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Today the International Mathematical Union announced the winners of the Fields Medal, awarded every four years to outstanding mathematicians under the age of 40. Among them is Iranian-born Prof. Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win the Fields medal. Her biography is here.
Without in any way detracting from her astounding (and in some cases counter-intuitive) work, part of me wonders whether her selection wasn't also intended to send a message to the government of Iran. Iran recently banned women from STEM fields, including Mathematics. By way of contrast, it was the encouragement of Professor Mirzakhani's elementary school teachers that led her to her thus far brilliant career in Mathematics. The implied message to Iran's government may very well be not to so rashly interfere with the ambitions of half of their students.
There are other lessons to be learned by Professor Mirzakhani's biography, perhaps the most important of them being that slow and steady and deliberate can produce works of beauty and grace that "quick and lots" cannot.
Without in any way detracting from her astounding (and in some cases counter-intuitive) work, part of me wonders whether her selection wasn't also intended to send a message to the government of Iran. Iran recently banned women from STEM fields, including Mathematics. By way of contrast, it was the encouragement of Professor Mirzakhani's elementary school teachers that led her to her thus far brilliant career in Mathematics. The implied message to Iran's government may very well be not to so rashly interfere with the ambitions of half of their students.
There are other lessons to be learned by Professor Mirzakhani's biography, perhaps the most important of them being that slow and steady and deliberate can produce works of beauty and grace that "quick and lots" cannot.
