Maryam Mirzakhani: First Woman to Win Mathematics's Nobel Prize

Although mathematics doesn't have its own section of the Nobel Prize, there’s an international equivalent called the Fields Prize.

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In 2014, Maryam Mirzakhani shocked the mathematical world when she became the first woman and first Iranian to win the prestigious award.

Maryam was a very young, creative mathematician, whose work impressed her peers with its visionary prowess. Tragically, her life would be cut short by cancer soon after winning the Fields prize. However, Maryam’s influence and legacy live on, especially for young women breaking into the world of mathematics.

Maryam Mirzakhani’s Path To Math’s Nobel Prize

Maryam Mirzakhani was born in 1977, in Tehran, Iran. She came from a humble academic beginning, with one of her grade school teachers noting at the time that Maryam wasn’t particularly gifted in math class. However, in her junior and senior years of high school, she won mathematics awards at the Iranian National Olympiad. These wins allowed her to bypass traditional college entrance exams, and she began school at the Sharif University of Technology. During her college years, she became the first Iranian woman to win a gold medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad, and then the first Iranian to win two gold medals and receive a perfect score.

In 1998, Maryam was on a bus with other high-achieving Iranian Olympiad winners and academics en route to Tehran, when there was an accident and the bus rolled off of a cliff. Most of the passengers were killed and Maryam was one of the few survivors. The incident was considered a national tragedy in Iran, as many of the best and brightest young people in STEM programs were tragically killed.