The International Mathematical Union show an award to abide by excellence in mathematician under the long time of 40 . The award was named after Canadian mathematician John C. Fields , and has often been described as the “ Nobel Prize of mathematics . ” The Fields Medal has been award every four year since 1936 . Up to four outstanding mathematician can be honor at once , but 2014 is the first time a woman has been honored with the prize . Maryam Mirzakhani is a prof at Stanford University who wasrecognizedfor " her outstanding share to the dynamics and geometry of Riemann surface and their moduli spaces . ”
deport in Tehran , Iran , Mirzakhani ’s excellence in mathematics stretch forth back to when she was in high school . She realise gold medals at theInternational Mathematical Olympiad — the world ’s most distinguished math tournament for pre - collegiate students — not once , but doubly . Her showing in 1995 resulted in a perfect score for her ; a most impressive accomplishment .
" It is fun – it ’s like solving a puzzle or connecting the superman in a tec shell , " sheexplained to the Stanford Report . " I felt that this was something I could do , and I want to pursue this path . ”
She dispatch her undergraduate degree at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran and earned her Ph.D. at Harvard University while study under Curtis McMullen , who was awarded the Fields Medal himself back in 1998 .
Mirzakhani is being respect for her employment with finding the mass of modulus space in complex one - dimensional planes known as Riemann surfaces . However , she is quite talented in many sphere mathematics , withresearch interestsin “ Teichmüller theory , Hyperbolic geometry , Ergodic theory , [ and ] Symplectic geometry . "
" I do n’t have any particular recipe [ for create fresh proofs ] , ” shestated . " It is the understanding why doing research is challenging as well as attractive . It is like being lost in a jungle and trying to expend all the knowledge that you could gather to amount up with some newfangled trick , and with some luck you might find a room out . ”
Her work has the potential to influence many arena of study , including material science , engineering , quantum study possibility , and even theoretical aperient as it applies to the parentage of the Universe .
" This is a swell honor . I will be happy if it encourages vernal female scientists and mathematicians,“Mirzakhani say . " I am sure there will be many more charwoman winning this kind of award in forthcoming years . ”
There were three other mathematician honored with the Fields Medal in 2014 , include Artur Avila ( Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura due east Aplicada ) , the first Latin American to ever receive the medal , as well as Manjul Bhargava ( Princeton University ) and Martin Hairer ( University of Warwick ) . Along with the incredible differentiation that come in along with receiving the Fields Medal , each winner also incur a John Cash prize of C$ 15,000 .
The IMU presented the prizes today ( August 13 ) at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Seoul , South Korea .
