UNESCO honors late Iranian math genius

UNESCO has paid tribute to the late Iranian math mastermind Maryam Mirzakhani, who passed away on Saturday.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) joined a large number of national and international figures and scientific institutes that have honored Mirzakhani, who recently passed away at the age of 40.

A statement published on July 17, 2017, by UNESCO reads, “May her memory also serve to encourage young women to break through persistent and unfounded stereotypes when it comes to young girls pursuing careers in math or science.”

The statement has also extended condolences to her family and to the people of Iran.

Born in 1977 in Tehran, Mirzakhani won gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad (Hong Kong, 1994) and the International Mathematical Olympiad (Canada, 1995).

She received a BS in mathematics from Iran’s prestigious Sharif University of Technology in 1999 and then went to the US where she earned her PhD degree from Harvard University in 2004.

In 2008, the math-wiz became full professor of mathematics at Stanford University at the age of 31.

Mirzakhani received the Blumenthal Award from the American Mathematical Society in 2009, the Ruth Lyttle Satter Prize in Mathematics in 2013, and the Clay Research Award in 2014.

The most important part of her achievements was her 2014 Fields Medal, viewed as the highest honor a mathematician can receive, which is given every four years to mathematicians under the age of 40. She won the prize in recognition of her contributions to the understanding of the symmetry of curved surfaces.

MG/AI