names like Gauss, Riemann, Hilbert—these giants—still remain in the history of mathematics.
But since the dark years, we have lost countless masters, and Göttingen’s glory has long faded.
Now, we finally have a chance for revival, yet you let a figure like Randolph slip through our fingers! Whose side are you helping?
No matter if I go to the University of Bonn or Paris Normal School, the mathematicians there are secretly mocking us!
You as former department head, I as current department head—aren’t our goals both to make the University of Göttingen the world’s mathematics center again?
We were once mathematics’ Mecca, attracting the world’s gaze. But now, we need every soul with potential to rebuild this hall, and you sent Randolph—who might be the most potential soul this century, whose current achievements alone make him one of the most important mathematicians in the number theory field this century—to New York.
You’re throwing Hilbert’s legacy into the water! If Randolph stayed, his brilliance would illuminate Göttingen, not let Columbia University pick up the bargain.”
Wildly going off, really couldn’t hold back.
“If Randolph went to Princeton, I could understand; after all, Princeton has many famous mathematicians. But he went to Columbia University, to a Columbia that has nothing appealing besides the stench of money.
Is it that we can’t afford the money?
If you had told me back then that Randolph was just one step away from Fermat’s Conjecture, no matter how much annual salary he wanted, I would have found the school, found Göttingen city’s congressman, found Sartorius for sponsorship.
But Professor, you completely concealed that you had such an extraordinarily talented student.”
Seagull was speechless; he was rendered dumbfounded. If he didn’t know the inside story, he would think himself that he had committed an unforgivable wrong against Göttingen’s rise.
But he just happened to know.
“em” Seagull really didn’t know what to say.
After venting, Döblin calmed down. Thinking of Professor Seagull in front of him who returned permanently to Göttingen from Princeton in 1947 to help rebuild Göttingen, he couldn’t bear to say harsh words anymore:
“Professor, can you invite Randolph back to Göttingen to teach?”
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