Chapter 57

Lin Ran chuckled.

Newton stood on the shoulders of predecessors; he was standing on the shoulders of successors.

He really wanted to tell Siegel that number theory was just an interest, and he only understood number theory; what he was truly good at was partial differential equations.

Whether it was Fermat's Last Theorem or Fermat's Diophantine conjecture, these relied on the wisdom of successors; only the N-S equation was solved by himself.

If he published the N-S equation, he would be the Emperor of Mathematics.

However, Lin Ran didn't want to do that yet.

If the N-S equation were published, with the strength of America and the Russians, who knows to what extent they would advance intercontinental missiles; other countries would really have no power to fight back.

In this space-time, the strategic maneuvering space of Cultural Huaguo would be further compressed.

Lin Ran could only pretend to be greatly encouraged, "Professor, being able to make a small contribution to the mathematical community can be considered as not failing the teachings of the professor when I was studying in Göttingen back then, and not letting down the name of the Göttingen mathematical holy land."

Siegel was just waiting for you to say this: "No, no, everything you do is adding glory to Göttingen.

Professor Hilbert summarized 23 mathematical problems at the Second International Congress of Mathematicians in 1900. In the sixty years since then, all important achievements in the mathematical community have been more or less able to establish a connection with these 23 mathematical problems.

You proposed the Langlands program in 1960, laying the first cornerstone for the unification of mathematics. I believe that the important achievements in the mathematical community in the next sixty years will also be related to the Langlands program.

This is the relay of Göttingen as a mathematical holy land; it is the best proof that Göttingen is still Göttingen after Germany has experienced war, division, and turmoil."

Lin Ran thought to himself after hearing this: I really came from sixty years later.

Siegel didn't correct Lin Ran at all for not having studied in Göttingen, even though he, Lin Ran, and Horkheimer present all knew very clearly that Lin Ran had only stayed in Göttingen for one day, and that was just the day he came to talk to him about helping to solve the PhD degree.

What about one day? One day is also the result of Göttingen's teachings! Siegel felt it was a matter of course.

As for Göttingen's fame needing to be supported by Chinese people, it was even less of a problem in Germany after experiencing World War II and the NAZI.

In Germany at this time, no one dared to mention any pure Germanic people; isn't that looking for death?

Not to mention that Siegel himself was of Jewish descent.

"So Göttingen sincerely invites you to return to Göttingen to teach; we can guarantee that the salary will not be lower than Columbia University," Siegel had already started to take action, holding Lin Ran's hand with a sincere expression.

Lin Ran thought to himself: As expected. Then he looked at Professor Horkheimer and thought: The other party is poaching in front of you openly; is this really okay?

However, fortunately, there was the best shield. Lin Ran said:

"Professor, it is an honor to receive an invitation from my alma mater, but unfortunately, I am still studying for Professor Horkheimer's PhD. Could you allow me to consider it after I get my PhD in philosophy?"

Professor Horkheimer said at the right time: "That's right, Randolph. How did you read the required introductory books on philosophy that you were shown during this trip to Xiangjiang?"

Siegel was dumbfounded. So I am not Randolph's only mentor; Horkheimer, you kid, also want to come and get a piece of the pie.

"Professor, I have finished reading all the books you gave me.

Among them, the discussion on antinomies in the dialectic of Kant's *Critique of Pure Reason* has been read repeatedly and carefully, and sections 260-360 of Hegel's *Elements of the Philosophy of Right* have also been read repeatedly.

However, the manuscripts you gave me, *Dialectic of Enlightenment* and *One-Dimensional Man*, have only been read roughly once."

*Dialectic of Enlightenment* was co-authored by Horkheimer and Adorno; it was that Adorno Horkheimer mentioned earlier when talking about the collection of atonal music.

The original version of this book was published in '47, and the manuscript Horkheimer gave him contained a large number of annotations by him and Adorno.

The latter, *One-Dimensional Man*, was written by Marcuse and would not be published until 1964. The one given to Lin Ran was also a manuscript version with annotations by Marcuse and Horkheimer.

Just bringing these two manuscripts back to 2020, one could easily mix a PhD in philosophy at Columbia University and then stay to teach.

Publishing a few papers and then becoming an influential scholar of the Frankfurt School would be no problem at all.

Taking this out, who would dare to say I am not Horkheimer's mantle successor?

To be precise, all four books had Horkheimer's annotations. In *Elements of the Philosophy of Right*, Horkheimer wrote:

"If you read Hegel on your knees, you are not worthy of criticizing Marx; but if you stand and scold Marx, you will never understand Hegel."

When Lin Ran saw this passage, he thought to himself: In the future, scholars in the field of humanities and social sciences in Cultural Huaguo will read all Western philosophical works on their knees, not daring to have any doubts at all.

"Actually, Max, if you want to come to our Göttingen to teach, there is no problem at all," Siegel suggested.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt it was a good idea. Horkheimer was a top big shot in the field of philosophy; buy one get one free, wouldn't it be beautiful?

"Anyway, you are old, you can consider coming to our Göttingen to spend your later years; Göttingen's air, weather, and environment are all not bad," Siegel continued.

Horkheimer interrupted impatiently: "If I want to return to Germany, don't I know to return to Frankfurt?"

What kind of countryside place is Göttingen? It doesn't even have an airport. If you come to New York, you still have to transfer in Frankfurt! This is like Shanghai people looking down on Suzhou; Suzhou people also have to go to Shanghai Airport to take a plane!

"Professor, how about this: I am willing to accept a visiting professorship at Göttingen and take time to go to Göttingen to teach every year.

In addition, I should go to London at Christmas at the end of the year to participate in Queen Elizabeth's knighthood ceremony. At that time, I will stop by Göttingen to do a round of academic lectures. What do you think?" Lin Ran looked at Siegel.

Siegel knew that this was already the best result, and said helplessly: "Alright, alright."

Then he turned to Horkheimer and said: "You must reimburse me for my flight ticket back to Frankfurt! I failed to bring Randolph back; Deuring could really do something like not reimbursing my flight ticket."

Lin Ran himself could be considered to have brought him back halfway, so the flight ticket money should be reimbursable. Let Horkheimer help buy it, and I can still earn a flight ticket fee. Anyway, Horkheimer buying it is still reimbursed by Columbia University; if you don't earn the rich guy's money, you don't earn it, Siegel thought.

Horkheimer agreed immediately. Anyway, he had more research funds than he could spend. Siegel took the opportunity to say he was going to the Columbia University Department of Mathematics to walk around and see old friends, and the office was left with only Horkheimer and Lin Ran.

Lin Ran took the opportunity to tell the other party about the progress of the cooperation with John Morgan, as well as the fact that the other party was going to take him to participate in Nixon's fundraising dinner tonight, hoping to get some advice from Horkheimer.

"Got it, have fun. These kinds of dinners are played quite wildly; be careful not to get sick."