A Life Wildly Brilliant, Tragically Brief

The Fields Medal, the highest honor in the field of mathematics--often considered the mathematical equivalent of the Nobel Prize-- is granted every four years and is given, in accordance with the prize’s statutes, to mathematicians under the age of 40 for outstanding research and for the potential for future accomplishments. 

"Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations, or algorithms. It is about understanding."

In 2014, Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman (and remains the only woman) to receive the Fields Medal for her extraordinary achievements in complex geometry and dynamical systems.

At the time of her award Mirzakhani’s research was described as further investigating the symmetry of surface geometry... In general, her work can best be described as pure mathematics – research that investigates entirely abstract concepts of nature that might not have an immediately obvious application. (TheStanford Report 8/12/14 ) She was not only a brilliant mathematician, but a champion of gender equality in mathematics and education generally.

"The beauty of mathematics only shows itself to more patient followers"

Mirzakhani often worked on the floor, drawing formulas and diagrams on a canvas of oversized paper.  The process caused her young daughter to mistakenly, or maybe correctly, call her mother an artist.

Mirzakhani’s life was cut short by cancer--she died in 2017 at the age of 40. Still, the artist her daughter recognized lives on in the sweeping elegance of her ideas, and in every student who now sees themselves reflected in the field she helped transform. And her legacy endures not only in her groundbreaking mathematics, but in the doors she opened and the imaginations she expanded, proving that even the most abstract ideas can reshape the world.

---

Oh, and the link to coffee? Well... in mathematics as in life:

Coffee doesn’t solve the problem—it just convinces you that the problem is solvable.

---