Award-Winning Stanford Math Professor, 40, Dies Of Cancer

PALO ALTO, CA -- Stanford mathematics professor Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win the Fields Medal, mathematics' leading award, has died at the age of 40 following a long battle with cancer, Stanford News Service said Saturday.

Mirzakhani, who worked as a math professor at Stanford from 2008 until her death, won the Fields Medal in 2014 and to date remains the only woman to have earned the prestigious award since its inception in 1936, according to the university. She specialized in theoretical mathematics.

"Maryam is gone far too soon, but her impact will live on for the thousands of women she inspired to pursue math and science," Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne said in a statement.

Describing Mirzakhani as a brilliant mathematical theorist, Tessier-Lavigne added, "Her contributions as both a scholar and a role model are significant and enduring, and she will be dearly missed here at Stanford
and around the world."

According to Stanford News Service, Mirzakhani was born in Tehran, Iran, where she attended an all-girls high school. She dreamed of becoming a writer, but mathematics eventually swept her away. Led by a principal unbowed by the fact that no girl had ever competed for Iran’s International Mathematical Olympiad team, Mirzakhani first gained international recognition during the 1994 and 1995 competitions. In 1994, she earned a gold medal. In 1995, she notched a perfect score and two gold medals.

After earning a doctorate at Harvard, Mirzakhani accepted a position as assistant professor at Princeton University and as a research fellow at the Clay Mathematics Institute before joining the Stanford faculty, the university said.

Mirzakhani is survived by her husband, Jan Vondrak, and a daughter, Anahita, the university said.

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.

Photo courtesy of Stanford University