Â鶹APP

Maryam Mirzakhani. Photo by Maryeraud9. .

Top 10 interesting facts about Maryam Mirzakhani

Maryam Mirzakhani was born on the 12th of May 1977. She was an Iranian mathematician and a professor of mathematics at Stanford University.

She made striking and highly original contributions to geometry and dynamical systems.

Mirzakhani’s work on Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces bridges several mathematical disciplines, hyperbolic geometry, complex analysis, topology, and dynamics and influences won her the prestigious Fields medal.

She was the first female Iranian and the first of only two women to date to receive the award. She passed away on the 14th of July 2017 due to breast cancer.

Here are 10 interesting facts about Maryam Mirzakhani:

1. Mirzakhani was honored with the Fields Medal

The Fields Medal is the most prestigious award in mathematics awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years.

The award was created to honor the Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields. The prize is awarded at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union.

On the 13th of August 2014, Maryam was honored with the Fields Medal and became the first Iranian to be honored with the award.

The award committee cited her work in the dynamics and geometry of Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces.

2. She used to take her class notes in her native language

Maryam Mirzakhani. Photo by Florian Caullery.

Maryam Mirzakhani was born in Tehran, Iran. She attended Tehran Farzanegan School, NODET, and the Sharif University of Technology in Iran.

Maryam had an exceptional mind that gained her prominence. She won Olympiads and join the university bypassing the national college entrance exam.

She graduated in 1999 and gained recognition from the American Mathematical Society for her work in developing a simple proof of theorem of Schur.

This facilitated an opportunity to travel to the United States for graduate work. She used to take her class notes in her native language Persian to understand better.

She graduated with a Ph.D. from Harvard University under the supervision of the Fields Medalist, Curtis T. McMullen in 2004.

3. Mirzakhani has an Erdős number of 3

The Erdős number describes the collaborative distance between mathematician Paul Erdős and another person.

It is measured by authorship of mathematical papers and was originally created by the mathematician’s friends as a tribute to his enormous output.

The Erdős number has gained prominence as a tool to study how mathematicians cooperate to find answers to unsolved problems.

The median Erdős number among Fields medalists is as low as 3 that Maryam Mirzakhani had.

4. Mirzakhani had a peculiar way to solve mathematical problems

Maryam Mirzakhani with her daughter Anahita. Photo by Monsoon0. .

Maryam claimed she didn’t always love math as a child she was more interested in reading novels and fancied being a writer in the future.

She later fell in love with mathematics but described herself as a slow mathematician.

She said that one has to spend some energy and effort to see the beauty of math. To solve problems, she would draw doodles on sheets of paper and write mathematical formulas around the drawings.

She enjoyed mathematics as an art and her daughter described her mother’s work as a painting.

5. In college she survived a catastrophic bus accident

Maryam was an exceptional student. She bypassed the national college entrance exam after winning the Iranian National Olympiad in her junior and senior years of high school.

She won gold medals at the IMO. On the 17th of March 1998, she had attending a conference for gifted individuals and former Olympiad competitors.

Mirzakhani and her friend and colleague Zavareh who she had collaborated and competed boarded a bus in Ahvaz en route to Tehran along with other attendees.

The bus was involved in an accident where it fell off a cliff and killed seven of the passengers.

This incident is widely considered a national tragedy in Iran as they were all Sharif University students. Zavareh and Mirzakhani were two of the few survivors.

6. She won a gold medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad

The International Mathematical Olympiad is one of the most prestigious mathematical competitions in the world.

It is a mathematical competition for pre-university students. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959 and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads.

It has since been held annually, except in 1980. Maryam competed in the IMO in 1994 after winning the gold medal for mathematics in the Iranian National Olympiad.

She became the first Iranian woman to win a gold medal at the IMO scoring 41 out of 42 points.

In 1981 she competed again in Toronto and became the first Iranian to achieve the full score and win two gold medals in the International Mathematical Olympiad.

7. A film was created to showcase her life and work

Maryam Mirzakhani at ICM.Photo by Gert-Martin Greuel.

Maryam was a mathematical genius and a true pioneer for the women of Iran. The scientist’s Life and work in mathematics were documented in 2020 by George Csicsery.

George is a Hungarian-American writer and independent filmmaker best known for his documentaries about mathematicians and mathematical communities.

The film titled Secrets of the Surface looks at Maryam’s life and work in mathematics, the mathematics education in Iran, and what it’s like to be a woman in the field of mathematics.

The film pays tribute to Maryam’s impact on the field through her work.

8. Various establishments are named after Mirzakhani

Maryam’s life and achievements have been honored by having numerous establishments named after her.

There is the Farzanegan High school which she formerly attended named its amphitheater and library after her in 2017. The House of Mathematics in Isfahan named a conference hall in the city after her.

The Sharif University of Technology where she obtained her bachelor’s named its main library in the College of Mathematics after her.

In 2014 the Mirzakhani Society, a society for women and non-binary students studying Mathematics at the University of Oxford was founded.

A high-resolution Earth observation imaging and analytics company called Satellogic launched a ÑuSat type micro-satellite named in honor of Maryam Mirzakhani on the 2nd of February 2018.

In addition, The Breakthrough Prize Foundation created the Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize has been created to be awarded to outstanding women in the field of mathematics each year.

9. Mirzakhanis birthday was declared an International Women in Mathematics Day 

Star Walk Campus Rütli Berlin Neukölln Maryam Mirzakhani. Photo by SupapleX.

Maryam’s death caused an uproar in her country. President Hassan Rouhani had said in a condolence message that she was an unprecedented brilliant creative scientist and modest human being.

She made Iran’s name resonate in the world’s scientific forums and was a turning point in showing the great will of Iranian women and young people on the path towards reaching the peaks of glory.

Her death inspired renewed debates within Iran regarding matrilineal citizenship for children of mixed-nationality parentage.

To honor Maryam, the Women’s Committee within the Iranian Mathematical Society agreed to declare Maryam Mirzakhani’s birthday. The 12th of May was named International Women in Mathematics Day in respect of her memory.

10. Maryam died of breast cancer

Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Maryam was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013.

Cancer spread to her bones and liver worsening her condition. She died at the age of 40 at Stanford Hospital in Stanford, California on the 14th of July 2017. Her death brought grief to her country.

The Iranian president Hassan Rouhani and other officials offered their condolences and praised Mirzakhani’s scientific achievements.

The Iranian President and several Iranian newspapers broke taboo and published photographs of Mirzakhani with her hair uncovered.

In addition, her death has also renewed and sped up an amendment to a law that would allow children of Iranian mothers married to foreigners to be given Iranian nationality. This would make it easier for Mirzakhani’s daughter to visit Iran.