On the afternoon of September 25th, our college specially invited Professor Laurent Lafforgue, a Fields Medal winner and member of the French Academy of Sciences, to hold a discussion and exchange session with the 2024 and 2025 cohorts of the Sino-French Elite Mathematics Class. Fan Huijun, Dean of the School of Mathematics and Statistics, and Miao Shuang, Vice Dean, attended the meeting. Professors Liao Lingmin and Xue Jiangwei from the Sino-French program, as well as staff from the teaching affairs office, also participated. Fan Huijun presided over the meeting.
Fan Huijun extended a warm welcome to Professor Lafforgue and encouraged students to seize the opportunity to interact actively and think deeply.
During the interactive session, students enthusiastically asked questions focusing on mathematics learning methods, cultivation of research interests, and expansion of disciplinary horizons. Professor Lafforgue, drawing from his own academic journey, patiently answered the questions, inspiring students to appreciate the beauty of mathematics. He also emphasized the significant value of multilingual learning in breaking through cognitive limitations and deepening cross-cultural understanding of mathematics. The atmosphere was lively, the exchange was in-depth, and the students were greatly inspired.
In his concluding remarks, Fan Huijun emphasized that students should carefully understand Professor Lafforgue's guidance and strive to grasp the following five aspects in their future studies and practice: First, attach importance to language learning to enhance cross-cultural communication skills, especially focusing on French language cultivation to understand the thinking differences behind the language and open a diverse window for understanding the world. Second, encourage active questioning to hone critical thinking. Dare to express opinions, overcome psychological concerns, and expand the depth of dialogue and stimulate thinking vitality through effective questioning. Third, consolidate writing skills and strengthen knowledge management abilities. Persist in note-taking and writing training to improve logical expression and accumulate profound humanistic qualities. Fourth, adhere to the principle of integrating theory with practice to deepen understanding of abstract concepts. Be good at combining specific cases and using new theories to explain real-world problems, enhancing intuitive understanding and application capabilities. Fifth, broaden academic horizons and follow a step-by-step approach. Maintain broad academic interests, avoid limiting the direction too early, and gradually focus on professional fields on a solid foundation.
Laurent Lafforgue is a Fields Medalist. He formerly served as Director of Research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Permanent Professor of Mathematics at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHES). He currently works at the Huawei Paris Research Center. In 2000, he received the Clay Research Award. In 2001, he received the Jacques Herbrand Prize awarded by the French Academy of Sciences. At the 24th International Congress of Mathematicians in 2002, Lafforgue was awarded the Fields Medal for his outstanding contributions to number theory and algebraic geometry. In 2003, he was awarded the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour by the French government and was elected as a member of the French Academy of Sciences in the same year. Lafforgue, following the method of Vladimir Drinfeld (also a Fields Medalist) in proving the case of GL2, extended the Langlands conjecture to GLn over function fields of algebraic curves of positive characteristic.
This symposium is an important measure for our college to promote the construction of an internationalized talent training system, and successfully built a platform for students to communicate with international mathematics masters. In the future, the college will continue to deepen cooperation with world-class scholars and institutions, expand students' global horizons, consolidate the foundation of disciplines, and continuously inject new impetus into promoting the high-quality development of mathematics in China and cultivating top-notch innovative talents with international competitiveness.
