Chapter 61
CCTV is the oldest and most authoritative media in China. In recent years, various emerging information channels have developed rapidly, and CCTV is also exploring content that is closer to young people than traditional content.
Therefore, the relatively relaxed moments during the press conference and Yang Shi's interview with Ji Zhixing were extracted and posted on Weibo as promotional videos for the news program, which quickly attracted a wave of netizens.
"Wow! As expected, knowledge is indeed a treasure trove! Ji Zhixing has already made 9 million this time, and another 1 million US dollars is waiting for him in two years!"
"I'm so envious! I'm so jealous!"
"Don't forget he worked in his advisor's lab and received 25 million yuan in bonuses!"
"Going back further, there's the earthquake prediction software issue. Back then, the rewards from all parties added up to more than 2 million yuan, right?"
"A quick calculation shows that in just one year, Ji Zhixing's net income reached more than 36 million yuan, plus a $1 million pre-order."
"This...is this the power of knowledge! I finally feel it! Where are my books! Where are my books?!"
"It's better to weave a net than to stand by the water and envy the fish; I'm going to go read now!"
"From today onwards, anyone who dares to stop me from studying is blocking my path to wealth!"
This video sparked an unprecedented passion for learning in many people, and the comment section was filled with laughter when the video played the library segment.
"Haha, do you think the reporter didn't know it was from the sun? They just wanted to be sentimental, and Ji Zhixing didn't even know how to cooperate."
"Actually, the reporter was already being quite restrained in trying to evoke emotion by not asking questions like 'Do you miss your grandfather?', but Ji Zhixing left absolutely no room for empathy."
"The generation gap in thinking between liberal arts students and STEM students is probably as wide as the Mariana Trench."
Reporter: Speak like a human! Ji Zhixing: It's faded from the sun. Hahaha!
"I noticed the reporter had been trying to get Ji Zhixing to talk more, but Ji Zhixing's initial talkativeness actually hindered the reporter's performance, hahaha!"
"Speaking of which, why does a person's skin turn darker when exposed to the sun?"
"Ah, you've touched on my area of expertise. Because ultraviolet rays have a proliferative and activating effect on melanocytes in the skin, excessive melanin deposition will darken the skin. However, melanin can prevent ultraviolet rays from damaging the skin, and skin darkening is actually the body's self-protection against light damage."
"Oh, I see. But I hope my melanin doesn't work so hard to protect me! Ugh!"
"Same here. My melanin probably thinks I'm so fragile that I'd melt away with just a little sun. Why does it rush to the surface of my skin so recklessly with just a tiny bit of sunlight? Waaah—"
The library interview segment is immediately followed by a laboratory segment, where Ji Zhixing's scheme to seize free publicity opportunities succeeds, and many people in the comments section have expressed interest in the zero-gravity seat.
"This zero-gravity seat is amazing. Can it really make you feel absolutely nothing?"
"I kept seeing the term 'zero gravity' lately and thought it was pseudoscience, but it turns out it's actually real science."
"When will it be available on the market? We desperately need it!"
"I need it too! I've only been working for half a year, and my butt is already worn out from sitting so much."
"Even if the effect is only half as good as advertised, I will still buy it. Launch it soon!"
Xu Dongyang, lurking in the comments section, couldn't stop smiling as he read the expectant voices. He quickly posted a comment tagging the promotional account and also included the official website he had prepared beforehand in the comments section.
The publicity effect from CCTV was indeed remarkable; the number of followers on the promotional account skyrocketed, and private message notifications never stopped. Xu Dongyang eventually had to disable notifications and then contact the company's publicity department, demanding that the publicity campaign be launched quickly, taking advantage of this favorable momentum!
For two or three days in a row, news about this press conference could be seen everywhere online and offline, and the real-time discussion among netizens was also very high.
"Thumbs up for Ji Zhixing's mental fortitude; he remained calm and composed even in front of three thousand reporters."
"The reporters' questions were all so polite. Was someone pointing a gun at them? Hahaha!"
"It's too conventional, it's a bit boring. I want to hear some exciting tidbits."
"This is not entertainment news, thank you."
"I dare say that the questions asked by those foreign journalists were not well-intentioned, but fortunately Ji Zhixing handled them quite well."
"Here's the bombshell: it turns out it was even rejected before! Which journal is so blind?"
"We've all been discussing it in our group chat, and everyone's guessing it's 'New Advances in Mathematics,' otherwise there's no reason why we'd be missing one player."
"The evaluation of 'lack of novelty' suggests that the editors of *New Advances in Mathematics* may not have even read the paper before rejecting it, and Ji Zhixing likely encountered academic discrimination."
"Damn! I thought academic work was something pure and simple, but there's discrimination involved!"
With a population of 1.4 billion, only a minority of people engage in scientific research and write papers. It was only from this point that the concept of "academic discrimination" truly entered the public eye and sparked widespread discussion.
In the research community, it is often difficult to determine whether academic discrimination has occurred. This is because the power to review manuscripts rests entirely with the editors, and most submitters do not have the opportunity to inquire about the editors' evaluation criteria.
It can be difficult for authors to distinguish whether a paper is rejected because it lacks sufficient value or because of indirect factors such as academic discrimination.
However, Ji Zhixing's paper is by no means "worthless", so the possibility of it being rejected due to academic discrimination is almost 90%.
Another 10% possibility is that the editor's academic level is simply too low, to the point that they cannot understand the logical thinking behind the paper.
However, being an editor for a top journal is not something that just anyone can do; the threshold is extremely high, so even this 10% chance is extremely slim.
After a heated debate, the reputation of *Advances in Mathematics* in China has declined, the general public's impression of the journal has plummeted, and the research community has begun to deliberately avoid it.
After all, nobody wants their hard work to be negated for absurd reasons. And the absence of Zhang the butcher doesn't mean we have to eat hairy pork. There are still three top journals to choose from besides *New Advances in Mathematics*.
At the same time, many people have realized the importance of establishing an academic journal system and have turned their attention to *Chinese Science*. Although the impact factor of *Chinese Science* is not high at present, there are still some pure and enthusiastic researchers who are willing to contribute their efforts.
The press conference was immediately followed by the International Congress of Mathematicians.
The International Congress of Mathematicians is the highest-level global academic conference in the field of mathematics, held every four years. The first congress was held in Switzerland in 1897, and it has a history of over a hundred years.
The 29th General Assembly was held in July this year, and the 30th General Assembly was originally scheduled to be held four years later.
However, due to Ji Zhixing's remarkable achievement in solving the Navier-Stokes equations, the International Mathematical Union, the organizer, decided to make an exception and hold an additional mathematics conference at the suggestion and urging of numerous mathematicians.
Each previous conference invited a group of outstanding mathematicians to give academic presentations. The invited presentations were mainly divided into two types: a 1-hour plenary lecture and a 45-minute panel discussion.
In addition, mathematicians attending the conference can apply to give a 10-minute academic presentation at a parallel session. The parallel sessions cover 20 branches of mathematics, including algebra, mathematical physics, number theory, and partial differential equations.
However, this 30th Congress of Mathematicians, which was held as an exception, only invited Ji Zhixing to give a plenary lecture.
First, this conference was specifically convened because of Ji Zhixing's solution to the Navier-Stokes equations. Second, the conference held six months ago had just reaped the rewards of four years of work from mathematicians, and six months was not enough time for mathematicians to make new breakthroughs.
Therefore, at this conference, the International Mathematical Union only extended an invitation to Ji Zhixing to give a presentation. Furthermore, no other mathematicians have yet applied to give a presentation in a panel discussion.
Upon learning this, Ji Zhixing felt both honored and even more nervous.
Being invited to give a presentation at the International Congress of Mathematicians is a very high academic honor for mathematicians.
In previous conferences, only one speaker from China delivered a one-hour speech, and only 13 speakers delivered 45-minute speeches.
This time, the International Mathematical Union did not limit the time of his report, which made Ji Zhixing feel even more pressured. It can be said that after the press conference, he devoted all his time and energy to preparing for this report, and even neglected his systematic study.
The university also attached great importance to this conference, and organized several professors who were familiar with the Navier-Stokes equations to read Ji Zhixing's paper over and over again, and then listed many points that might be asked or questioned.
Zhu Ren also organized a special simulation exercise.
Actually, it wasn't really a simulation; this was Ji Zhixing's graduation defense, a solo graduation defense.
The press conference was immediately followed by the final exams, and Ji Zhixing was busy preparing for the conference report. He originally wanted to apply for exemption from the exams, but then he thought he might as well try to apply for early graduation, and surprisingly, he was approved.
Therefore, the graduation thesis will naturally be a series of papers on the Navier-Stokes equations.
There were four members on the defense committee. The first was Professor Yan Anjin, and the second was originally Yu Yuan, the dean of the School of Mathematical Sciences, but he was squeezed out of his position by the three bigwigs.
These three prominent figures are Academician Ke Xueyuan of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academician Gong Chengyuan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Academician Li Shi, a director of the Chinese Mathematical Society.
The three bigwigs arrived uninvited just to serve as defense committee members for a student from Guangling University, and the president and Zhu Ren were eager to announce it to the world with great fanfare.
The bigwigs arrived in a hurry, and Ji Zhixing didn't even realize that the defense committee had been changed until he arrived at the conference room in the administration building.
With the addition of Professor Yan, who was elected an academician in December, a total of four academicians attended his graduation defense, which Ji Zhixing found quite unbelievable. A year ago, he could never have imagined that his graduation defense would be like this.
Ji Zhixing stood on the podium with excitement. After all, he had been preparing for a long time, so although he was a little nervous, he was not stage fright.
In a typical graduation defense, the time a candidate spends presenting their thesis is usually limited to 15 minutes or less. However, Ji Zhixing was an exception; he spent a full hour introducing his thesis.
The big shots all seemed very amiable, but the questions they asked were very sharp.
As soon as Ji Zhixing finished speaking, Academician Ke Xueyuan couldn't wait to ask: "A particle can move and rotate, but the basic concept of torque cannot really hold true. So how do you explain the contradiction between shear force and Newton's third law?"
Ever since he saw Ji Zhixing's eight published papers, he had been completely absorbed in them, his mind filled with nothing but the Navier-Stokes equations. He had accumulated many questions about Ji Zhixing's derivation process. When he learned that Ji Zhixing would be using the Navier-Stokes equations as the basis for his graduation defense, he rushed over.
Ji Zhixing was well-prepared for this type of problem: "Because the number of charge particles is conserved, even if the charge particles disintegrate, they always have a definite and unchanging amount of matter. Therefore, in the final analysis, it still comes down to Newton's second law and the law of angular momentum. Since shear force itself is an approximation force that does not necessarily actually exist, I actually bypassed this concept and directly focused on the rotational speed of the charge particles and the speed of the center of motion..."
"Brilliant!" Ke Xueyuan slapped his thigh hard! This simplifies the problem to analyzing the kinetic energy, potential energy, and microscopic field of a single flow particle.
Following Ke Xueyuan, the other members of the defense committee also raised questions one after another, which Ji Zhixing answered one by one.
The defense lasted for a full four hours, and Zhu Ren hesitated several times about whether he should ask the bigwigs to stop for lunch.
This special graduation defense finally came to an end at 2:00 PM.
The experts didn't even have time for a quick meal, rushing back to their labs. Their research projects were all key national R&D projects based on the Navier-Stokes equations, and now that they had new insights, they were eager to go back and verify them one by one.
The principal and Zhu Renjian didn't force anyone to stay, since having photos was enough for Guangling University anyway.
After his graduation defense, Zhu Ren immediately scheduled the graduation ceremony for that afternoon.
All of Ji Zhixing's former teachers were present, smiling as Yan Anjin presented Ji Zhixing with his Physics Department graduation certificate and degree certificate. Then, Yu Yuan, the dean of the Mathematics Department, also went on stage and handed Ji Zhixing his Mathematics Department graduation certificate and degree certificate.
Ji Zhixing hadn't attended a single math class, and his student status was even registered at the academic affairs office by Yu Yuan after he applied for early graduation. So this math degree was practically a gift from heaven.
This is unprecedented, but Yu Yuan is not afraid of criticism at all. This exception is based on absolute achievements. Who dares to have any objections? Who would dare to have any objections?
A note from the author:
The approach and viewpoints for this defense are based on the book "Solving Navier-Stokes Equations by Finite Volume Method and Piers".
I was supposed to write at least half of the International Congress of Mathematicians today, but I wasn't satisfied with any of the different ways I wrote it, so I'll stop here for today and think about how to write it more appropriately.
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