Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 425 164 Hilbert Looking for a Job

Chen Muwu is no stranger to the place name Strasbourg in France.

But the first thing he thought of was the famous "White Album 2" by "Donma Mistress, Xuecai Bichi".

But that was definitely not what Hilbert meant when he mentioned this place name. Chen Muwu thought about it for a few seconds before he understood what he meant.

France had already hosted the Second International Congress of Mathematicians in 1900. At that time, the venue they chose was Paris, the capital of France, and the organizer was the University of Paris.

Although France held the International Congress of Mathematicians for the second time in 1920, it was understandable that it was unwilling to choose the venue of the conference in Paris, the capital, and wanted to arrange it in another city.

But France’s second largest city, obviously Marseille on the Mediterranean coast, is also where their country’s national anthem was born.

However, the French Mathematical Society did not choose Marseille as the venue for the meeting, but arranged it to be held in Strasbourg. In fact, there was a hidden meaning in it.

Strasbourg is located at the border between France and Germany. Historically, whether this place belonged to France or Germany, there have been many wars between the two countries.

At present, the most recent war was the First World War.

After the victory in World War I, France gained large areas of territory from Germany, and Strasbourg was one of them.

The French Mathematical Society chose to hold the meeting of the International Congress of Mathematicians in Strasbourg, of course, in order to promote their country's victory in the just-ended World War I, and by the way, to one of the defeated Allied Powers. The Germans were embarrassed.

Hilbert looked at Chen Muwu and pondered for a long time, wondering if he understood the meaning of his words.

Chen Muwu saw Hilbert staring at him all the time, so he asked carefully: "Is it because the French chose Strasbourg as the venue for the conference, so the German mathematicians first boycotted the International Congress of Mathematicians? ?”

Hilbert smiled and nodded: "That's right."

He carefully told Chen Muwu the whole story from beginning to end.

When a country loses a war, falls into economic difficulties, and cedes large tracts of land, this is when national sentiment rises.

Therefore, at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1920, it was not actually the International Mathematical Union that wanted to boycott the Allied countries such as Germany, the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Bulgaria. In fact, it was the German mathematicians who first boycotted the Allied Countries in France. International Congress of Mathematicians held in Strasbourg, Germany.

In order to take countermeasures against these unscrupulous German scientists, the International Mathematical Union had to face mathematicians from the former Allied countries to participate in the 1920 International Congress of Mathematicians.

Because mathematics has always been the brightest pearl in the crown of science, this resolution of the International Mathematical Union has also directly or indirectly affected other scientific disciplines.

In the second year after the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1920, at the Third Solvay Conference held in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, in 1921, there were also no German physicists.

Of course, this is partly due to the influence of the mathematical community, and partly because Belgium was also the mortal enemy of the German army in World War I.

Later, the Germans could not afford the war compensation for their defeat in World War I. Belgium also joined forces with France to send troops to occupy important industrial areas in western Germany.

Then there is the classic story of the sharp depreciation of the German mark, and 50 marks can no longer afford to buy a piece of bread.

By 1924, in order to punish mathematicians from those countries who refused to participate in the Congress of Mathematicians four years ago, the International Mathematical Union still planned not to admit mathematicians from these countries to participate in the conference.

However, the member states of this alliance, such as the United States, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the United Kingdom, do not agree with the alliance's proposition.

In particular, the venue for the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1924 was originally determined to be New York, a large city in the United States, and the organizer was New York University.

But the American Mathematical Society hopes to invite mathematicians from the former Allied countries - mainly German mathematicians - to New York to participate in this International Congress of Mathematicians.

There was a conflict between the host country and the organizer. The International Mathematical Union would not agree to invite those mathematicians who were unwilling to attend the previous meeting to participate in this meeting, so they simply deprived the United States of the right to host the meeting. At the opening of the meeting The address of the meeting was temporarily changed to Toronto, Canada, a neighboring country not far from New York in the United States.

So in the beginning, because of some careful thoughts of the French in choosing the venue for the conference, German mathematicians did not participate in the International Congress of Mathematicians for eight years in a row and exchange mathematics with their colleagues. The latest findings in research.

This time in Bologna, Italy, more and more member countries of the International Mathematical Union hope that German mathematicians can attend the meeting.

In Germany, Hilbert, the most highly regarded "King of Mathematics", took the lead and led German scientists across the Alps to attend a conference in Italy, regardless of his accidental illness.

After eight years, Germany has finally returned to the big family of the international mathematics community.

Newspapers reported this matter very enthusiastically. Chen Muwu also learned from the newspapers that Hilbert was going to lead German mathematicians to participate in this International Congress of Mathematicians, so he accepted the official invitation of the conference and came to Italy. In Bologna, I met Professor Hilbert, whom I had always wanted to meet.

Chen Muwu didn't know what Hilbert meant by telling him this, so he could only stare at the old man standing opposite him in confusion.

Hilbert also understood the doubt in Chen Muwu's eyes, so in the end he concluded: "Dr. Chen, I don't have any other meaning when I tell you this. I just want to say that although science is important to all mankind, Precious wealth, whether in Germany or China, one plus one equals two.

"A long time ago, when I was chatting with Professor Sommerfeld of the University of Munich, who studies physics, I heard a very interesting saying from him, which was called 'Although science has no borders, scientists do have nationalities.'

"I think this sentence is right. Take me as an example. First of all, I am a German. Secondly, I am a German mathematician.

"I think you did a good job in your speech today. There is nothing wrong with your starting point or the content of what you said.

"

Chen Muwu smiled on the surface, showing a feeling of embarrassment at the compliment to Hilbert.

But he felt that this thing was very strange, because the words Hilbert relayed actually came from his mouth in the first place.

I remember that in 1924, in the Institute of Theoretical Physics run by Bohr in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, in order to persuade my good senior brother, I kicked out the original international student Yoshio Nishina and asked him to leave Denmark and go to the Netherlands. Studying low-temperature physics at Leiden University, he once said in front of Bohr and Heisenberg what Hilbert just said, "Although science has no borders, scientists do have nationalities." Sommerfeld was Heisenberg's teacher in Germany and a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Munich.

It may be that Heisenberg shared what he saw and heard in Copenhagen with his teacher Sommerfeld after returning to Germany.

Later, Sommerfeld accidentally met the German mathematician Hilbert, so he inadvertently told the latter this sentence.

Chen Muwu did not expect that his words would be passed around, and in the end they would fly back to his hands like the paper airplanes of his childhood.

Hilbert didn't know why Chen Muwu was laughing. He might have thought that his compliment made him happy.

So the old professor said another favor: "Dr. Chen, if you have free time anytime, it would be best if you could compile a paper in text form from yesterday's speech at the history of mathematics branch. Then I will write a paper Postscript, I’d like to recommend it for you to publish in a mathematics magazine, what do you think?”

"That's very good. Thank you for your kindness, Professor Hilbert."

Chen Muwu didn't expect that he would have such an unexpected surprise by inviting Hilbert to his wedding.

He gave a speech at the International Congress of Mathematicians in order to use his limited power to support ancient Chinese mathematics research.

Now write the speech into a paper and publish it in a professional mathematics journal. Hilbert will personally recommend it and write a postscript to the paper.

This shows that Hilbert is using his influence in the field of mathematics to help Chen Muwu's paper on the history of ancient Chinese mathematics.

Although he doesn’t know why Hilbert did this, it does not prevent Chen Muwu from expressing his gratitude to Hilbert for his kindness in releasing him.

"By the way, Dr. Chen. You made a lot of noise in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, and I have heard about it in Göttingen, Germany. What happened to the Prince's College you gave me in the Journal of Science? A situation? Do you really plan to run the school completely in Sweden? If so, how is the treatment at your school?"

Chen Muwu knew that Hilbert had done him a favor inexplicably, and he probably had something to tell him.

However, what does he mean by asking about his treatment?

Is it possible that Hilbert wants to leave the University of Göttingen and follow him to Prince's College in Stockholm?

No matter how you think, it's impossible.

Because in Chen Muwu's memory, Hilbert worked at the University of Göttingen until he retired.

Chen Muwu stared at Hilbert in confusion: "Professor, although I don't understand what you mean. But in terms of remuneration, I can guarantee that as long as a teacher takes a teaching position at Stockholm Prince's College, his salary will definitely be higher. It is the highest level in Europe, even higher than most public universities in the United States - because behind it is the support of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Sweden."

The major funders of private schools in the United States are various educational foundations established by Jews who have made a lot of money, such as the Rockefeller Foundation under the name of oil king Rockefeller, etc. Chen Muwu is really incomparable.

Hilbert felt that Chen Muwu had misunderstood what he meant, so he quickly explained: "Dr. Chen, don't get me wrong. Let me clarify first that I have not left the University of Göttingen to teach and do mathematics research elsewhere. Intend.

“Americans came to me countless times and offered me higher salary and compensation each time than the other time, but I never left.

"The reason why I ask you this question is because of such a thing.

“You know that although Germany is a big country in mathematics, there are only a few universities in the country and the number of teaching positions is also very limited.

“However, let’s not talk about other schools, just our University of Göttingen. Every year, many graduating students face the problem of not being able to find a job.

“——When Professor Einstein first graduated, didn’t he also have trouble finding a job?

“These students who cannot find teaching positions could have gone to Germany’s neighboring countries, such as Austria and Switzerland, to find jobs at universities in German-speaking areas.

“But now universities in the above two countries and regions are also facing a situation of saturation of teaching positions, so I have to find new schools for these students.

“But there are many American universities that come to the University of Göttingen every year during the graduation season and are waiting to recruit teachers.

“But these students are not willing to leave Germany too far and would rather stay in Europe, preferably a neighbor of Germany.

“The universities in Austria and Switzerland are already saturated. The relationship between Poland and us is rather subtle, and Denmark is a small country. After thinking about it, Sweden is actually a good choice.

"And you have just established a Prince's College in Stockholm. I just want to ask you if there is a shortage of talents in mathematics.

“I can assure you with all my heart that the students who graduate from our University of Göttingen are all rising stars and top talents in the field of mathematics.

"Of course, they probably won't spend their entire lives in freezing Stockholm.

"As long as there are vacancies in German universities, I guess everyone will want to come back to Germany to teach."

Chen Muwu actually didn't quite agree with Hilbert's final theory.

I am afraid that in a few years, there will be a large number of vacant positions in German universities.

However, German students who have left Germany early to teach in other countries may be glad that they have left Germany early and gone to other places, and will never think about returning to Germany to teach.

But Chen Muwu himself was still very excited about other parts of Hilbert's words.

Prince's College is at a stage when it has just been established, and the school needs a large number of teachers.

Mathematics is the foundation of all sciences. Mathematics teachers have a high status and are naturally indispensable.

So Chen Muwu nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: "Professor, you have done me a big favor. We need these mathematical talents very much."

(End of this chapter)