Woman Wins Top Mathematics Prize
August 13, 2014
Maryam Mirzakhani, 37, an Iranian-born professor at Stanford University in California, has become the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Fields Medal. The medal, sometimes referred to as the Nobel Prize for mathematics, is presented annually for outstanding and promising achievements in mathematics. According to a news story on Stanford’s website, “The award recognizes Mirzakhani’s sophisticated and highly original contributions to the fields of geometry and dynamical systems, particularly in understanding the symmetry of curved surfaces, such as spheres, the surfaces of doughnuts and of hyperbolic objects. Although her work is considered ‘pure mathematics’ and is mostly theoretical, it has implications for physics and quantum field theory.” In the same story, Mirzakhani is quoted as saying, “This is a great honor. I will be happy if it encourages young female scientists and mathematicians. I am sure there will be many more women winning this kind of award in coming years.”
Mirzakhani was born in Teheran, the capital of Iran. She first attracted the attention of the international math community by winning gold medals at the 1994 and 1995 International Math Olympiad, a world championship for high school students. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Iran’s Sharif University of Technology and a doctorate from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Fields Medal, officially known as International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics, is sponsored by an organization of mathematicians called the International Mathematical Union. First awarded in 1936, the medal was named in honor of the Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields, who worked to promote recognition of the importance of mathematics.
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