An Iranian-born professor is the first woman to win the Fields Medal, a prestigious international mathematical prize.

Maryam Mirzakhani, a Harvard-educated mathematician and professor at Stanford University, was one of four winners of the Field Medal.

The awards were announced by the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) at a conference in Seoul on August 12.

Mirzakhani was born in Tehran in 1977 and earned her doctorate in 2004 from Harvard.

She is an expert in the geometry of unusual forms and has come up with creative ways to calculate the volumes of hyperbolic surfaces, which can be curved like a saddle or be very curly.

The ICM said Mirzakhani “embodies a rare combination of superb technical ability, bold ambition, far-reaching vision, and deep curiosity.”

The Fields Medal is only awarded every four years.
Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters
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