Professor Lyndon Strauss and the Need for Lightning-Fast Typing

A private hospital room.

Ou Ye's health was better than it had been before she was admitted for the clinical trial, but she still had R-type Anemia. Her condition was under control, but she was still a patient.

Ou Ye didn't want to be interviewed and was embarrassed to appear in the media.

Shen Qi had naturally become Ou Ye's spokesperson. He was far more experienced than she was at dealing with all sorts of people and handling all kinds of situations.

In fact, Shen Qi felt that at this stage, Ou Ye could make occasional public appearances, such as giving media interviews or holding a special lecture.

Of course, staying out of the public eye wouldn't affect Ou Ye's academic achievements.

The most important measure of someone's mathematical achievement was the academic work they produced.

Back then, Perelman had posted the manuscript proving the Poincaré conjecture on arXiv, then gone on with his life. He had retreated to some rural area in Russia, refusing interviews and public appearances. He couldn't even be bothered to collect his Fields Medal.

Perelman's bizarre, almost hermit-like behavior hadn't stopped him from becoming the great mathematician who was first to solve a Millennium Prize Problem.

In histories of mathematics, Perelman was the first figure mentioned in connection with the Millennium Prize Problems, followed by Shen Qi.

It bore repeating: in mathematics, doing the work was always more important than talking big.

Shen Qi sat by Ou Ye's hospital bed, holding her hand. "With a problem as important as the BSD Conjecture, normally you'd hold a special lecture soon and invite the world's top mathematicians. You don't have to organize it yourself. Let the School of Mathematical Sciences handle that. All you need to do is stand at center stage and explain your ideas honestly."