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[Tesseract]

Maryam Mirzakhani, a professor of mathematics at Stanford, has been awarded the 2014 Fields Medal, the most prestigious honor in mathematics. Mirzakhani is the first woman to win the prize, widely regarded as the "Nobel Prize of mathematics," since it was established in 1936.
Courtesy of Maryam MirzakhaniMaryam Mirzakhani portrait

Maryam Mirzakhani was awarded the Fields Medal for her sophisticated and highly original contributions to the fields of geometry and dynamical systems.

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

Officially known as the International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics, the Fields Medal will be presented by the International Mathematical Union on Aug. 13 at the International Congress of Mathematicians, held this year in Seoul, South Korea. Mirzakhani is the first Stanford recipient to win this honor since Paul Cohen in 1966.

The award recognizes Mirzakhani's sophisticated and highly original contributions to the fields of geometry and dynamical systems, particularly in understanding the symmetry of curved surfaces, such as spheres, the surfaces of doughnuts and of hyperbolic objects. Although her work is considered "pure mathematics" and is mostly theoretical, it has implications for physics and quantum field theory.

“On behalf of the entire Stanford community, I congratulate Maryam on this incredible recognition, the highest honor in her discipline, the first ever granted to a woman,” said Stanford President John Hennessy. "We are proud of her achievements, and of the work taking place in our math department and among our faculty. We hope it will serve as an inspiration to many aspiring mathematicians."

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/august/fields-medal-mirzakhani-081214.html

i actually worked with her for a few days during a research fellowship. she's freaky good at visualizing complex manifolds.

congrats!

 

[Orbis Tabula]

You worked with her? That's pretty damn awesome. I still wish I stayed studying pure math. It's so much fun.

 

[Tesseract]

yep! it's kinda funny though, the work is way more rewarding than any trophy prize. still, s'nice thing to have on your resume.

 

[Mister0079]

I feel like there should also be a topic regarding some countries (eg. Norway) barring Iranian students from universities and denying visas. There are plenty more from where she came from.

 

[sixteen-bit]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=874346

 

[Ermac]

shouts out to iranian-gaf (half member here)

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

shouts out to iranian-gaf (half member here)

Hell yeah! (Half member here as well)

 

[Tesseract]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=874346

fuck me, i searched

lock it up