He is just 30 years old and now a superstar of mathematics. Peter Scholze from Bonn has received the Fields Medal, the highest award in his field, which is awarded only every four years.

One of his first sponsors was Klaus Altmann from the Free University of Berlin. Altmann teaches there since 2002 as a mathematics professor. Even today, the scientist is amazed at the encounters with the exceptional talent, which ran quite differently than he had expected.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Peter Scholze has described you as an important mentor. How did you meet him?

Altmann: Scholze visited as a talent a math circle at his special school in Berlin. The head of the class told me that she has a really great student, to whom she simply can not cope, and who needs further suggestions. Then she sent him to me at the FU. Scholze was 16 years old at the time.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: How did you experience him?

Altmann: We talked a bit - and then I gave him a textbook for students and told him to look at the first one or two chapters. We could then ask questions at the next meeting. After two weeks, he came to me and read the whole book. He explained to me what was not quite okay in the book and what to do better. At the age of 16 - that was really amazing.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Did Scholze study with you then?

Altmann: No, that's not the way to say that - we just kept in touch. After our first conversation, I took him to my research seminar. Then I asked him how much he understood. He meant not much. Because he did not know many basic terms that were used in the seminar lecture. I explained most of those terms in a few minutes. "Now everything is clear," he said suddenly. He must have completely saved those 90 minutes before he could understand them. And after the gaps were filled, he could retrieve and assemble everything. For the first time, I got an idea of ​​how he processes things. Scholze may have something like a photographic memory for math, he hardly takes notes.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: How did the mini-study by Scholze run for you?

Volker Lannert / University of Bonn

Mathematician Scholze

Altmann: He was there almost every week. He came to my algebra seminar and heard lectures there and gave lectures to my graduate students and doctoral students. The fact that a 16-year-old taught and explained something to them was psychologically not always easy for the 25-year-old students.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: And how did Scholze deal with this situation?

Altmann: It did not seem to be a special situation for him. Not only is he an exceptional mathematician - he is also a very impressive personality. He explained things so that the 25-year-olds were not piqued, but enthusiastic. Scholze had an exact idea of ​​what the others knew and what did not and how he had to explain something so they could understand it. That was completely natural for him and incredibly fascinating to me. I have never experienced such a person.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Would not Scholze get bored with you at some point?

Altmann: I hope not. But he is also far from any arrogance and would not let me feel that. In his view, the students and even the lecturers and professors should actually all be non-professionals because he is intellectually so far ahead of them. But he does not think so - he is completely down to earth. The cliché of a mundane, introverted mathematician may be true to some - it is totally wrong with him.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What makes Scholze so special as a mathematician?

DPA

Scholze 2016 after receiving the Leibniz Prize

Altmann: He oversees complicated problems with incredible ease. And he has a crazy mind. There is a standard book on algebraic geometry, which I have given Scholze. It's our Bible, so to speak. Even for many doctoral students it is difficult to work through this text completely. Scholze told me that he read the book during German lessons. And reading means understanding with him then.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: But you as a math professor can do it.

Altmann: When I'm working on an unknown math book, I read a line or two, put the book aside, take a pen, do a bit of calculation, and see what that means. And after half a day, in a nutshell, I read on the third line. The density of information in math texts is very high. Scholze, on the other hand, just reads it like an entertaining novel. But not superficially, he understands it to the last detail. One could say: Mathematics is his second native language, his brain can directly record the complicated statements without tedious processing and translation. But that does not mean that he only has mathematics in mind. Scholze has also graduated from high school.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: That's already 13, 14 years back. Do you still have contact with him?

Altmann: Yes, we see each other on many occasions. We had recently organized a summer school for selected students in Bucharest with four prominent lecturers - and Scholze was one of them. If you ask him if he can help, he is fully committed.