Critiel Matich glanced up at Edward Witten without saying a word, rely nodding silently. However, the young person beside him was particularly enthusiastic and imdiately said, "Professor Witten, there’s a seat here, please sit down."
Edward Witten had so impression of this young man; during the morning presentation, he sat next to Critiel Matich. He even rembered that this young man had specially brought a notebook and was diligently taking notes.
"Thank you, well then, Matich, aren’t you going to make an introduction?" Edward Witten said with a smile, appearing very accommodating.
In his view, he could be considered a semi-host now. Although Critiel Matich often opposed him, as a host, there was no need to be too particular... This also showed that Huaxia’s culture was indeed inclusive.
"Ham Taylor, my student." Critiel Matich probably didn’t expect Edward Witten to be so good-natured today, giving him an odd look before casually introducing him.
"Hello, Ham." Edward Witten greeted the young man beside him.
"Hello, Professor Witten." The young man responded hastily, looking a bit shy.
After all, in the field of physics, Edward Witten’s fa was much greater than that of his own ntor. Many young scholars truly idolized Professor Witten.
Critiel Matich glared at his disciple, seemingly feeling that his student’s behavior was quite spineless.
Unfortunately, Ham Taylor’s attention was entirely on Edward Witten at the mont, completely ignoring his own ntor’s disapproving look. This was actually quite fortunate because if he didn’t see his ntor’s expression, it was as if his ntor wasn’t upset.
Fortunately, Edward Witten noticed and, having a good impression of this polite and eager young man, decided to change the subject: "Well then, Matich, you should maintain the enthusiasm you had when asking questions during the presentation this morning. At our age, staying calm is important."
"Heh heh..." Critiel Matich chuckled twice, seemingly unwilling to engage further with Edward Witten, and continued to focus on the steak on his plate.
Edward Witten shrugged, ate a piece of braised pork on his plate, and, being uninterested in talking to Matich any longer, turned his attention to the young man beside him: "Ham, did you know? I was surprised that your teacher ca to this conference and even brought a student. By the way, where did you attend university before?"
"Professor Witten, I did both my undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Bonn. During my undergraduate studies, I majored in..."
"Ahem..." Critiel Matich’s cough interrupted Ham Taylor, successfully making the young man glance at his ntor’s expression, and in the next mont, the excitent of eting his idol finally faded.
There was no choice; his ntor’s face must be saved. No matter how great Edward Witten was, he couldn’t control whether he could graduate or provide him with a glowing recomndation letter after graduation. In the Western system, whether for employnt or further scientific research, having a prominent ntor write such a letter is extrely important.
Whether the letter is given perfunctorily, seriously written, or just a template... that truly affects future prospects.
So whether in Huaxia or abroad, it’s common knowledge that students should avoid offending their ntors.
"Alright, Matich, between us, at most, it’s just so differing views on the future developnt of physics. There’s no need for such small actions in front of young people, don’t you think? Or are you afraid I’d steal your student away?"
Edward Witten looked at Critiel Matich with a humorous smile.
"Alright, Edward Witten, I admit that I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about your M theory, nor am I now about Q theory. But I want to tell you that my attitude hasn’t changed; any theory that cannot be experintally verified cannot be considered worthwhile!"
Critiel Matich put down his knife and fork, speaking with seriousness and sincerity.
Upon hearing this, Edward Witten beca visibly invigorated, staring at him and saying, "Oh? If you put it that way, Matich, did you help us verify Q theory? At least partially verify it?"
Critiel Matich glared at Edward Witten, his emotions slightly heightened, causing his voice to rise, "Is playing dumb any fun? You’ve already communicated with Ham and even applied my data to verify I(ϕ)’s deformation. Now you’re bringing this up? Are you trying to mock ?"
A series of rhetorical questions left Edward Witten montarily stunned, but looking at his old rival’s irritated appearance, he soon snapped out of it.
This was indeed the Professor Matich he was familiar with, instantly lifting his spirits.
But the seventy-year-old handled his emotions well; although he was delighted, Edward Witten didn’t show it and instead maintained a serious deanor: "I think I understand. But I have to say, you’ve misunderstood , Matich. In fact, you might not be very familiar with the internal workings of the Xilin Mathematics Research Institute."
After finishing, he paused for a mont, the founder of M theory continued speaking under the puzzled gaze of his old rival: "You probably assud that even if I wasn’t in the leading role in proposing and completing Q theory, I surely held an important position, right? So naturally, I should be familiar with the operations within the Research Institute?"
"You are wrong! Neither I nor Peter Schultz have made as significant contributions to Q theory as you might imagine. Or let put it this way, Q theory’s prototype existed first, and only then were Peter and I persuaded to actively participate in this research at Xilin.
This way, I think you should understand? Don’t view as too important. I can only tell you that the person corresponding with Ham certainly wasn’t , nor was I inford about it, and I had no knowledge of the matter from start to finish."
After explaining to Critiel Matich, Edward Witten turned to the young man beside him again and asked, "So can you tell who contacted you? And what aspect of verification work you perford?"
Ham Taylor was montarily stunned, not knowing that his ntor and big figure like Edward Witten had a history of grievances, subconsciously glanced at his ntor and found that Professor Matich seed equally stunned and apparently didn’t object to him speaking with Edward Witten, so he cald himself and began answering truthfully.
"I contacted the email provided in Professor Qiao’s paper, which was published in the international version of ’New Discoveries in Mathematics and Physics’ about Q theory. Under the guidance of the emails, I used the data collected by LIGO and Virgo detectors over recent years, given to by my ntor, to conduct so verification of black hole information validity. Then found that the data calculated via Q theory matched the data collected over the years."
After finishing, Ham Taylor hesitantly asked, "Do you an that the person who has been emailing is Professor Qiao himself, is that right, Professor Witten?"
There was a certain amount of conflict in his tone, seeming both pleased and fearful.
Initially, he indeed believed the emails were personally replied to by Qiao Ze. But later, sothing seed off, as many responses ca just minutes after he sent them, as if Qiao Ze was always by the computer, just waiting for his emails.
Not to ntion whether such a historically young and successful scientist like Qiao Ze had the spare ti, even considering the ti difference made it suspicious.
Many tis he would send emails in the afternoon and receive a response within ten minutes. Doesn’t this imply that this globally recognized most gifted mathematical physicist in Huaxia works through the nights?
This wasn’t scientific, and just thinking about it could be disheartening.
It’s despairing to think that even soone so extraordinarily talented had to work harder than average people. What future is left for the ordinary?
Fortunately, Edward Witten did not give him such a despairing answer.
"Haha, while I’d love to encourage you, your thinking is clearly unlikely. In fact, that contact email is rarely used by Professor Qiao. He uses the internal email much more frequently. Moreover, if you visit Huaxia for study or work living for a while, you’ll find their habits differ from the West.
For example, within the research institute, people prefer using other instant software to communicate instead of exchanging emails. However, I’m quite interested in your research. Can we have a discussion about your research progress after the afternoon seminar? In exchange, I can tell you who’s been guiding your research daily, how about that?"
...
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