I really just want to be a scholar

Affected by the "Little Ice Age", the winter in Beijing was harsh and long, but spring came belatedly. It was not until mid-March that some green grass still had snow foam and ice chips on the campus of Qingmu University. He carefully poked his head out of the black soil, opened his eyes and looked curiously at this strange world.

The sound of footsteps sounded, and Xiaocao hurriedly followed the whistling wind and fell to the ground as if she was frightened. Professor Kelvin Thomson did not notice the grass at his feet. He had just said goodbye to his family in the staff dormitory arranged by Qingmu University, and was walking towards the cafeteria under the chilly morning sun.

The still cold morning wind blew by, causing him to subconsciously reach out and raise his collar.

"Damn it, it's spring and it's still so cold..."

Having lived in Princeton for more than ten years, Professor Kelvin Thomson has become accustomed to the temperate continental climate there. The lowest temperature in winter is around -5°C. In the spring of March, the temperature will climb to 10 degrees Celsius very early. Above ℃, it is generally quite comfortable.

It happened to be September last year when I arrived in the capital of Xia Kingdom. It was almost the best weather in the year. Professor Kelvin Thomson was a little lucky. It seemed that he was still very adaptable to the climate of the capital of Xia Kingdom... As a result Within two months of not being happy, the Little Ice Age came and the capital also ushered in the coldest winter since temperature records began.

Anyway, Professor Kelvin Thomson has never seen such bad and bad weather in his life. The snowstorm can last for three days and three nights. All night long, there is a howling wind outside the window, and even the windows are covered It's frozen.

If the staff dormitory had not been heated in advance, Professor Thomson doubted that he would be frozen into an ice sculpture.

Although he had done enough to keep warm, he still had two colds after the winter because he had to go back and forth between the "Chief Scientist Building" and the staff dormitory and canteen most of the time. Fortunately, it did not lead to lung infection, and thanks to the careful care of the doctors Healed and recovered quickly.

However, the winter here in Xia Country is difficult, and if you were in Princeton, you would not be able to escape a similar experience.

According to an email sent by a former colleague at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, the lowest temperature in Princeton dropped to -22°C, and heavy snowstorms lasted for two or three weeks. "Staying close to the fireplace for four hours" is not much more comfortable than here in the capital of Xia Kingdom.

Fortunately, the most difficult winter is finally over. According to the latest forecast from Academician Qin Ke’s team, the temperature will rise rapidly in the next two weeks, and then there will be a rainy period for more than two months. The temperature is generally comfortable, but by June The middle of the year will usher in high temperatures, drought and scorching heat again.

What a damn extreme climate!

Thinking of another day when it was so hot that his whole body would be drenched in sweat after walking for ten minutes, Professor Kelvin Thomson couldn't help but cursed inwardly.

At this moment, a group of Xia University students full of youthful vitality came towards him and greeted him enthusiastically in English: "Good morning, Professor Thomson."

"Good morning, classmates." Professor Kelvin Thomson couldn't help but smile. After speaking in English, he said again in less-than-standard Chinese: "Good morning, classmates."

A group of students laughed happily and replied in Chinese: "Good morning, Professor!"

Seeing the Xia University students walking away with their heads held high and youthful, Professor Thomson's originally gloomy mood became much more cheerful.

After arriving at Qingmu University, all mathematicians from various countries who joined the "Global Extreme Climate Big Data Advanced Analysis Team" were either named as distinguished professors at Qingmu or as distinguished professors at Yanda, and received monthly statistics from these two universities. In addition to the salary paid by Qing Ning Technology, which is higher than their monthly salary when they were professors at prestigious universities, it is enough for them to live a high-society life in Xia Kingdom with no worries about food and clothing.

With such a high income, in addition to working hard in the "Global Extreme Climate Big Data Advanced Analysis Team" on a daily basis, most professors are embarrassed not to participate in teaching work. Those who usually have teaching tasks in their original schools are here. There is one class per week at Qingmu or Yanda. Those who are not good at giving lectures will have one or two lectures per month.

Professor Kelvin Thomson is relatively diligent and has a strong sense of responsibility. He believes that as the vice-captain of the team, it is necessary to take the lead, so he gives a number theory class to the students of Qingmu University every week, and also teaches students every month. He gave a lecture on functional analysis, and during the lecture he also talked about some past events and interesting stories about teaching at Princeton, so he was very popular among students, and many students knew him.

No, after walking on the school road for about ten minutes, seven or eight waves of students he met had already greeted him in a friendly way.

The surrounding environment can still affect a person's mood. At least whenever he receives such warm and friendly greetings, Professor Thomson's mood will improve.

At the same time, Professor Thomson also discovered many things that were inconsistent with his original impression. In the past, when Professor Thomson was teaching at Princeton University, he also met some foreign students from Xia State. Those international students from Xia State were generally not good at speaking, and they always felt restrained and timid when facing foreign professors.

But the Xia Guo students at Qingmu University are full of vigor, study diligently, and most importantly, they are confident. It can be seen from the way they walk and interact with foreign professors that they are not timid or have any The feeling of admiration that "professors from famous foreign universities are particularly awesome".

This is a spirit that radiates from the inside out.

As the saying goes, youth are the future of a country. The spirit of Qingmu and Yan university students will always make people unconsciously feel a little more awe and wonder about the future of this ancient country.

Professor Thomson can also guess the root cause of all these changes. This must be because Qingmu University now has two of the world's top mathematicians - Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun.

If it were ten or eight years ago, Qingmu University would have been overjoyed to have a famous scholar from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton come to the school as a guest. The school leaders accompanied him almost all the way and treated him like a distinguished guest.

Now, let alone a mere professor from Princeton University or a famous scholar from Princeton Advanced Studies, even if a Fields Medal winner or even a Nobel Prize winner comes to visit Qingmu University, don’t expect the school leaders to receive them. Instead, they can have a department chair or It is a great honor to have the dean of the college attend the reception, and then it is "whoever invites you back will be responsible for the reception." There are meetings where there are meetings, visits where there are visits, and exchanges where there are exchanges.

Not only the leaders and faculty of Qingmu University have become more enlightened, but also the students are accustomed to holding their heads high and looking at the "flowery world" outside with confidence.

For them, Qingmu University is home to two Fields Medalists and Nobel Prize winners.

Especially Academician Qin Ke, who is a "god-level being" who is above the world. No one can match him in mathematics and physics. The top research trends in the entire Xia Kingdom and even the world are almost covered by this young academician. affect.

Being accustomed to seeing "Gao Shan" and often hearing his courses and lectures in the classroom, students at Qingmu University naturally have self-confidence and spiritual support, and their dealings with foreign professors are not at all submissive. More What they want is to get along with each other on an equal footing, at most with the warm friendliness and respect for teachers and politeness that are customary in Xia culture. As long as he thinks about the changes in the world's mathematics community and even the scientific research community in recent years, Professor Thomson will unknowingly sigh in his heart, "It turns out that one person can really bring such a huge change to the world."

Once upon a time, Princeton University in the United States was recognized around the world as the "Holy Land of Mathematics." The United States also surpassed Europe and became a leader in the development of mathematics and scientific research.

But now, the center of fashion in the mathematics and scientific research circles has quietly shifted to Xia Guo Qingmu University.

For example, the analysis and application of big data is the mainstream research direction in the world today, and now, the research level of the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory of Qingmu University in this direction is far ahead of the world - the "Extreme Climate Laboratory" established by the team of Academician Qin Ke The best evidence is that the "large disaster prediction model" is the best in the world.

In terms of climate research, a research field related to the future of mankind, the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory of Qingmu University, or to be precise, Academician Qin’s team, has become the de facto core, while the scientific research teams of meteorological centers around the world have become secondary assistants. The character is under the guidance and command of Academician Qin Ke.

A vivid example is that when Academician Qin Ke gave an assembly order, the "Chief Scientist Building" quickly gathered the world's two hundred best Mesozoic mathematicians in mathematical analysis to join the "Global Extreme Climate Big Data Advanced Analysis Team" .

Looking around the world, even the United States and European countries, such as the United States, Eagle Country, and Germany, which are known for being powerful countries in mathematics education, are far behind Qingmu University in terms of talents in big data analysis and application.

But having said that, apart from Academician Qin Ke, Professor Thomson really could not find another team leader who he could be convinced to follow and obey his command.

If there is anyone Professor Thomson admires most in the world, it is definitely Academician Qin Ke, who is nearly 20 years his junior.

Over the past six months at Qingmu University, I have come here not so much to work, but as a part-time study. At least the one-hour course taught by Academician Qin Ke every day has made Professor Thomson feel that he has benefited a lot. In just half a year, He has made leaps and bounds in thinking methods such as functional analysis, big data and even number theory. Many research problems that he could not understand or break through before were suddenly revealed and solved.

This also made him realize again that Academician Qin Ke had indeed stood at a height and perspective far beyond the current era, and was completely different from "excellent mathematicians" like them.

No wonder people as powerful as Mr. Langlands praised Academician Qin Ke as "the living god of mathematics in modern times."

Professor Thomson quickened his pace while thinking about his thoughts.

Arriving at the cafeteria, I soon saw the other two deputy leaders in the team, Tao Zhexuan and Chen Licheng, and several partners already sitting together eating breakfast. Professor Thomson was also carrying his own selection of fried dumplings, fried dough sticks, and soy milk. He sat there - he had been in Xia Country for so long, and he had fallen in love with the food here.

"Good morning, Kelvin." Lao Tao and Chen Licheng greeted each other with a smile: "Did you change the fried dough sticks and fried dumplings today?"

"Morning. I want to try new flavors today." Professor Thomson greeted the other friends: "Wright, Willy, Pars, good morning."

"Vice Captain Thomson, good morning." Several companions also greeted him.

"What are you talking about?" Professor Thomson was originally a bit withdrawn and didn't like to socialize with others. But after coming to Xia Country, Qin Ke appointed him as the deputy team leader, so he had to learn how to interact with team members. Make good dealings.

Qin Ke is also a good role model and teacher in this regard. As long as you learn from his attitude, you will gradually become familiar with the people around you.

Under the leadership of Qin Ke, the "Global Extreme Climate Big Data Advanced Analysis Team" has passed the running-in and adaptation periods and has fully entered the state. It is busy but fulfilling work every day. Professor Thomson's personality is also cheerful. A lot.

Chen Licheng took over the topic and said: "We are talking about the sun-like star named ZFTLSRN-2021 swallowing a gas giant planet about the size of Jupiter."

Professor Thomson was stunned.

This is a strange phenomenon discovered by the European Southern Observatory. It is also the first observed phenomenon of a star devouring a planet in the history of human astronomy. Since the Southern Observatory was following Qin Ke’s instructions at that time, it was monitoring and studying the Alpha Centauri triple star system. It just so happened that this "star-devouring planet" phenomenon was observed just over 300 light-years away from this area.

The entire "swallowing" process only lasted for a very short period of "more than a hundred days" (compared to the billions of years of the star's lifespan, "more than a hundred days" is hardly even a "moment"), but it is said that the Sun-like stars have always been in a "red giant" state and ejected a large amount of special light curves, electromagnetic waves and matter.

Everyone was discussing this incident not because they were interested in astronomical phenomena, but because Qin Ke, after studying the data sent by the European Southern Observatory, believed that the huge "solar storm" on the sun in August last year might have It is because of the early impact of the "ZFTLSRN-8 star-devouring planet" event.

After the past six months, especially the huge data analysis led by Academician Qin Ke in the past three months, it has been basically determined that the solar storm was an important cause, or triggering event, of this "Little Ice Age" .

As for the root causes of global climate change, it seems that the answer is about to be found.

Professor Thomson asked: "Old Tao, I heard that last night you and Academician Qin completed the optimization of the final 'Global Extreme Climate Causation Analysis Large Model'?"

Lao Tao nodded: "Yes, last night Qin Ke, I and Xiao Ning stayed up until more than eleven o'clock at night. Finally, we completed the final optimization work and handed it over to Qin Ke's supercomputer since last night. The group is conducting analysis and calculation of global data, and the results will be available at about 9:30 this morning, right?"

"Nine-thirty..." Professor Thomson looked at the current time, which was already 8:27.

In other words, if nothing else happens, in an hour, we will know the real reason for the frequent occurrence of extreme climate events around the world in recent years! (End of chapter)