PALO ALTO, Calif. _ Maryam Mirzakhani, 40, a world-renowned mathematician and Stanford University professor best known for being the first woman to receive the prestigious Fields Medal for mathematics, died Saturday, the university announced.
She had breast cancer.
The Fields Medal, often described as the mathematician's Nobel Prize, is given every four years to no more than four mathematicians, all of whom are 40 or younger. Mirzakhani, of Iran, received the award in Seoul, South Korea in 2014.
"This is a great honor. I will be happy if it encourages young female scientists and mathematicians," she said at the time. "I am sure there will be many more women winning this kind of award in coming years."
Mirzakhani _ known for taking the difficult, complicated path to solve mathematical problems _ studied the symmetry of curved surfaces and other theoretical concepts known as "pure mathematics." She joined Stanford in 2008, where she was a mathematics professor until her death.
"Mirzakhani was fascinated by the geometric and dynamic complexities of curved surfaces � spheres, doughnut shapes and even amoebas," the university said in a news release. "Despite the highly theoretical nature of her work, it has implications in physics, quantum mechanics and other disciplines outside of math. She was ambitious, resolute and fearless in the face of problems others would not, or could not, tackle."
Mirzakhani attended an all-girls high school in her native Tehran, where she competed for Iran's International Mathematical Olympiad Team. She gained international recognition in 1994 as a gold medal recipient and again in 1995, after achieving a perfect score and two gold medals.
She went on to college at Sharif University in Tehran, and then graduate school at Harvard University, where she was guided by Fields Medal winner Curtis McMullen, who once said she was filled with "fearless ambition." At Harvard, she was known for her persistence and intense questioning, despite a language barrier, according to Stanford. "Her questions came in English. Her notes were jotted in Farsi."
Her 2004 dissertation, in which she solved two long-standing problems and connected the two into a masterful thesis, catapulted her into even greater fame. It yielded papers in each of the top three mathematics journals, Stanford said.
"The majority of mathematicians will never produce something as good," said Benson Farb, a mathematician at the University of Chicago. "And that's what she did in her thesis."
Mirzakhani was a professor at Princeton University and a research fellow at the Clay Mathematics Institute before joining the Stanford faculty.
Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne said Mirzakhani's impact will live on for the thousands of women she inspired to pursue math and science careers.
"Maryam was a brilliant mathematical theorist, and also a humble person who accepted honors only with the hope that it might encourage others to follow her path," he said. "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."
Mirzakhani is survived by her husband, Jan Vondrak, and a daughter, Anahita.
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(Katy Murphy contributed to this report.)
