Maryam Mirzakhani

Maryam Mirzakhani (1977–2017) was an Iranian mathematician and the first woman to win the prestigious Fields Medal, often called the "Nobel Prize of Mathematics," in 2014. Her work focused on the geometry and dynamics of Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces, contributing to fields like hyperbolic geometry, topology, and dynamical systems.

Born in Tehran, Iran, she showed exceptional mathematical talent early on, winning gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad. She later earned her PhD at Harvard University under Curtis McMullen. Mirzakhani became a professor at Stanford University and made groundbreaking contributions to understanding the behavior of geodesics and complex structures on curved surfaces.

Her life was tragically cut short by cancer in 2017, but her legacy continues to inspire mathematicians, especially women in STEM.