Maryam Mirzakhani
(May 12, 1977 ? July 14, 2017) was an
Iranian
mathematician
.
She worked at
Stanford University
.
[2]
[3]
Her research topics include
Teichmuller theory
,
hyperbolic geometry
,
ergodic theory
, and
symplectic geometry
.
[4]
On 13 August 2014, Mirzakhani became both the first woman and the first Iranian honored with the
Fields Medal
, the most prestigious award in mathematics.
[5]
On 14 July 2017, Mirzakhani died of
breast cancer
at the age of 40.
[6]
Mirzakhani was born in May 1977 in
Tehran
,
Iran
. She enjoyed math and puzzles in high school. She earned her
bachelor's degree
at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. Mirzakhani then went to
Harvard
to earn a
Ph.D.
in 2004.
In high school, Mirzakhani found her talents in math. She decided to reconsider her career goals. This was made possible by her principal. Her principal tried to give women the same chances as men to succeed.
[7]
Mirzakhani was also given extra math assignments, which gave her access to university laboratories. She was also allowed to study by herself in the library. This privilege was only given to a few people.
[7]
Mirzakhani was diagnosed with
breast cancer
in 2013.
[8]
She died of the cancer on July 14, 2017 in
Palo Alto, California
, aged 40.
[9]
Mirzakhani won the
Fields Medal
award, the highest mathematical award, in 2014 for her accomplishments in math. She won this award because of her work on Riemann surfaces, a complex mathematical subject. Her work on this subject has improved the basics of both
mathematics
and
physics
.
[7]
[10]
Mirzakhani proved multiple relationships between
moduli
spaces, classes of Riemann surface structures. Her talent led her to be selected twice for the Math Olympiad Team.
[7]
Girls had never been part of the Iranian Math Olympiad team. Mirzakhani was the first woman to be on the team and was selected two times in a row. She won gold medals for her team. In 1994, she only had one point taken off and in 1995, she had a perfect score. This was a big accomplishment since she was the first Iranian to do so.
[7]
Mirzakhani has worked as a math teacher at
Princeton University
and
Stanford University
. At Stanford, her interests changed a little. Mirzakhani still worked on geometry and symmetry but started to focus more on theories on Teichmiller dynamics, advanced geometric strategies. Her research was deemed as mathematical research into nature's abstract concepts.
[7]
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