Chapter 71

Ji Zhixing didn't attend many academic conferences; the International Congress of Mathematicians was his first. After returning to China, Guangling University held another academic conference with him as the keynote speaker at the request of scholars from various parties. These were the only two such conferences he attended.

However, Ye Shi, being a PhD, was obviously much more experienced. Upon arriving at the conference venue, she first led them to register, collect the relevant documents for the conference, and obtain the conference invoices.

"Make sure you keep the invoices safe, you'll need them for reimbursement later!" Ye Shi instructed, then led them to take turns taking photos in front of the conference's large display board for archiving.

This academic conference was in the field of mathematics and physics. Ji Zhixing flipped through the proceedings; the first few pages introduced the leading figures attending. There were four academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, two foreign experts, and an Abel Prize laureate occupying the absolute center position.

The Abel Prize is a prestigious mathematics award established in Norway. It is awarded annually with a prize of $800,000, making it the highest-paying mathematics prize in the world.

Because of the Abel Prize title, Ji Zhixing was quite interested in Mr. Charles's report.

Ye Shi grabbed him and said solemnly, "Don't go! It's dangerous!"

Ji Zhixing immediately recalled the shooting incident at the International Congress of Mathematicians, but surely not in China? He had never heard of any dangerous incidents occurring at domestic academic conferences before—except for fire accidents.

"There's a risk of falling asleep on the spot, hahaha!" Ye Shi laughed heartily, then explained, "Don't let Mr. Charles's impressive title fool you; he's been living off his past achievements ever since he won the award. All these years he's been busy traveling around, even endorsing 'high-tech' companies, but he hasn't made any new academic contributions whatsoever."

As Ye Shi spoke, she turned to the contents page of the file and pointed it out to Ji Zhixing: "Look at this topic, doesn't it look familiar!"

Ji Zhixing glanced at it and indeed it looked familiar. He had read related papers, the most recent one being seven or eight years old.

"I've run into him at various academic conferences four or five times, and it's always the same topic, with the same PPT presentation every time," Ye Shi complained.

Ji Zhixing then gained a clear understanding of this academic conference. He had heard before that some academic conferences had become mere vanity projects.

For some universities or research institutions, hosting an academic conference means gaining a political achievement. Additionally, some companies organize all sorts of haphazard academic conferences to make money.

Ye Shi said, "If it's a really good academic conference, the teacher will personally take us to attend."

At formal academic conferences, discussions on some hot topics can get incredibly heated, almost like arguments to outsiders. In these situations, the professor would seize the opportunity to put them on the front lines for training, observing from the sidelines. Only when he saw them showing signs of weakness would he step in to debate with the assembled scholars, ultimately defeating them.

But these academic conferences that let them out to eat and drink for free are just a way to gain experience points and polish their resumes.

Ji Zhixing was a little disappointed, mainly because he felt it was a waste of time. He continued flipping through the files unwillingly, and surprisingly saw a familiar name—Pan Tu.

His eyes darkened; he had only heard this name from Professor Gao Xiao. According to Professor Gao Xiao, this man was indispensable in Professor Yan's decision to leave Yenching University and move to Guangling.

Back then, Professor Yan focused on the Navier-Stokes equations and used the finite difference method to determine the initial and boundary values ​​of the domain in the Navier-Stokes equations, which was a groundbreaking achievement at the time.

“But… oh dear!” Gao Xiao couldn’t hide his sigh when he talked about this. “Your Professor Yan, to put it nicely, has an academic fastidiousness, but in reality, he’s just nitpicky! He has to find a suitable application field to verify before he’ll write a paper.”

Pan Tu was Professor Yan's student at the time, and his first doctoral student. Professor Yan was not wary of him. Pan Tu seized the opportunity to steal all the research results on the Navier-Stokes equations from Professor Yan's computer, compiled them into a paper, put it under his own name, and submitted it to Nature. It was published quickly and rapidly attracted attention both at home and abroad.

It was only then that Professor Yan learned that his academic work had been stolen.

"Old Yan was so upset back then. Pan Tu, that bastard, had been his student since his undergraduate days. He wasn't really talented, he was just really good at pretending, always with a book in his hand. Old Yan was moved by this and took him on as a student, and always treated him very well."

Ji Zhixing also felt sorry for Professor Yan, never expecting that he had such a past of betrayal.

Professor Yan was worried that there might be some misunderstanding and wanted to ask Pan Tu in person. However, Pan Tu refused to meet him and instead asked another professor at Yenching University, Fan Ji'an, to back him up.

At the time, Fan Ji'an was competing with Professor Yan for the academician qualification, so he supported Pan Tu, implying that Professor Yan was maliciously appropriating the student's academic achievements.

Because mathematical theories like the Navier-Stokes equations don't require experiments—a pen and paper are all that's needed for research—Pan Tu, after receiving notification of the manuscript's approval, secretly formatted Professor Yan's computer before its official publication.

Therefore, at that time, it was Pan Tu who had complete original materials, while Professor Yan only had a few scattered draft papers that had not yet been thrown away.

Both sides gave conflicting accounts, and with Fan Ji'an's meddling further, the investigation team was completely baffled. Seeing the uproar, the leaders of Yenching University advised Professor Yan to back down for the sake of the university's reputation, but Professor Yan resigned in anger.

The investigation team investigated several times at Professor Yan's insistence, but to no avail. In the end, they vaguely determined that the academic achievement of "boundary initial and boundary values ​​of the Navier-Stokes equations" was jointly owned by Yan Anjin and Pan Tu.

Professor Yan was disillusioned with academia; if it weren't for Zhu Ren's persuasion, he might have become a monk.

Pan Tu was already a third-year doctoral student at the time. After obtaining his doctorate through Fan Ji'an's connections, he directly secured a position as an assistant professor at Princeton University based on this groundbreaking academic achievement.

When Professor Gao Xiao was telling Ji Zhixing about this incident, seeing that he was filled with righteous indignation and could not hide his anger, he comforted him: "It's okay, you've avenged your Professor Yan."

"Huh? When did this happen?" He himself didn't know.

"Didn't you crack the Navier-Stokes equation? That kid makes a living researching the Navier-Stokes equation, and after more than ten years he's still just an assistant professor. Clearly, he hasn't made any new achievements. I bet that bastard will be fired soon!"

Ji Zhixing had been wondering when he would have the chance to meet this traitor. He never expected to run into him at this academic conference today.

He glanced at Pan Tu's introduction in the conference program; his title was still Assistant Professor at Princeton University, and his presentation topic was the Navier-Stokes equations. A thought struck him, and he sent a message to Black at Princeton, inquiring about Pan Tu's recent activities there.

Although Ji Zhixing attended the report as a student, the organizers, after discovering him on the registration list, eagerly invited him to serve as a review expert for the conference.

Normally, Ji Zhixing would have declined. However, he was currently eager to have this identity to find fault with Pan Tu's report, so he agreed.

When Pan Tu saw Ji Zhixing, his pupils dilated for a moment. He certainly recognized Ji Zhixing, who had solved the Navier-Stokes equation, and knew that he was Yan Anjin's student, but he didn't know what Ji Zhixing's purpose was in sitting there, and his heart was in turmoil.

But he was already on the stage, and the report meeting was about to begin, so he didn't have time to think about it too much.

Ji Zhixing sat in the front row and watched him coldly. Although the topic of the report was the Navier-Stokes equations, Pan Tu only spent a few minutes on it and then spent most of the time reviewing his teaching and life at Princeton University.

He sometimes mentions how much the mathematical genius Professor Lewis admired his academic ideas, and at other times he mentions how close he was to Herbert, the editor-in-chief of the Annals of Mathematics.

Despite mixing long passages of English with his Chinese, he still insisted on expressing his patriotism.

"I have been away from my motherland for more than a decade, and even though I am on the other side of the ocean, I have never stopped thinking about the development of the academic community in China, to the point that I cannot sleep at night," Pan Tu sighed emotionally. "Only in middle age have I realized that no amount of fame, fortune, or status can compare to the word 'motherland.'"

At this point, Pan Tu took off his glasses, lowered his head to wipe away tears, and composed himself before continuing, "Therefore, although the president of Princeton University and Professor Lewis tried to persuade me to stay, I resolutely resigned from my teaching position at Princeton University and returned to my motherland, hoping to do my part in cultivating academic talents for China."

Clap clap clap! The hall erupted in enthusiastic applause, reporters' cameras flashed incessantly, and several academicians sitting in the front row also showed their approval.

Pan Tu has a very good image; he looks gentle and speaks sincerely. He is only forty years old, in the prime of his life, and many professors from various schools are already considering recommending him for teaching positions.

Only Ji Zhixing scoffed, because just now, Blake had replied to the message. The message continued his usual talkative style, letting Ji Zhixing know a lot about Pan Tu.

For example, Pan Tu did not resign voluntarily; he was fired.

During his more than ten years at Princeton, most of his academic achievements were still within the framework that Professor Yan had initially developed. His own contributions were limited, and he gradually became unable to publish papers.

When he couldn't continue his research, he desperately wanted to prove he still had value, so he relentlessly added drama to his teaching. He would spend tens of minutes discussing even the font size and typeface for the final exam papers, and he would nitpick students' handwriting in their assignments. The students were exhausted by his antics and disliked him. He wasn't well-liked among his colleagues either.

In fact, Princeton University had already considered expelling him last academic year. However, news of the protective gel had just emerged, and the US government was very interested in this new material. Pan Tutian shamelessly claimed that the inventor of the protective gel was his teacher in China, and he could act as a go-between.

Using this excuse, he dragged things out for another year. Seeing that he couldn't obtain the technology or materials, the American government stopped protecting him. Princeton University, having waited patiently, finally dismissed him.

Ji Zhixing looked at the hypocritical traitor to his master standing on the stage, cleared his throat, and said loudly, "Mr. Pan, someone from Princeton University has something they want me to tell you."

Pan Tu stood on the stage, visibly flustered: "Is...is that so? Private matters shouldn't take up everyone's time, let's discuss this privately..."

How could Ji Zhixing possibly do as he wished? He continued, "It is said that you left too quickly after being expelled, and there is still a tax debt that has not been paid. The finance staff at Princeton University have been unable to contact you, and since they happened to know that I had contact with you, they asked me to convey this matter to you."

The room erupted in uproar. Pan Tu watched as everyone whispered among themselves, their gazes shifting from admiration to disdain. He was so flustered that his heart trembled.

He forced a smile: "That's not true, there might be some misunderstanding."

"Whether it's a misunderstanding or not, you can tell the people at Princeton yourself." After saying this, Ji Zhixing stood up calmly and left the venue.

He's a person of some standing now, and his words won't go unheard. In this information age, it's easy to look up anything if you want to, even abroad.

Moreover, the reporters present would definitely not let this plot twist slip by, and he assured that Pan Tu would definitely be able to "become an overnight sensation" by taking this opportunity.

Good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels fast. The news that Ji Zhixing had exposed Pan Tu's patriotic lies on the spot spread throughout academic circles that very day.

At first, some people thought Ji Zhixing was too ruthless, but soon others figured out his motives. Ji Zhixing was Yan Anjin's prized student, and many people still remember the huge scandal that Yan Anjin had with Pan Tu back then.

In retrospect, Pan Tu has made no progress on the Navier-Stokes equations over the past decade, while Ji Zhixing, trained by Yan Anjin, has solved them in one fell swoop. The truth of the matter is self-evident.

After finishing the dinner provided by the hotel, Ji Zhixing received ten voice messages from Professor Gao Xiao, all praising him. Professor Yan, on the other hand, called him but remained silent for a long time, unable to say anything.

Ji Zhixing understood Professor Yan's complex feelings and took the initiative to change the subject by talking about his studies and life at Yenching University. Then, with Professor Yan's encouragement, the call ended.

Two days later, the four-person team returned to Yenching University with various small gifts from the organizers and went back to the laboratory to study the "low-temperature optical tweezers" technology.

Everyone was trying hard to break through the mental predicament, but Ji Zhixing was inspired by this academic conference and suddenly had an idea.

A note from the author: