Mirzakhani, Maryam (1977-2017), was an Iranian mathematician. She became the first woman to win the Fields Medal , the most highly regarded award in the field of mathematics . Mirzakhani won the award in 2014 for her work on abstract forms called Riemann surfaces. Riemann surfaces have many surprising mathematical qualities and complex applications in physics .
Mirzakhani was born in May 1977 in Tehran , Iran . In high school, she became interested in mathematics, particularly the puzzlelike qualities of math problems. In 1999, Mirzakhani earned a bachelor’s degree from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. She then studied at Harvard, earning a Ph.D. degree in mathematics in 2004. She worked as a professor at Princeton University in New Jersey and at Stanford University in California.
Riemann surfaces, named for the German mathematician Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann , are used to explore functions (mathematical formulas) involving complex numbers. A complex number has two parts—a real component, and an imaginary component. Imaginary numbers are multiples of the square root of –1. Real numbers and imaginary numbers form lines that cross at zero , much like the x-axis and y-axis on a graph. In this way, complex numbers can be mapped onto a surface, called a Riemann surface. Unlike a flat sheet of graph paper, however, a Riemann surface can be highly curved, twisted, and even torn or pierced. These strange structures arise from the fact that Riemann surfaces map complex functions in addition to numbers.
Mirzakhani proved a number of surprising relationships between various classes of Riemann surface structures. These classes—called _moduli spaces—_are highly abstract and cannot be understood without much technical knowledge. Her work yielded important insights into the fundamental nature of both mathematics and real-world physics.
Mirzakhani died on July 15, 2017.
