
Maryam Mirzakhani
geometry genius
In 2014, Dr. Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman to win Math's highest honor ~ the Fields Medal.
The celebrated scholar hadn't always been a math whiz. Growing up in Iran, her dream was to be a writer. It wasn't until high school that Maryam's passion for numbers took hold. By 17, she was winning international competitions. At Harvard, her thesis solved a problem {calculating the volume of hyperbolic surfaces} that had stumped mathematicians for years.
As a professor at Stanford, Maryam was respected for her ability to creatively mix math theories + willingness to pursue seemingly unsolvable problems. Math, she noted, isn't that different than novel-writing since "your problem evolves like a live character."
Maryam passed away of breast cancer at just 40 years old.
award winning | first woman to win the prestigious Fields Medal ~ Math's Nobel Prize
creativity + vision | solved long-standing problem of calculating volume of hyperbolic forms ~ curved objects like amoeba and donuts
mixing it up | works across disciplines, blending dynamics + geometry
curiosity-driven research | unafraid to take on big ideas + deep interest in pure math ~ research for sake of understanding mathematical structures as opposed to finding applications {though that happens too!}
1994 | first Iranian woman to win a gold medal at the International Math Olympiad
2004 | solved 30-year old problem of calculating volumes of hyperbolic forms in her Harvard thesis
2014 | at 37 years of age, became the first woman to be awarded the Fields Medal, the highest honor for a mathematician
from | to
wannabe novelist who read to escape strife in home country of Iran | internationally recognized math genius
born on
May 1977
died on
July 15, 2017
~ passed away of cancer at 40 years old ~
born in
Tehran, Iran
birth name
Maryam Mirzakhani
citizen of
Iran
daughter of
Ahmad Mirzakhani
~ engineer and chairman of board for non-profit ~
sister of
3 siblings
~ including an older brother who piqued her interest in math by teaching her trick for adding the numbers from 1 to 100 ~
{answer: 5,500...found by pairing numbers that total 101}
grew up in
Tehran, Iran
lives in
Palo Alto, California
educated at
Sharif University
~ Tehran, Iran | BS Mathematics | 1999 ~
Harvard University
~ Cambridge, MA | PhD Mathematics | 2004 ~
loved studying
complex geometry | connections with theoretical physics + topology, etc.
married to
Jan Vondrak
~ theoretical computer scientist ~
mother of
1 daughter | Anahita
influenced by
Curtis T. McMullen
~ the Harvard Professor + Fields Medal recipient who oversaw her thesis ~
worked alongside
Alex Eskin
~ University of Chicago mathematician | mutual research on trajectories of billiards ~
{their findings have already been applied to sightlines of security guards in mirrored complexes}
in her spare time
hangs out with family
prefers solo activities | reading + exercising
doodles | her daughter thinks she's painting ~ she's actually working out problems.
image credit
Department of Mathematics | Stanford University
"There are times when I feel like I'm in a big forest and don't know where I'm going. But then somehow I come to the top of a hill and can see everything more clearly. When that happens it's really exciting."
Brilliant 10: Princeton University ~ Maryam Mirzakhani | october 2005
"It's invaluable to have a friend who shares your interests and helps you stay motivated."
Interview with Research Fellow Maryam Mirzakhani | 2008
"I don’t think that everyone should become a mathematician, but I do believe that many students don’t give mathematics a real chance."
Interview with Research Fellow Maryam Mirzakhani | january 2008
"You have to spend some energy and effort to see the beauty in math."
A Tenacious Explorer of Abstract Surfaces | august 2014
"I like crossing the imaginary boundaries people set up between different fields—it's very refreshing. There are lots of tools, and you don't know which one would work. It's about being optimistic and trying to connect things."
A Tenacious Explorer of Abstract Surfaces | august 2014
"I don't have any particular recipe . . . Doing research is challenging as well as attractive. It is like being lost in a jungle and trying to use all the knowledge that you can gather to come up with some new tricks, and with some luck you might find a way out."
Stanford's Maryam Mirzakhani Wins Field's Medal | august 2014
"There are different characters, and you are getting to know them better. Things evolve, and then you look back at a character, and it’s completely different from your first impression."
Meet the First Woman to Win Math’s Most Prestigious Prize | august 2014
"It's not only the question, but the way you try to solve it."
International Mathematical Union | august 2014
"I like crossing the imaginary boundaries people set up between different fields—it’s very refreshing."
Meet the First Woman to Win Math's Most Prestigious Prize | august 2014
"Life isn't supposed to be easy."
Meet the First Women to Win Math's Most Prestigious Medal | august 2014
for further reading about Maryam Mirzakhani:
curated with care by Kathleen Murray {march 2015}
at the chalkboard
A professor at Stanford since 2008, Maryam teaches a handful of classes in addition to her research work. When she was a teenager, her first math teacher didn't think she had talent and she was discouraged. But, the following year, she had a different teacher who encouraged her interest ~ and she went on to compete on Iran's International Mathematical Olympiad, winning gold.
Micro-Documentaries | Simons Foundation and International Mathematical Union
press conference | Fields Medal
Maryam gives a press conference after becoming the first woman to win the Fields Medal. She discusses her motivation and the importance of supportive teachers, as well as the issue of gender equality in math. She has said she works slowly, preferring to consider the same problem for years ~ motivation for a marathon, not a sprint.
IRANWIRE