136. Seventy Sixty Nine
When I arrived at the restaurant, the major sister waved at me as if welcoming.
“Jeong-ho! Here-! here!”
“Uh-huh! smell of alcohol! How much did you drink?”
The older sister said in a curly voice.
“I didn’t drink much—! You didn’t even drink half of my original amount—!”
I turned my head and asked Youngmi.
“Did you drink a lot?”
Youngmi frowned and pointed to the four empty soju bottles on the table.
“My sister drank about three and a half bottles, and I ate the other half.”
Youngmi lowered her voice and continued.
“But I guess your sister is having a hard time these days.”
As if listening to Youngmi, the major older sister raised her voice and waved her hands.
“Is the moose sound—? It’s okay— It’s not hard at all! By the way, Jeongho-!”
When she turned her head to her sister’s words, she took a deep breath and continued.
“Ha-! Then I should have listened to you… … . At that time, Jung-ho, you emailed me twice and even called me, and I was crazy. Whoops—!”
After the older sister had finished talking, she lay down on the table, and Yeong-mi quietly asked me into my ear.
“I’ve been repeating those words over and over again… What the hell are you talking about?”
I told Yeong-mi about what happened with her sister in November last year. Except, of course, that Perelman was aware of posting articles on the Internet.
After my explanation, Yeong-mi looked at the major older sister who had fallen asleep while lying on the table as if she was sad.
“ah… That’s what happened. Listening to you, I understand what you said earlier.”
“What did your sister say?”
“He said that his student was really smart, but he met the wrong professor and lost all the hard work of four years.”
but… You will be very upset.
It was a month ago that the major’s sister and Mike’s papers were sent to the journal. Compared to last November, when Perelman’s paper was published on the Internet, it is eight months later.
Last month, my major sister sent me a thesis I submitted to a journal, but I will have to go through a meticulous verification process in the future… At least it didn’t look like there were any serious errors or problems in my opinion.
So you will be even more upset.
I said to Youngmi with a bitter expression.
“At that time, my sister said… That kind of deal that Mike, a student, asked me to check more closely.”
“Then it’s not your fault!”
That was then.
The major older sister, who was lying on the table, slowly raised her head and said.
“No, it was my fault. I’ve been too lazy… . I should have listened to Jung-ho… . Ha ha——!”
After a while, we got out of the bar and decided to walk all the way to Namseo-dong instead of taking the bus to break our drinks.
Although it was August, it was late at night, and a cool wind blew, and the three of us talked about various things while walking down the street at night.
Hearing about your sister’s life in Texas… Memories of my past life in Austin came to mind.
After walking like that for about 40 minutes, I realized it was near the major’s sister’s house.
When I noticed, the major noona seemed to be very drunk now.
I opened my mouth to my sister.
“Sister, you know the paper Mike submitted last month. Don’t worry too much about it. Everything will be fine.”
At my words, my sister let out a long sigh.
“Heh-! It’s fine… . It was eight months later than the Perelman paper… .”
“It’s not that late. Almost like Perelman.”
My sister frowned and said.
“I’m not in the mood to joke right now.”
“I know. And I’m not joking either.”
Seeing my serious expression, my sister raised her left eyebrow and said.
“What do you mean?”
“You know, Mike Schultz’s doctoral thesis. When I checked at the University of Texas Library, the thesis was submitted on November 12th.”
This means that there is an official record that Mike’s doctoral thesis was submitted to the school on November 12th.
It is a day later than Perelman, but a day difference tells us that it was actually discovered at the same time. Assuming, of course, that Mike and his sister’s proof are correct.
My sister’s eyes, who stopped walking at my words, got bigger and bigger, and then her mouth opened wide.
“Oh-! Oh-! right! Mike submitted his thesis on November 12th. do you remember me. That was Tuesday!”
At the end of October last year, when I exchanged emails with my major’s sister, she told me that Mike had passed his PhD defense. So at that time, I made an international call to my sister and confirmed… It was none other than Mike’s PhD defense.
If there are no serious errors or problems in the thesis in Doctoral Defense, the result of ＜Minor Revision> or ＜Major Revision> will be displayed.
When the ＜Major Revision> result is released, the thesis is extensively supplemented and must be separately confirmed by all the reviewers. Therefore, it takes a long time from a month to several months before the final thesis is submitted to the graduate school library.
However, in the case of ＜Minor Revision>, the final version of the thesis can be submitted to the graduate school library within 2-3 weeks in most cases because minor problems are corrected and only the supervisor’s signature is required.
I’ve never personally checked Mike’s thesis. But it will certainly contain the details of the proof of the Poincare conjecture, the subject of Mike’s doctoral research.
And the major’s sister and Mike would have split this thesis into multiple papers and submitted it to a journal.
From 2000 onwards, there is a shift in the atmosphere that places more importance on journal thesis performance than thesis thesis, but until the late 90s or even early 2000s… The preferred method was to go all-in on the thesis and divide the thesis after graduation and publish it as a journal thesis.
This trend was particularly strong at the top-ranked universities in the United States, as doctoral graduates could easily get a professorship with just their thesis alone.
So, when I made an international call to my major sister last November, I hung up after only confirming that Mike’s degree defense result was ＜Minor Revision>. Of course, if I bring my sister Mike’s revised thesis, I’m asking her to sign it and submit it as soon as possible.
“I still remember! Jung-ho, you told me to sign Mike’s thesis and submit it quickly.”
The major older sister quickly spoke in a weeping voice.
“So that day… Tuesday day… As soon as Mike brings his revised thesis… I signed it and submitted it to the library… .”
Seeing my sister crying… It seems like you’ve been through a lot of heartache during that time.
The older sister continued to speak while rolling her feet.
“I have to tell Mike about this quickly… . ah-! What time is it in Minnesota?”
“Not Texas… Minnesota?”
At my question, the major older sister wiped the tears from her eyes and said.
“Yeah, Mike got a job at the Department of Mathematics at Minnesota State University. They must be in the middle of moving right now.”
“Really? Wow-! Jin- that’s great! ha ha ha-!”
When I heard that Mike was hired, I felt as if I had become a professor.
I laughed out loud and continued.
“Then Mike is settled in his hometown.”
My sister looked at me and said.
“But you… How did you know Mike was from Saint Paul?”
Oops… ! I felt so good that I made a mistake.
I said with a little bit of shichimi.
“The last time Mike came to Seoul, we ate together. I heard it then.”
“ah… ! I see. By the way… I know there are records left that Mike’s thesis was submitted on November 12th… What should I do now?”
The major older sister continued speaking with a serious expression.
“Am I just going to have to go around and gossip about this?”
I shook my head at my sister’s words.
“I think it would be better to just wait quietly.”
“Wait quietly?”
“yes.”
It took 4 years for the final conclusion that Perelman’s proof was correct in the past life, and while his proof was being verified… An incident unfolds that reveals the ugly face of the mathematical world.
The case begins when two mathematicians, Cao and Zhu, publish a paper verifying Perelman’s proof. In this paper, Cao and Zhu say that since Perelman’s proof method is incomplete, they have finally achieved a “complete proof”.
When this paper was published, Professor Yau of Harvard University’s Department of Mathematics gave a keynote speech at a large conference in which he supported Cao and Zhu’s paper and announced that their contribution was greater.
Professor Yau said that if Perelman’s merit was 25, Cao and Zhu’s contribution was 30. He even raised a specific number, lowered Perelman and praised Cao and Zhu.
Another mathematician, Professor Tian, announced that Professor Yau was wrong. There is no difference between Cao and Zhu’s paper and Perelman’s paper. In other words, it meant that the Poincaré conjecture was completely proved by Perelman’s thesis itself.
However, Professor Tian was a long-time student of Professor Yau. In other words, the disciple hit the master in the back of the head.
Enraged, Professor Yau runs into a runaway… He accused Tian of making too much money as a scholar, claimed that Tian had plagiarized himself as a student, and even revealed that Tian’s hundreds of millions of won in research expenses were actually the result of his lobbying.
As this muddy battle begins, the final verification process of the Poincaré conjecture proves to be the worst black history in mathematics.
It was rumored that Perelman had turned down the Fields Medal and the $1 million prize money because none of these mathematicians had an ugly mud fight.
I didn’t want the names of Major Sister and Mike to be left in this dark history.
Maybe if Mike hadn’t found a professorship yet… I thought there was no need to jump into this muddy battle.
“We will have to wait several more years before the verification of the Perelman proof is finished. When my sister and Mike’s journal papers are published, they will naturally come out to the world without her coming out.”
The major sister nodded, and I continued with a smile.
“When that time comes, all I can say is that Mike’s thesis submission date was November 12, 2002.”
At my words, my sister said with a serious expression.
“There is one lesson I have learned deeply this time.”
“Lesson… huh?”
“yes! If you just do what Jung-ho tells you, everything will be fine!”
While we were talking like this, we arrived in front of the major’s sister’s house, and I said to her.
“Oh yeah-! Professor Kim Geun-seok wants you to say hello to your sister.”
My sister’s expression hardened slightly at my words.
“Geun-seok? Perhaps… Isn’t that guy bothering you?”
“Are you harassing me? What does that mean?”
To my question, the major sister explained who Professor Kim Geun-seok was, and I still tilted my head and said.
“Really? Mike You were the one who told me to leave at the seminar?”
“You don’t seem to remember?”
Forgot the face I once saw? It can’t be.
I shook my head slowly, and my sister continued.
“At that time, Geun-seok was wearing colored glasses… Don’t you remember?”
colored glasses?
ah… ! i get it. He said he had LASIK surgery, and when he took off his glasses, he looked completely different.
I said with a sad smile.
“haha-! It was that person. Anyway… I don’t think he’s a bad person.”
At my words, my sister smiled and said.
“okay! He seemed like a good kid.”
After a while, when the major sister entered the house, Youngmi leaned close to me and said,
“Is it a little cold because it’s night?”
I put my arm around Youngmi’s shoulder and said.
“Is it very cold?”
“No, I’m fine now.”
“By the way, did you get career advice from the major noona today?”
“Yeah, my sister told me a really important story.”
I looked at Yeong-mi, and a faint smile was formed in Yeong-mi’s half-moon eyes.
For reference, Youngmi is attending GRE and TOEFL academy during this summer vacation. He is preparing to study in the United States with the goal of entering the school in September next year.
The reason Young-mi met the major’s sister today was actually to get her advice on studying in the United States.
I opened my mouth looking at Youngmi’s half-moon eyes.
“I’m going to study in the US, what do you say, sister?”