TEHRAN – Mariam Mirzahani is not only a model for the scientific role of Iranian girls, but also a source of honor for global knowledge, says Fateme Mohajelani, a government spokesperson.
“In the initiative of female mathematicians, May 12 was designated as an International Woman on Mathematics Day to commemorate Mirzahani’s birthday. A woman who pushed the boundaries of science with genius and patience.
Mirzahani was born in Tehran in May 1977. In 1994 and 1995, she was awarded a gold medal by the Iranian mathematical Olympiad. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Science from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran in 1999 and was awarded a scholarship from Harvard University, where she received her PhD in 2004.
She became a professor of mathematics at Stanford University in 2008 at the age of 31.
In 2006, Popular Science Magazine nominated Mirzakhani to its annual Brilliant 10 list. In 2009, she received the American Mathematics Association’s Blumental Award for advances in pure mathematics research.
Her other awards include the Satter Awards in 2013 and the Clay Research Award in 2014.
In 2014, she received the prestigious Fields Medal Award for “her outstanding contribution” to the construction of knowledge and understanding of curved surface dynamics and geometry. She was the first woman and the first Iranian to win an award. This is often considered the “Nobel Prize” in mathematics.
In 2016, she was elected to the American Academy of Sciences. This honor previously went to famous scientists such as Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer and Thomas Edison.
The genius mathematician died of cancer in 2017 when she was only 40 years old.
In 2022, Oxford University launched the Maryam Mirzakhani Scholarship, which provides support to female mathematicians pursuing doctoral studies at the university.
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