Maryam Mirzakhani

Born on 3 May 1977 in Tehran, Iran, mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani was the first woman to win the field’s prestigious Fields Medal. She dreamed as a child of becoming a writer, but then as a teenager found her true calling to be mathematics. Mirzakhani won gold medals at both the 1994 and 1995 International Math Olympiads. She went on to study at Sharif University of Technology, earning her bachelor’s degree in 1999. She earned her PhD in 2004 at Harvard University, working under the supervision of Fields Medalist Curtis McMullen. From 2004 to 2008 she was appointed a research fellow at the Clay Mathematics Institute and held an assistant professorship of mathematics at Princeton University. She became a professor of mathematics at Stanford University in 2008. Mirzakhani specialized in geometric structures, particularly hyperbolic surfaces. Her research has potential applications in engineering, material science, and cryptography. She was awarded the Fields Medal in 2014 “in recognition of her contributions to the understanding of the symmetry of curved surfaces.” She died from cancer in July 2017 at age 40. (Photo courtesy of Stanford mathematics department)

Date in History: 3 May 1977