Maryam Mirzakhani, the Only Woman to Have Won Math's Highest Honor | Biography - Science

Marcia Wendorf, former high school math teacher, technical writer, author, and programmer notes, Fields Medal recipient Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, has left behind a stunning legacy for women and girls in STEM. 

Maryam Mirzakhani, the Only Woman to Have Won Math's Highest Honor
Photo: pxfuel - edited by Marcia Wendorf

In mathematics, the highest award you can receive is the Fields Medal. Created by Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields, it is only awarded once every four years, to a maximum of four mathematicians, and all must be under the age of 40-years-old.

While the first Fields Medal was first awarded in 1936, the medal has only been continuously awarded every four years since 1950. Famous recipients include the physicist Edward Witten in 1990 and Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman in 2006, who ultimately declined the medal. 

From 1936 and 2014, all the recipients of the Fields Medal had been men, that is until 2014. That's when an Iranian woman along with Brazilian Artur Avila, Canadian Manjul Bhargava, and Austrian Martin Hairer received a Fields Medal. Meet Maryam Mirzakhani...

To allow Mirzakhani's daughter to be able to visit Iran, the Iranian parliament sped up passage of an amendment that allows the children of Iranian mothers who are married to foreigners to receive Iranian nationality...

In February 2020, on International Day of Women and Girls in STEM, Maryam Mirzakhani was honored by UN Women as one of seven female scientists, dead or alive, who have shaped our world.
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Source: Interesting Engineering