Liu Lu has become an official researcher at his university, which will give him benefits that an official professor would receive, including research grants and other benefits. (Photo: CNTV)
At just 22, Liu Lu has become China's youngest full university professor, an honor usually bestowed upon acclaimed academics 20 years his senior. While many Chinese children are forced to attend advance math classes for extra credits, Liu, who has never received any such education, solved a world math enigma because, he says, he loves the subject.
Many dig their first pots of gold through perspiration. For Liu Lu, "a flash of inspiration" helps too.
The 22-year-old undergraduate has been awarded one million yuan from his university in Changsha, Hunan province, for breaking a math equation that's gone unsolved for more than 20 years.
He's also been promoted to professor, the youngest ever in the country, and can benefit from research grants.
Liu Lu, Central South University said, "It is encouraging to see such an acknowledgement in the campus as well as in the academic field. I feel some pressure."
Some have raised their eyebrows at the "bold" promotion, but the school says it knows what it's doing.
Zhang Yaoxue, President, Central South University Said, "He won't give lectures. We would like him to gain more knowledge in both China and abroad, and be dedicated to scientific research as much as possible. Here we offer every opportunity and our support."
In 2010, as a junior university student, Liu grabbed the academic world's attention by solving Seetapun Enigma, a mathematics conjecture first put forward by British logician David Seetapun in the 1990s.
His solution was submitted to the Journal of Symbolic Logic, an international academic publication, winning praise from the journal's editors.
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