Chapter 8 - The First Seminar
Chapter 8 - The First Seminar
The MIT headquarters conference room had been quiet since the morning, and the report Jonathan Reed had submitted lay in the center of the table.
[Proposal for Yoon Siwoo Research Support Special Program]
The first sentence was short. This child is not someone to be taught, but someone to conduct research with.
The President stared at that sentence for a long time before looking up.
"Professor Jonathan-nim, is this sentence really as it is?"
"Yes."
"He is an eight-year-old child."
"I am aware."
"He is at an age where he should be in elementary school."
"I am aware of that as well."
"And yet, you are saying MIT should conduct research with him?"
Jonathan pushed the materials placed to his side forward.
It was Siwoo's explanation that had been organized in the Virginia living room the previous day.
[Common coordinate system, threshold, connection point, there is a path]
As the President flipped through the materials, his expression gradually stiffened, and the other board member professors were the same.
At first, there were some who thought it was just an exaggerated report about a gifted child, but as they turned a few pages, the air in the conference room changed.
The Head of the Mathematics Department spoke first.
"Official admission is difficult."
The President nodded.
"I agree."
"But we cannot just send him back either."
Andrew said immediately.
"We must not put that child into the general curriculum."
"The reason?"
"There is more content we need to verify together than content to teach him."
"And he is still too young."
A board member professor furrowed his brow.
"That statement is dangerous."
"I am aware."
"It could look like MIT is being dragged along by an eight-year-old."
"We are not being dragged along."
"Then what is it?"
"It is that we recognized it too late."
The conference room went quiet.
It was a statement that hurt their pride, but no one could refute it, and the President tapped the first sentence of the report with his finger.
"Let's set the conditions."
"He is not an official student."
"It is not a degree program either."
"There are no exams."
"Family accompaniment, a two-hour limit, psychological stability as a priority, lab access limited to designated areas, and seminar participation allowed only on a limited basis with professor consent."
"What about the title?"
"We will call it a 'Visiting Research Participant'."
The Head of the Mathematics Department nodded.
"That is appropriate."
The President closed the report.
"Good."
The gazes in the conference room gathered at once.
"I approve the Yoon Siwoo Special Visiting Research Program."
Jonathan let out a short breath, and Andrew bowed his head without a word.
The decision was made. It was not that MIT was calling for Yoon Siwoo, but that MIT had created a new seat for Yoon Siwoo.
It was that afternoon when the phone at Siwoo's house rang.
Siwoo was looking at a science magazine on the living room floor and looked up, and Hyejin handed him the receiver.
"Siwoo-ya, it's Professor Jonathan-nim."
Siwoo took the receiver.
"Hello."
Jonathan's voice was a little more cautious than usual.
"Siwoo. I would like to make a proposal from MIT."
"What kind of proposal?"
"It is not an official admission. However, we intend to allow you to participate in MIT labs and seminars on a limited basis."
"Me?"
"Yes."
"What should I do there?"
"You just need to look at what you are curious about."
"Is that all?"
Jonathan laughed softly from the other side of the phone.
"At MIT, that is often the most difficult thing to do."
After hanging up the phone, the dining table went quiet, and Taesik spoke first.
"What does that mean in simple terms?"
"They said I can go to MIT and look at the labs and seminars."
Hyejin asked.
"It's not admission?"
"They said no."
"Not an exam either?"
"Yes."
"Then is it a field trip?"
Siwoo thought for a moment.
"I think it's similar to a field trip."
Taesik nodded.
"A field trip... do you want to go?"
"Yes."
"A lot?"
"Yes, a lot."
Taesik sighed.
"Let's go."
Hyejin turned her head.
"Yeobo."
"He says he wants to go."
"Aren't you worried?"
"I am."
"Then?"
"Still, we can go together."
Siwoo looked at his parents.
Taesik deliberately put on a nonchalant face.
"Instead, there are conditions."
"Two hours?"
"That's the basic one, and you must eat well."
"Yes."
"If Omma thinks it's not right, we stop immediately."
"Yes."
Taesik also raised a finger.
"And even if Appa can't understand, you must explain it to me."
"That's a bit difficult."
"Hey."
Hyejin burst into laughter, and just like that, Siwoo's MIT Visiting Research Program began.
A few days later, the vehicle entered the MIT campus, and buildings passed by outside the window.
Students were busy coming and going, and bicycles crossed the road.
Researchers were walking into buildings with coffee in their hands, and Taesik muttered while looking out the window.
"Wow... it's really huge."
Hyejin also nodded.
"Is this a school or a city?"
Siwoo was looking out the window without a word.
"How is it?"
"...It's smaller than I thought."
"What?"
"When I saw it in pictures on the internet, I thought it would be bigger."
"Are you comparing that?"
Taesik burst into laughter.
Jonathan and Andrew were waiting in front of the Mathematics building, and Jonathan reached out his hand as soon as he saw Siwoo.
"Welcome."
"Hello."
"Was the flight okay?"
"Yes."
"How is MIT?"
Siwoo looked around for a moment.
"It looks fun."
The first place was the seminar room.
Originally, only a few professors and graduate students were scheduled to attend, but when the door opened, there were far more people sitting than expected.
There were doctoral students, graduate students, several professors, and even researchers from other departments.
Siwoo quietly looked around at the people, and Hyejin's expression immediately stiffened.
"There are too many people."
Jonathan bowed his head.
"I apologize."
"The interest grew larger than expected. If it's uncomfortable, I will reduce the number."
Siwoo said.
"It's okay."
Hyejin asked immediately.
"Are you really okay?"
"Yes."
"If it's hard, tell me right away."
"Yes."
Siwoo took a stopwatch out of his bag and placed it on the table.
The people in the seminar room looked at it at the same time, and Andrew explained.
"It's a two-hour limit."
"Let's strictly adhere to it."
A quiet murmur passed through, and one graduate student muttered quietly.
"He really is just a kid."
The person next to him replied.
"Did you forget until just now?"
Siwoo stepped onto the footstool and picked up the chalk.
Siwoo thought for a moment and then wrote the first sentence.
-Not a wall, but a threshold
The seminar room went quiet, and Siwoo wrote the second sentence.
-A blank space is not an error, but a connection point
And he wrote the third sentence.
-Assumptions create walls
Siwoo turned around.
"You can look at it again starting from here."
For the first 10 minutes, the students' expressions were skeptical.
He was too young, his voice sounded like a child's, and the hand holding the chalk was small.
But the structure written on the chalkboard was not that of a child.
After 20 minutes, the expressions of the graduate students in the front row changed, and after 30 minutes, the professors began to look at each other.
After 40 minutes, even the sound of coughing decreased in the seminar room.
Bradley raised his hand.
"Wait."
Siwoo stopped moving.
"If you leave that connection point, doesn't the condition on the back become heavier?"
"At first, yes."
"Then?"
"But if you align the baseline, it decreases."
Siwoo drew a new line on the right side of the chalkboard.
"If you cross this, it becomes heavy, and if you align it here, it gets organized."
Bradley was speechless, and the graduate student next to him said quietly.
"It's being explained, isn't it?"
Another student whispered.
"Am I the only one getting goosebumps?"
"No, me too."
When an hour passed, the questions became sharper.
The professors no longer asked as if they were being considerate of a child, but asked in a way one would ask a real researcher.
Siwoo also answered briefly.
If he didn't know, he said he didn't know, and after saying he didn't know, he always added the content.
-Beep beep beep
The stopwatch rang, and Siwoo put down the chalk.
Everyone in the seminar room looked at their watches at the same time and confirmed that 2 hours had already passed.
Siwoo stepped down from the footstool, and Hyejin handed him a water bottle immediately.
"Drink some water."
"Yes."
"Are you dizzy?"
"A little."
Jonathan said to the students.
"Today's seminar ends here."
The students could not easily get up.
They didn't know how to accept the scene they had just seen.
Professors had asked questions to an eight-year-old child, and that child had led the seminar for two hours.
And the reason it ended was not because the content was finished, but because the stopwatch had rung.
"What did we just see?"
"It's for real."
"I thought it was a show at first."
"If it were a show, the professors wouldn't have those expressions."
"What's that kid's name?"
"Yoon Siwoo."
"I heard he came from Korea."
"Is he really eight?"
"MIT is crazy."
The talk that started in the Mathematics hallway went to the cafe, and from the cafe, it went to the student cafeteria.
And from the student cafeteria, it went to the dormitory chat rooms.
That evening, the first post went up on the MIT student community.
[Is today's seminar for real]
Comments were posted in an instant.
- I was there
- Is he really eight?
- Professors asked questions and he answered
- Did you see Jonathan's expression
- First time I've seen Professor Bradley get cut off
The second post spread even faster.
[Korean kid genius appears in the Math Department]
- It's too scary to call him a kid
- I'm a doctoral student and my self-esteem was crushed today
- Me too
- It's my first time feeling academically pushed by an eight-year-old
- But when he talked about games, he just seemed like a kid
- That's even weirder
The news also reached the student newspaper editorial office, and one student reporter opened their laptop and said.
"We have to write this."
The editor-in-chief asked.
"Is it confirmed?"
"Five seminar attendees, two graduate students, one Mathematics Department official."
"What's the title?"
The reporter thought for a moment and then wrote.
[8-year-old Korean Visiting Research Participant that the Mathematics faculty is paying attention to]
The editor-in-chief checked the title and nodded.
"Don't exaggerate, just throw out the title."
"Keep the body short."
The article went up at 9 PM, and the student community burned up again.
- The article is actually out
- His name is Yoon Siwoo
- MIT didn't deny it
- What does it mean to be a Visiting Research Participant
- It's certain that Jonathan Reed is attached to him
An hour later, a follow-up title went up.
[8-year-old boy who debated with the faculty at a graduate seminar]
- Crazy
- Is that what we saw today
- The professors were asking questions, right?
- The kid answered
- Is this MIT? Where did I get into
Past 11 PM, the third title went up.
[Rumors of participation in Hodge conjecture research spreading]
- That Hodge conjecture?
- One of the world's 7 great problems?
- Isn't that going too far?
- Otherwise, why would MIT move like that
- This is going to go to external media
Siwoo was already washed and sitting on the bed.
Hyejin was organizing the bag, and Taesik was looking out the window.
Siwoo thought about the seminar room he was in today.
It was more fun than he thought.
The questions were sharp, and the people were serious.
That was good, but he was a little tired.
It felt like he had taken his thoughts out for too long.
"Are you very tired?"
"A little."
"Let's rest tomorrow."
"Yes."
Taesik turned around.
"How was MIT?"
"It's the most fun place after home."
Taesik and Hyejin laughed at the same time.
At that time, MIT was buzzing.
Students were chatting in the community, professors were reviewing the seminar content again, and the student newspaper was preparing a follow-up article.
And an education reporter in Boston was sitting in front of a laptop until dawn.
On his screen, an article title that had not yet been released was floating.
[Korean genius that MIT is paying attention to]