When I am reborn, I just want to be a top student

In China's academic circles, it can be said that every top university is an academic clique.

This large academic clique is further divided into various small academic cliques, such as the Department of Mathematics, the Department of Medicine, and so on.

This situation was built up slowly over decades by an accomplished scholar and his students.

Controls the academic discourse and the allocation of some important resources.

For example, the voting rights in the selection of academicians, or the control of certain awards.

Before, when Wang Donglai became famous, Wudaokou and Yanda had thought about poaching Wang Donglai.

They were confident that Wang Donglai would not refuse. After all, the two top universities were the top universities in the country that were missing, and the resources they controlled were difficult for other universities to match.

Whether it is funding, academician resources, or national key projects, etc., Tangdu Jiaotong University can hardly match them.

Under such circumstances, students, professors and scholars from Yanda and Wudaokou are full of arrogance and a condescending attitude when facing students and professors from other universities.

This is what Tiangang is like!

Although Wang Donglai achieved great achievements, Tian Gang became famous earlier and has a higher status in the country.

Dean of the School of Mathematics and Science of Yanda University!

Chinese academician!

This is naturally much more glamorous than Wang Donglai, a mere professor.

So, at this moment in Tian Gang’s office, when he heard Wang Dong say that he wanted to independently decide the field of exchange during the exchange and study period, Tian Gang frowned.

After thinking for a while, Tian Gang said, "Professor Wang, I have no problem with your idea in principle!"

Sometimes, you have to listen to China's words in reverse.

Like this moment.

Agreeing in principle actually means disagreeing!

In principle it is not allowed, but in fact it is allowed!

In this way, Tian Gang’s meaning becomes very clear.

"Professor Wang, Yanda University is extremely welcoming of your arrival. Everyone is looking forward to your arrival. They all want to listen to your lectures and receive your guidance. After all, your achievements in mathematics have already impressed Yanda University students. They all regard you as their idol."

"In addition, I'm not bragging about the mathematics major at Yanda University, which is absolutely first-class in this field in China. I believe that after Professor Wang has a deeper understanding, he will definitely not be disappointed!"

"Of course, if Professor Wang is really busy, we can discuss this matter!"

As Tian Gang spoke, he paid attention to Wang Donglai's expression, trying to see something from his face.

However, Wang Donglai remained calm.

"Dean Tian, ​​there is no problem with the lecture. I am also happy to exchange and learn with the students and professors of Yanda University."

"However, I have requested three graduate student places this year. I have to take good care of my students so as not to affect their development. In addition, I have some other projects to deal with, so I may not have enough time and energy. Therefore, it is difficult for me to teach courses at your school."

"I hope Dean Tian can understand this!"

Wang Donglai's words were neither soft nor hard, but calm and powerful, and his momentum was no less than Tian Gang's.

Tian Gang's frown relaxed, and he smiled again, saying, "Professor Wang, I am also an academic, so of course I understand."

"By the way, has Professor Wang reserved the places for these three graduate students?"

Wang Donglai also smiled and replied: "It has not been decided yet. It can only be decided after the interview is over. In addition, I would like to discuss this matter with your school. If it is convenient at that time, can the interview be held at your school?"

Tian Gang nodded and agreed without hesitation, saying, "Of course there is no problem!"

"To be honest, I am also curious about what kind of graduate students Professor Wang would choose."

Upon hearing this, Wang Donglai just smiled and said nothing more.

Tian Gang poured two cups of tea and then said, "Professor Wang, you are the only winner of the Fields Prize and other international awards in our country. You can be said to be the benchmark of our domestic mathematics community in the world. However, you have not published any papers this year. It is really regrettable!"

"Professor Wang, you don't know. I don't know about other schools, but the mathematics department of Yanda has been looking forward to your paper. When I was in a meeting two days ago, someone talked about you and speculated when Professor Wang would publish another paper."

"We finally meet today, so I'd like to ask Professor Wang if he has any recent research results?"

Wang Dong took a look at Tian Gang and an idea flashed through his mind.

With a smile on his face, he said, "I can't really explain academic research. Sometimes I can figure it out when inspiration strikes, but sometimes I get stuck and can't make any progress."

"So, I don't know when I can publish the paper. This question is really difficult for me!"

Wang Donglai did not directly tell Tian Gang his thoughts. As the saying goes, one can never judge a person by his appearance, and there are many dirty things in academia.

That year, after the news that Perelman proved the Poincaré conjecture came out, Qiu Chengtong publicly stated that Zhu Ping and Cao Dong made important contributions to the Poincaré conjecture, at least 30%.

In the academic community, many people are dissatisfied with Qiu Chengtong's approach.

When scholars in the academic community began to criticize and accuse Qiu Chengtong, Zhu Ping and Cao Dong stood up under pressure and admitted that they had made no contribution.

Afterwards, Qiu Chengtong also changed his tone, commenting that Zhu Ping and Cao Dong's work was not original, and euphemistically denied his previous conclusion.

Things like this are not isolated cases in the academic circle.

Even now, Tian Gang and Qiu Chengtong are having a dispute.

Back then, when Tian Gang first went abroad, Qiu Chengtong saw that Tian Gang was of Chinese descent and had a diligent attitude towards study, so he admired him very much. He gave him a lot of guidance and wrote a letter of recommendation. He won two major awards and became a professor at my MIT. It can be said that more than half of Tian Gang’s achievements abroad were promoted by Qiu Chengtong.

However, later on, Tian Gang was accused of plagiarizing other professors' concepts, taking advantage of other professors during collaboration, etc., and was accused of having moral flaws in both academia and life.

You have to know that Qiu Chengtong is Tian Gang's doctoral supervisor, and he personally came out to criticize Tian Gang like this, which has a huge impact on Tian Gang's reputation.

Qiu Chengtong criticized Tian Gang for more than just these things. He also said things like "Tian Gang's academic level in mathematics is not that good, it can only be considered second-rate, and he is not honest.", "He stayed in China for a limited time, but ended up getting more money than he earned abroad, which set a bad example for young people in China and had a negative impact on academia.", etc.

It can be said that such fierce criticism only occurred nine years ago, when the Internet was not yet well developed.

If it were released now, it would probably dominate the online charts for a month and attract the attention of people all over the country.

But even so, it caused quite a stir at the time.

Yanda explained the situations raised by Qiu Chengtong one by one and also reported to the higher authorities.

Moreover, the professor of Yanda University directly pointed out that Qiu Chengtong was trying to seize the position of mathematical overlord, and criticized Qiu Chengtong in a very fierce manner, describing how arrogant and unreasonable his teacher was.

Qiu Chengtong was not someone to be trifled with, and he responded immediately, saying that Yanda’s criticism was pure slander, and his article was banned.

In the end, the incident became a dispute between foreign talents and local talents, and the impact became increasingly greater.

At the critical moment, the higher-ups personally stepped in, gave a conclusion, and banned any further discussion of the matter on the Internet. Only then did the matter come to an end.

As far as Wang Dong is concerned, both sides have their right and wrong in this matter.

Or maybe it's not that anyone is wrong, but they have different opinions. Just like what the vice president of Yanda said back then: "It's hard to keep excellent teachers with an annual salary of 30,000 or 50,000 yuan. To attract excellent overseas talents, an annual salary of one million yuan is not too much."

Different positions naturally lead to different views.

Judging from the tip of the iceberg, the academic world has never been a clean place. Like the entertainment industry, it is full of intrigue and conspiracy.

It’s just that the academic circle is not like the entertainment circle, where people are naturally exposed to the camera and any little thing that happens will be exposed.

Therefore, Wang Donglai has always kept his distance from people in the academic circle.

"With Professor Wang's ability, he was still stuck. It's a bit surprising to say it. I wonder what problem Professor Wang is studying?"

Tian Gang smiled and asked in a joking tone.

"I am currently interested in fluid dynamics, which happens to involve partial differential equations, so the research progress is not very ideal!"

Wang Donglai said modestly.

"Well, I believe Professor Wang can definitely solve it. I look forward to Professor Wang's paper!"

Tian Gang didn't think much about it and just nodded to show his anticipation.

Then, after the two chatted for a while, they discussed some matters concerning Wang Donglai's future exchange at Yan University, and then Wang Donglai stood up and said goodbye.

After Wang Donglai left, Tian Gang returned to the office, sat in his office chair, and recalled the problem he was researching that Wang Donglai had just mentioned.

"Fluid dynamics? Partial differential equations?"

"hiss……"

"It shouldn't be... um... it shouldn't be!"

Tian Gang subconsciously thought of a difficult mathematical problem in the world that met this condition, but after this problem emerged in his mind, he subconsciously denied his guess.

Because he didn't really believe that Wang Donglai would choose this difficult problem.

Shaking his head, Tian Gang threw away his speculations in his mind, but a trace of concern still remained deep in his heart.

……

September 4th.

The 8th ICIAM Conference was officially held at the Beijing National Convention Center.

The scale and specifications of this meeting were very large and high, and many leaders attended.

The opening ceremony of each conference is different, but the award ceremony after the opening ceremony is similar.

ICIAM, like other top conferences, also has its own awards.

Kraz Award!

Lagrange Award!
Maxwell Award!
Pioneer Award and Su Buqing Award!

The winners of the five awards are the Institute of Applied Mathematics and Information Technology in Italy, New York University, University of Paris VI in France, University of Texas at Austin in France, and Fudan University in China.

Wang Donglai, who was sitting in the audience, was actually not willing to attend such a boring award ceremony.

On the one hand, it was really boring, and on the other hand, it was because I didn’t win any award.

However, the award ceremony was quick.

After that, the conference officially began.

After all, in just four days, we have to give 27 invited reports, 1 public report, more than 2900 group reports, and more than 300 poster reports.

It can be said that the schedule of this conference is very tight.

Each participating scholar and professor can choose the corresponding report based on their personal interests and majors.

Just as Wang Donglai was about to get up and attend the report.

Suddenly a group of foreigners came to him.

"Hey, Wang Donglai, I'm Gunnar Carlsson from Stanford. I'll be giving a talk on topology in data analysis in Hall 5. If you're interested, come and listen. I'd love to talk to you!"

"I am Jean Michel Coron from the University of Paris VI. If you are interested in cybernetics and fluid mechanics, you may want to come to my lecture hall No. 8. Believe me, you will not be disappointed!"

"Oh, all of you go away. Wang is a mathematician. He should be interested in my Wang's topics on numerical linear algebra and differential algebraic equations. I'll be waiting for you in Lecture Hall 12!"

"I heard that you developed an artificial intelligence medical auxiliary diagnosis system, so I think you should come and listen to my report. I have some knowledge of biomedical images and inverse problems, and I really hope to communicate with you!"

"..."

A group of foreigners, including scholars from Bald Eagle, Kimchi Country, Developed Country, Brazil, Canada and other countries.

These people were all invited speakers. They surrounded Wang Donglai and immediately attracted a lot of people's attention.

Those who were closer could hear the invited speakers' enthusiastic invitation to Wang Donglai.

For a moment, the looks towards Wang Donglai were somewhat different.

After all, these scholars who are invited to give reports are outstanding scholars from various disciplines and countries.

However, these scholars actually gathered around Wang Donglai and invited him in unison.

This came as a great shock to other scholars.

Domestic scholars have never seen such a scene.

Wang Donglai, who was surrounded in the middle, heard the invitations from scholars from all over the world and responded in their respective languages.

Several foreign languages, switch between them easily.

Such performance adds a unique temperament to Wang Donglai.

At this moment, in the main hall of the National Convention Center, the corner where Wang Donglai was located had become the center.

Faced with everyone's enthusiastic invitation, Wang Donglai did not refuse, but did not fully agree either. Instead, he gave a positive answer based on his own needs, while others could only apologize.

However, Wang Donglai also said that they could communicate later. After the conference, when they return to their respective countries, they can also communicate through contact information.

Only in this way did Wang Donglai calm everyone down.

"call!"

After everyone left, Wang Donglai let out a long sigh.

Just a few minutes of communication made him feel more tired than running several thousand meters. (End of this chapter)