Maryam Mirzakhani, Stanford math genius, dies at 40

Iranian was first woman to receive the prestigious Fields Medal for math

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Maryam Mirzakhani, 40, a world-renowned mathematician and Stanford University professor best known for being the first woman to receive the prestigious Fields Medal for mathematics, died Saturday, the university announced.

She died of breast cancer.

The Fields Medal, often described as the mathematician’s Nobel Prize, is given every four years to no more than four mathematicians, all of whom are 40 or younger. Mirzakhani, of Iran, received the award in Seoul, South Korea in 2014.

“This is a great honor. I will be happy if it encourages young female scientists and mathematicians,” she said at the time. “I am sure there will be many more women winning this kind of award in coming years.”

Mirzakhani — known for taking the difficult, complicated path to solve mathematical problems — studied the symmetry of curved surfaces and other theoretical concepts known as “pure mathematics.” She joined Stanford in 2008, where she was a mathematics professor until her death.

“Mirzakhani was fascinated by the geometric and dynamic complexities of curved surfaces — spheres, doughnut shapes and even amoebas,” the university said in a news release. “Despite the highly theoretical nature of her work, it has implications in physics, quantum mechanics and other disciplines outside of math. She was ambitious, resolute and fearless in the face of problems others would not, or could not, tackle.”

Mirzakhani attended an allgirls high school in her native Tehran, where she competed for Iran’s International Mathematical Olympiad Team. She gained international recognition in 1994 as a gold medal recipient and again in 1995, after achieving a perfect score and two gold medals.

She went on to college at Sharif University in Tehran, and then graduate school at Harvard University, where she was guided by Fields Medal winner Curtis McMullen, who once said she was filled with “fearless ambition.” At Harvard, she was known for her persistence and intense questioning, despite a language barrier, according to Stanford. “Her questions came in English. Her notes were jotted in Farsi.”

Mirzakhani is survived by her husband, Jan Vondrák, and a daughter, Anahita.