Women Making History: Stanford Professor First to Win Top Math Prize

Math has been stereotyped as a "man's" subject more times than we'd like to mention. If we glance back in history, Isaac Newton, Archimedes or Einstein probably come to mind. Where are the female counterparts succeeding in the same category? Few are mentioned, perhaps because of the time period and strict regulations about women's education and overall rights.

Today, as many countries continue to push for equal opportunities in all fields among both men and women, we see female roll models emerging in the fields of science and math; this is particularly true for Iranian-born Stanford University professor, Maryam Mirzakhani. She is the first woman to win math's highest honor, the Fields Medal.

Mirzakhani was awarded the prize Wednesday by the International Mathematic Union at a meeting in Seoul. She was also awarded $13,700. This prize is awarded every four years to mathematicians 40 years old or younger and was first established in 1936.

The 37-year-old won for complex theoretical math on the symmetry of curved surfaces, including spheres and even donuts.

"This is a great honor. I will be happy if it encourages young female scientists and mathematicians," she said in a statement released by Stanford. "I am sure there will be many more women winning this kind of award in coming years."

According The Mathematics of Sex, written by Cornell professors Stephen Ceci and Wendy William, women still  make up less than 10 percent of full math professors at the top 100 U.S. universities. 

Though Mirzakhani said she had hoped to be a writer while growing up in Tehran, Iran, she soon discovered her affinity for solving mathematical problems.