Heir to the Legacy

Muller's office is more like a conference room.

A round table is placed in the center of the office, which can seat five to six people.

Shen Qi was the first to arrive at the office. He had been at Princeton University for almost a month, and, as the saying goes, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, so he started drinking coffee.

"This round table is one I brought from New York," Muller said to Shen Qi, while the other two members of his research team had not yet arrived.

"Really? Does it have any special significance?" Shen Qi asked.

"I lived in New York for a while, and I often played Dezhou Hold'em, right here at this round table." Muller tapped the table affectionately.

"Your card-playing friends can't win your money unless they're also mathematicians," Shen Qi said. It seems that whether in China, the United States, or Germany, math teachers are all enthusiastic about playing cards.

"The stakes weren't high; the win or loss wouldn't exceed fifty dollars." Muller reminisced about the good old days. "Shen, you've become quite famous lately, attending every math class in the graduate program. You're a very energetic person."

"Oh," Shen Qi replied absentmindedly, his attention drawn to a group photo on the wall.

"Elon said you have a keen sense of judgment in number theory, but the problem is that you chose Mathematical Physics as your main focus. It's not too late for you to change your direction now." Muller glanced back at the group photo hanging behind him. The young blond man in the photo was Muller in his youth, very handsome, and looked a lot like Nowitzki.

Elon's full name is Elon Lyndon Strauss, an Israeli mathematician, Fields Medal winner, and currently teaches at Princeton University.

Princeton University students are fortunate; they often receive guidance from Fields Medal winners.

A few days ago, Shen Qi had the opportunity to attend a number theory class taught by Elon Lyndon Strauss.

In class, Shen Qi confidently and calmly discussed his views on the rigidity of ergodic theory measures and their applications in number theory, which earned him praise from Professor Lyndon Strauss.

"I won't change it." Shen Qi took a sip of coffee and finally discovered the secret in the group photo. "The handsome young man in the photo is Professor Muller, and this old man looks like... Mr. Gödel?"

"That's right, Kurt was my teacher, and this photo of me with him was taken in the 1970s." Muller said with a sigh. The blond young man from back then has become an old man with a full head of white hair, while his teacher Kurt Gödel has passed away for many years.

"So we are the successors of the Göttingen School?" Shen Qi was somewhat surprised, as Muller had never mentioned that he had studied under Gödel.

"Yes." Muller nodded.

The University of Göttingen is located in Göttingen, Germany. The founder of the Göttingen School was Gauss.

Riemann, Dirichlet, Jacobi, and other figures who became synonymous with mathematical formulas carried forward the legacy of Gauss, the founder of mathematics.

In the first half of the 20th century, the Göttingen School dominated the Mathematics Community.

A group of mathematicians, including Klein, Hilbert, Minkowski, von Neumann, Courant, Weyl, Gödel, dominated the Mathematics Community for half a century.

Gödel, the master of number theory, and a friend of Einstein.

At Einstein's invitation, Gödel came to the United States and became a researcher at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study and a professor in the Mathematics Department at Princeton University.

Einstein also graduated from the University of Göttingen and was a prominent figure in the Göttingen School.

During and after World War II, most of the leading figures of the Göttingen School fled to the United States and sought refuge in one place— Princeton.

Einstein, von Neumann, Courant, Courant, Gödel, Weyl renowned figures all taught or conducted research at Princeton.

After World War II, Princeton became a paradise for top scholars, and Princeton University replaced the University of Göttingen as the new "Math Capital".

Now Muller tells Shen Qi that his teacher was Gödel and his mentor was Einstein.

Shen Qi got a little excited and spilled coffee on his jeans.

Muller, this old German guy, is so low-key! Gödel was your teacher, Einstein was your senior, Gauss was your grandmaster—why didn't you say so sooner?

According to the generational naming conventions, I, Shen Qi, am also a direct descendant of Gauss, Riemann, Jacobi, Einstein, and Gödel!

I study Gauss's Theorem, Riemann surfaces, Jacobi matrices, Theory of Relativity, and Gödel's incompleteness theorems every day. But frankly, all of this is just internal business of my own school of thought.

Shen Qi counted on his fingers, one, two, three, four... I am Gauss's sixth-generation successor.

The highest system level setting is:

Level 15 (I'm so lonely and invincible). There are no mathematicians at Level 15 in modern times; the historical reference is Gauss.

This seemed to be the will of Heaven, Shen Qi instantly felt immense respect for Muller.

At Princeton, there are more than a dozen Fields Medal winners, but only one of Gauss's fifth-generation successors, Muller, has passed away; the others are no longer alive.

"Professor Muller, please have some coffee." Shen Qi proactively and enthusiastically poured coffee for Muller, having unexpectedly become Muller's student.

Shen Qi has no regrets about not becoming Witten's student. Although the Göttingen School has evolved into a concept and a kind of ideological inheritance in the 21st century, Shen Qi is still pleasantly surprised to become a successor of this school.

"The Göttingen School doesn't really have any specific technical instructions. By the time Kurt taught me, it had already become Princeton. It doesn't matter. Mathematics is mathematics, there's no distinction between you and me." Muller was quite indifferent to tradition and schools of thought; there was a bit of a Buddhist element to his personality.

"Professor Muller, are you really German?" Shen Qi felt that a traditional German shouldn't have this mindset.

"My grandmother was French," Muller said, then added, "My maternal grandfather was Greek."

"Oh, by the way, what exactly was discussed at today's meeting?" Shen Qi asked.

Muller has a research team, which consists of four people including himself and Shen Qi.

Muller holds two regular team meetings every month, and two people were absent from today's meeting.

Shen Qi, being a newcomer, dared not be late. He arrived at Muller's office more than ten minutes early and chatted with Muller for a while.

At 5:50, a white man entered. He was blond and blue-eyed, with very light blond hair, almost white. He was over 2 meters tall, with typical Germanic features.

"This is Dr. Jonas Carl, and this is Shen Qi," Muller Shen Qi to the tall, blond man.

"Hello, I'm Swede, you can call me Jonas." Dr. Jonas Carl shook hands with Shen Qi.

"Hello Jonas, I'm Chinese, you can call me Shen Qi." Shen Qi already knew that Professor Muller had a doctoral student, and this was his first meeting with his doctoral senior from Sweden.

Muller is both Doctoral Supervisor and master's supervisor. Jonas and Shen Qi are his students. He is currently only supervising these two students and has the energy to provide them with careful guidance.

"Hey Jonas, are you graduating next spring?" Muller asked Jonas.

"Who knows?" Jonas poured himself a cup of coffee. This was his seventh year at Princeton, while Muller had come to Princeton to teach four years ago.

Jonas spent more time at Princeton University than his advisor Muller.

Jonas, who looked relaxed, wasn't in a hurry to graduate with his doctorate. He said happily, "Malmö beat Bayern, Allen, and Shen Qi yesterday. I'll treat you all to a drink tonight to celebrate this great moment."

"Shen Qi, let's go grab a drink. Bayern lost, I'm not in the mood." Muller was unhappy. He asked Shen Qi, "Do you like football? Which team do you support?"

Malmö is a strong team in the Swedish Allsvenskan, while Bayern is the king of the Bundesliga. In yesterday's Champions League group stage match, Malmö defeated Bayern 2-0, causing the biggest upset of the round.

Shen Qi said timidly, "For Chinese teams, I support Evergrande. For Champions League teams, I support Manchester United."

"Evergrande is good, Manchester United is not." Muller and Jonas said in unison.

"Hehe." Shen Qi laughed, "Manchester United will definitely beat you to a pulp in the next round."

The three men started talking about football; it was more like a tea party than an academic meeting.

At exactly 3 o'clock, a white woman entered.

She was very punctual, arriving right on time for the meeting; Muller had announced the meeting would start at 3:00 PM.

Unlike the three men dressed casually, this woman was dressed in formal business attire: a black women's suit, a black skirt, black stockings, and high heels, with a folder in her hand.

"Allen, Jonas, good afternoon." The lady greeted Muller and Jonas, but her attention was more focused on Shen Qi, the newcomer.

"This beautiful lady is Dr. Mary - Schultz -Schmidt, a graduate of the University of Bonn, and my teaching assistant. This is Shen Qi, my newest graduate student," Muller introduced the lady and Shen Qi.

"Walter?" Shen Qi was taken aback. He was very familiar with the name Dr. Mary Schultz -Schmidt.

But the blonde woman in front of me was a completely different person from the red-haired German female PhD student on arVix.