Maryam Mirzakhani

The first woman to win mathematics' highest honor, the Fields Medal, revolutionizing geometry and dynamical systems

Maryam Mirzakhani (1977-2017) was an Iranian mathematician whose groundbreaking work in geometry and dynamical systems earned her the Fields Medal in 2014 - the first woman and first Iranian to receive this honor. Her research focused on complex geometric structures and their transformations, particularly Riemann surfaces and moduli spaces. These contributions have deep implications in mathematics and theoretical physics.

She grew up in Tehran, excelling in national olympiads before earning her PhD from Harvard. At Stanford University, she became a leading figure in Teichmüller theory. Mirzakhani's work combined ideas from algebraic geometry, topology, and probability, creating new frameworks for understanding surface dynamics.

Despite battling cancer, she continued producing influential papers until her death. Her legacy inspires girls and women in STEM worldwide. Read about her in The Wonder-Workers of Mathematics. Explore her work via Stanford's archive or watch the documentary Secrets of the Surface: The Mathematical Vision of Maryam Mirzakhani.