121: Chapter 121 Heated Discussion

In his office at the University of California, Los Angeles, Terence Tao closed the arXiv page, the screen's glow reflecting off his contemplative face.

Outside the window lay the beautiful streetscape of Los Angeles, but his thoughts at this moment were entirely occupied by those few photos of scribbled, handwritten manuscript pages.

As a Fields Medalist and a top-tier mathematician who had blazed trails in the fields of harmonic analysis and nonlinear dispersive equations, he naturally took notice immediately of this preprint that had stirred up a tsunami within top-tier circles.

The mailing lists and encrypted communication groups within the circle had long been flooded with mentions of Chen Youhua and the Navier-Stokes Equation; he had read every single evaluation from giants like Wells, Popova, Strange, and Mehta without missing one.

Caution, excitement, disbelief... but without exception, they all pointed to the same core.

This work was highly likely to be real.

He spent two full days deducing it line by line and symbol by symbol, as if deconstructing a piece of precision artwork.

The more he read, the brighter the light of astonishment in his eyes grew.

This was not just as simple as solving a century-old problem!

"Genius... a truly genius concept."

Terence Tao muttered to himself.

What shocked him was not the conclusion that was ultimately proven, but the nearly dazzling innovative power of the tools displayed during the proof process.

Chen Youhua was like the most brilliant craftsman, taking existing mathematical tools.

Those tools that Terence Tao himself was intimately familiar with, used for handling complex nonlinear problems.

Taking them in hand, with just a slight examination, he would casually modify, deepen, or even completely reshape them!

Every step of the modification was just right, as if he had tailor-made a brand-new key for a specific keyhole.

And what was even more breathtaking were those completely original, brand-new tools and frameworks introduced like a celestial being, filling in critical gaps and bridging seemingly impossible chasms.

"This is simply... opening up a new direction for the entire field of nonlinear partial differential equations, especially for dealing with complex dissipative systems!"

Terence Tao exclaimed.

He clearly realized that the value of this paper far exceeded the Navier-Stokes Equation itself.

It provided a brand-new, immensely powerful set of mathematical tools, sufficient to benefit countless subsequent studies in related fields and push mathematics itself forward by a great leap.

A contribution of this caliber deserved to be seen by the whole world.

He hesitated almost not at all, opening that Twitter account with millions of followers.

His fingertips danced on the keyboard, carrying both a mathematician's rigor and a rare, surging passion.

Terence Tao (@terrytao)

"Just spent two days carefully studying Chen Youhua's manuscript on the arXiv regarding the existence and smoothness of the Navier-Stokes Equations. I must say: Mind-blowing!"

"Setting aside the fact that the final conclusion still requires rigorous verification by colleagues worldwide, the core value of this work lies in its extraordinary mathematical creativity..."

"Regardless of whether the Navier-Stokes Equation problem is perfectly solved in the end, the profound insight and originality displayed by Chen Youhua during this process are enough to make this manuscript one of the most important documents in the field of mathematics this century."

Click, send.

...

Terence Tao's tweet brought the [discussion] within the circle...

His evaluation of "Mind-blowing!" and "one of the most important documents" instantly ignited the public opinion that was already boiling within the circle, and elevated its energy level to the public sphere.

California Institute of Technology, Physics Department coffee corner.

"Hey, have you seen Tao's tweet? That proof for the Navier-Stokes Equation!"

"I saw it! God, even Tao says it's mind-blowing! Who exactly is this Chen Youhua? Handwritten photos? This is just too hardcore!"

"What's wrong with it being handwritten? Truth is truth even if written on a napkin! I just want to get my hands on the preprint to see it now! The department server is about to be crashed by arXiv!"

Nature magazine editorial department.

Senior editor Mark's phone vibrated frantically; he glanced at the screen, and his pupils instantly dilated.

"Terence Tao tweeted an endorsement? Quick! Contact every fluid mechanics and mathematics expert we can find! Deep analysis! Start the cover story plan immediately! We need to know everything about this Chen Youhua!"

BCC Tech Channel live studio.

The host spoke at a rapid pace.

"...Just a few minutes ago, Fields Medalist Professor Terence Tao gave an extremely high evaluation on social media to a paper claiming to have solved a century-old mathematical problem, calling it mind-blowing and possibly one of the most important mathematical documents of this century!"

"The author of this mysterious paper is a scholar named Chen Youhua, about whom there is currently very little information. The paper was even published on a preprint platform in the form of photos of a handwritten manuscript! Is this truly a major breakthrough in the mathematical world, or..."

...

This wind also, unsurprisingly, blew back to the country.

That name, once encrypted and referred to by aliases, seemed to have had some invisible seal lifted with the publication of the paper.

On the largest knowledge Q&A community in the country, a post titled 【Rational Discussion, did that person do another big thing recently?】 was seeing its popularity soar at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Original Poster: As the title says, it seems like things are exploding outside the firewall? The commotion is even bigger than last time? Those who know, know; seeking a popular science explanation (saving my life with a doge emoji).

(@KeyboardWarriorBuster): "Just got back from outside, all I want to say is, the Human Race Emperor is terrifyingly powerful! [Thumbs Up] [Thumbs Up]"

Reply 1: "Stop talking in riddles upstairs! Is it the Navier-Stokes Equation? Is it Chen Youhua?!"

Reply 2 (@KeyboardWarriorBuster): "Shh... keep it low profile... but since the God Tao has tweeted and stamped his approval, it should... be okay to talk about it now, right? [Doge emoji for self-preservation]"

(@MathNoob): "The ban is lifted, family! We can breathe! Say it out loud: Chen! You! Hua! The great god has proven the existence and smoothness of the Navier-Stokes Equation! Terence Tao tweeted his high praise! The mathematical world has been shaken!"

Reply 1: "Holy crap! We can really call him by name now? Tears in my eyes! God Chen is awesome!!"

Reply 2: "My god! It really is him! That god-tier paper in information engineering before was also him, right? This cross-disciplinary leap... going straight from information to conquering the ceiling of fluid mechanics?!"

Reply 3 (@GradStudentWantingToGraduate): "Wuwuwu... Big Boss, you are my real father! But you are also the terminator of my graduation thesis! I've been working on a Navier-Stokes Equation-related numerical simulation project for three years... now I feel like I'm building a sandcastle on the beach, and the seawater (the proof) is coming... [Crying] [Crying]"

Reply to reply: "My brother, my condolences... how about... changing careers and going to work on prosthetics with God Chen? [Funny emoji]"

Comment 3 (@PasserbyA): "Asking weakly, what is the Navier-Stokes Equation? Is it very impressive? Harder than chips?"

Reply 1 (@PopularScienceJun): "Simply put, it's one of the seven Millennium Prize problems, with a million-dollar reward! It has plagued the world's smartest brains for a hundred years! Understanding it allows for a deeper understanding of fluids. Solving it is equivalent to lighting up a vast unknown continent on the map of human cognition!"

Reply 2: "Let's put it this way: if you can solve one, you can pick any Academician position in the country? That's thinking too small! That's the level of being able to go directly into science history textbooks and sit alongside Newton and Einstein!"

Comment 4 (@CalmOnlooker): "Although... the Big Boss is so fierce, why didn't the country hide him well? Last time with the information paper, he was untraceable, why let him out to 'fry fish' (dominate) this time?"

Reply 1: "Maybe... he couldn't be hidden anymore? The whole world is already watching. Or maybe it's... confidence?"

Reply 2: "Upstairs is naive! I guess it's a national strategy! Using a pure academic trump card to attract attention, covering up the real news, a feint to the east to attack in the west, brilliant!"

Comment 5: "God Chen: I just want to do research quietly, and solve a Millennium Prize problem along the way. Netizens: No, you don't! [Doge]"

Comment 6: "It seems God Chen's mathematics is far above mine."

Reply: "Tell us something we don't know [Smile]"