Chapter 165 - 161: John Charles Fields
Li Dong stared at the email, stunned for several seconds.
’Accepted?’
’This fast?’
From the day he officially submitted the manuscript to the *Mathematical Annals* until receiving this acceptance letter today, it had been, all in all...
Fourteen days.
What did that even mean?
You have to understand, as one of the top academic journals in the global mathematics community, the review period for the *Mathematical Annals* was typically measured in years.
Many mathematicians would finish writing their next paper after submitting one and still not have received the peer review feedback for the previous one.
And after that long wait, if the editor finally sent a rejection letter, well, that was a year or two wasted.
In the hundred-plus-year history of the *Mathematical Annals*, the record for the fastest review was set by Professor Zhang Yitang in 2013.
His paper, "Bounded Gaps between Primes," took only three weeks from submission to acceptance.
At the time, that speed shocked the entire international mathematics community.
*Quanta Magazine* used a phrase in their report—"a blink of an eye."
In the blink of an eye.
And now, Li Dong had broken that record in fourteen days.
However, Li Dong himself knew this didn’t mean he was more awesome than Professor Zhang Yitang; his situation was just rather unique.
His paper was already on arXiv, and the rejection incident at the ICCM had given it extra exposure. Everyone wanted to see if the young man’s boasts were actually worth anything.
As a result, basically every scholar in analytic number theory around the world had checked out the paper immediately.
Some raised questions, some tried to find flaws, and some repeatedly verified the derivations.
But...
Not a single person said the paper was wrong.
To put it bluntly, the paper had already undergone a round of "informal peer review" from top colleagues around the world.
So, by the time the paper reached the editorial board of the *Mathematical Annals*, the amount of work the reviewers needed to do had been drastically reduced.
Plus, there was another reason...
Other top journals had contacted Li Dong, and the *Annals* editorial board couldn’t possibly be unaware of this.
So, the editors at *Annals* were feeling the pressure.
The independent evaluations of three reviewers, plus the final confirmation from the editorial board, were all completed within fourteen days.
"Not bad."
Li Dong said the two words calmly.
He continued scrolling through his inbox.
Below the official email from *Annals*, there was a personal one.
Nicholas Katz.
Li Dong opened the email.
The email wasn’t long, and the wording was very polite.
In the email, Katz told Li Dong that the Princeton University Department of Mathematics planned to hold a special seminar for him after the paper was officially published.
Key scholars in the field of analytic number theory from around the world would be invited to participate, conducting a high-profile academic discussion of the paper.
When the world’s top mathematicians gather specifically for one of your papers to discuss, question, and verify it word by word, finally reaching a consensus.
That was the true "coronation ceremony" of the mathematics world.
Looking at the two emails, Li Dong no longer felt conflicted.
He had indeed seriously considered publishing in a domestic journal before.
Because, in the end, the act of publishing was just an incidental matter to him.
As for where he published, he truly didn’t care.
But Liu Ruochuan had a point.
The endorsement of a top journal was a major boost to his academic reputation at this stage.
Perhaps he could publish in domestic journals in the future; by then, he would be that journal’s golden calling card.
’But the prerequisite is... I’d at least need a Fields Medal, right?’
’Otherwise, who the hell would know me?’
So, after thinking it over for the past two days and discussing it with Liu Ruochuan, he ultimately decided to publish in *Annals*.
As for that line he’d said at the ICCM, "Go ahead and reject my paper"...
’Heh, there’s nothing wrong with that.’
’I did tell you to reject it, but not only did you not reject it, you accepted it in fourteen days.’
’What does that prove?’
’It proves my paper is so incredible that even *Annals*, which I’d practically told to drop it, had to scramble to get it back at record-breaking speed.’
’This just further demonstrates the paper’s value.’
’In a way, that "rejection controversy" actually became the best form of publicity.’
Li Dong didn’t overthink it and directly replied with his confirmation in the email.
He agreed to the publication.
Then, with a swipe of his finger, he also replied to Katz’s personal email.
The gist of it was to thank Professor Katz for the arrangements, but that he still needed to consider where the seminar would be held.
Just as he finished replying to the emails, his phone vibrated.
’The Cyan Dragon Study Group again?’
’That can’t be right.’
’Didn’t Riemann just give out a red packet not too long ago?’
’He’s giving out another one so easily?’
Filled with a hint of curiosity, Li Dong opened WeChat.
[John Charles Fields]: @In the midst of university research, I’ve been busy with that matter. I finally have a result today, and you’re the first person I wanted to tell.
[Fields]: That suggestion you made last time, about focusing the award on young mathematicians under the age of 40—I thought about it for a long time and ultimately adopted it completely.
[Fields]: The medal design is complete, and the fund has been secured.
[Fields]: Everything is ready.
’It seems the prototype of the Fields Medal has officially taken shape.’
[Fields]: To be honest, I’ve been running back and forth between the mathematical societies of various countries, persuading them to support this award.
[Fields]: You have no idea how difficult it’s been.
[Fields]: The shadow of the war has not yet dissipated. The mathematicians of Germany and France still can’t stand the sight of each other, and the atmosphere at the International Congress of Mathematicians is more political than mathematical.
[Fields]: But I’ve always believed that mathematics should transcend national borders.
[Fields]: A young person’s mathematical talent shouldn’t be overlooked because of the country they were born in.
[Fields]: Therefore, this award doesn’t belong to any single country. It belongs to the mathematical endeavor of all humanity.
[Fields]: Most importantly... it belongs to the young people.
[Fields]: They are the future of mathematics.
[Fields]: As for us old-timers, what we can do is tell them, when they need encouragement the most... you’re doing a great job, keep going.
[Fields]: This is also thanks to your idea back then, Your Excellency "In the midst of university research." If you hadn’t suggested the "under 40" rule, I might still be struggling with the selection criteria.
Seeing these words from Fields, Li Dong’s heart suddenly tightened for no reason.
In the group, John Charles Fields wasn’t exactly an academic titan.
In terms of mathematical achievements, he was more than a level below divine figures like Gauss, Euler, and Riemann.
But he did something that none of those geniuses had ever done.
He dedicated the latter half of his life entirely to mathematical education and the cause of international academic exchange in mathematics.
In the aftermath of World War I, he nearly ran his legs off trying to heal the rifts between mathematicians of different countries.
For three consecutive years—1929, 1930, and 1931—he traveled back and forth between various countries in Europe, trying to persuade scholars who were hostile to one another because of the war to sit down at the same table again.
And the idea for the Fields Medal was born during these weary journeys.
However...
In May 1932, Fields developed heart problems.
On August 9, 1932, John Charles Fields passed away from his illness in Toronto at the age of 69.
A few days before his death, he called his good friend, John Singer, to his bedside.
He wrote the final clause in his will...
Donating his entire personal fortune of 47,000 Canadian dollars to the Fields Medal fund.
He had no wife and no children.
He left everything to mathematics.
Singer took his last wish and rushed to Zurich.
The Congress accepted Fields’s proposal.
Four years later, in 1936, at the International Congress of Mathematicians held in Oslo, Norway, the first Fields Medal was officially awarded.
The recipients were the Finnish mathematician Lars Ahlfors and the American mathematician Jesse Douglas.
But on that day, the old man who had poured his entire heart and soul into the award had already been buried for four years.
In the nearly one hundred years that followed, this award named after him would become the supreme honor in the eyes of mathematicians worldwide, hailed as the "Nobel Prize of Mathematics."
He saw none of it.
And yet, he achieved it all.
...
Li Dong sighed.
He knew that the Fields in the chat group was at some point between 1931 and 1932.
’The plan for the award is already set.’
’Then what comes next...’
’In less than two years.’
’Heart problems.’
Li Dong suppressed the indescribable emotion in his heart and typed in the group chat.
[In the midst of university research]: Mr. Fields, you have done a remarkable thing.
[In the midst of university research]: This award will surely go further than you can imagine.
After he sent that message, a red packet appeared.
[John Charles Fields has sent an exclusive red packet]
Li Dong stared at the red packet, stunned for two or three seconds.
This red packet proved one thing.
Li Dong’s paper had now stepped through the gates of the Fields Medal’s hall of honor.
In the group, every red packet represented a particular scientist’s acknowledgment of you.
Fields wasn’t concerned with any specific mathematical theorem.
He was concerned with the future of mathematics.
[You have received a gift from John Charles Fields]
[Acquired Passive Skill: Inheritance of the Torch (Basic Edition)]
[Type: Permanent Passive Aura]
[Description: He was not the greatest mathematician, but he was the greatest educator of mathematics.]
[While geniuses sought to be peerless in their respective fields, he spent his entire life doing just one thing: letting young people know that their talent deserved to be seen by the world.]
[He never saw the seeds he sowed grow into towering trees, but from Oslo in 1936 to every International Congress of Mathematicians thereafter, the young faces on the podium are the answer he left for the world.]
[From now on, you will inherit his legacy and make everyone around you stronger because of your presence.]
[Effect: Companions conducting research activities with the Group Leader will receive an additional attribute bonus.]
[Bonus Rules:]
[If a companion’s basic core attribute is below 0.1, that attribute will directly receive a fixed bonus of +0.1.]
[If a companion’s basic core attribute is at or above 0.1, that attribute will receive a variable bonus of 10%~20%. The specific percentage depends on the degree of research collaboration between the companion and the host.]
[Note: This aura is only effective when the host and companion are in the same research environment.]
This skill was John Charles Fields’s way of telling everyone:
The future of academia belongs to the young.
And Li Dong was nineteen years old.