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News: First female winner for Fields maths medal (Update: She has passed)

Arcadia

By Arcadia,
in Accelerated Learner Board

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Arcadia

Arcadia

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For our mathematicians boardies :D

 

From BBC

http://m.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28739373

 

"An Iranian mathematician working in the US has become the first ever female winner of the celebrated Fields Medal.

 

In a landmark hailed as "long overdue", Prof Maryam Mirzakhani was recognised for her work on complex geometry."

 

"In becoming the very first female medallist, Prof Mirzakhani - who teaches at Stanford University in California - ends what has been a long wait for the mathematics community."

 

"Prof Dame Frances Kirwan, a member of the medal selection committee from the University of Oxford, pointed out that despite being viewed traditionally as "a male preserve", women have contributed to mathematics for centuries.

 

She noted that around 40% of maths undergraduates in the UK are women, but that proportion declines rapidly at PhD level and beyond."

 

ETA:

From Stanford

"Mirzakhani became known to the international math scene as a teenager, winning gold medals at both the 1994 and 1995 International Math Olympiads – she finished with a perfect score in the latter competition. Mathematicians who would later be her mentors and colleagues followed the mathematical proofs she developed as an undergraduate."

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/august/fields-medal-mirzakhani-081214.html

 

ETA:

Lovely write up in Simons Foundation

http://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20140812-a-tenacious-explorer-of-abstract-surfaces/

 

ETA:

Her paper

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1302.3320.pdf

 

ETA:

"Stanford mathematics professor Maryam Mirzakhani, the first and to-date only female winner of the Fields Medal since its inception in 1936, died July 15 after a long battle with cancer. Mirzakhani was 40 years old."

http://news.stanford.edu/2017/07/15/maryam-mirzakhani-stanford-mathematician-and-fields-medal-winner-dies/

Edited by Arcadia in CA
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Arcadia

Arcadia

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(Is there any particular reason why this is on the accelerated board?)

Because I don't know where else people would be excited by this kind of news. (ETA: As in go and read what her research is about kind of excited. Not a this is another interesting news kind of excited)

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Gil

Gil

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Go have a read on her paper "Invariant and Stationary Measures for the SL(2,R) Action on Moduli Space".

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1302.3320.pdf

 

I added the link on my 1st post as well

I'm talking about the assumption that families without accelerated/gifted kids will not be excited/care that a woman has, for the first time ever, won a Fields, which is the most prestigious award in Mathematics.

 

It caught my attention because SeaConquest mentioned she was coming "here" to post about this and I thought it was odd that it was on the Accelerated board.

 

I mean...I'd hazard a guess that 99% of the posters on this site couldn't understand the mathematics that won a Fields medal, but that doesn't mean that a much larger percent of the posters wouldn't be interested, excited, inspired. Or have kids who would want to know,

 

The author wasn't accelerated or gifted as a child, so I though it odd that this seemed news for the accelerated/gifted board, s'all.

 

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Dmmetler

Dmmetler

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I would argue that she wasn't identified as being gifted and given a chance to accelerate or show her gifts. Very different from not being gifted as a child.  I seriously doubt many people win Fields medals without being clinically GT. For that matter, it's been my experience that people who get PhDs and work in research fields tend to show a lot of signs of being gifted-while often claiming they're not, weren't as kids, and aren't all that special.

 

I would also point out there is a thread on the general board-it's not like this was only posted here, and as someone who checks the AL board first, and other boards when time allows, I appreciate it being posted here because I have a girl who, at age 4, was overheard complaining about just how hard addition was so she'd fit in with other little girls. She still strongly filters what she tells other girls her age because she feels they won't accept her if she talks about going on research trips or to compete in a math competition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ad astra

Ad astra

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No longer the Men's Club, woo hoo! 

 

It's a big national news in Korea, too, since ICM 2014 is being held in Seoul. I found it interesting to read her and other medalists' interviews and their perspectives on math education in general. Below is an article from the local newspaper.

 

 

Iranian becomes first woman to win top mathematics award

 

Maryam Mirzakhani, the first female mathematician to win the Fields Medal, the most prestigious honor in mathematics, said confidence is what it takes to make such achievements. 

“Confidence is what makes a big difference,†said the mathematician at a press conference at the 2014 International Congress of Mathematicians in Seoul on Wednesday. “It is not your talent, but about thinking that you can do it.†

The Fields Medal is an award created to commemorate John Charles Fields, a world-renown Canadian mathematician. Often dubbed the Nobel Prize of math, it is given to two to four mathematicians under the age of 40 found to have made the most significant contributions toward the advancement of mathematics over a period of four years. So far, 52 male mathematicians have received the award. 

Mirzakhani, currently a Stanford University professor, became the first female recipient since the award’s establishment in 1936. Three others ― Artur Avila, a Brazilian-French researcher, Manjul Bhargava, a Canadian-American number theorist at Princeton University, and Martin Hairer, a math professor at the University of Warwick in the U.K. ― also received the medal. 


She was recognized for her original contributions in the fields of hyperbolic geometry and dynamical systems, in particular the symmetry of curved surfaces and the surfaces of doughnuts.

At the conference, Mirzakhani noted that math is the basic medium for science and technology, indicating that it has the potential to bring about a bigger impact on a wide range of fields. 

Born in Iran in 1977, the professor earned her Ph.D at Harvard University in 2004, and served as an assistant professor at Princeton University from 2004 to 2008. 

Giving advice on how to get kids interested in mathematics ― a subject often regarded as the most difficult at school ― other recipients said it was up to the parents not to give a bad impression of math. 

“People say that math is difficult, and children often become afraid of math at an early age,†said Hairer, adding that children can actually understand much more than people think.â€

Other participants of the conference gave advice on how to bolster the Korean math sector. 

“Korea’s math sector grew over the years in terms of quantity, but it should now put more focus on qualitative growth,†said Park Hyung-ju, chairman of the Seoul International Congress of Mathematicians 2014 Organizing Committee. 

“I hope by hosting the ICM, we can inspire younger generations to become more involved in math and make achievements that can compare with those of the recipients of this year’s ICM awards,†he added. 

Meanwhile, the International Mathematical Union, the global organizer of the ICM, announced the winners of other prizes, including Subhash Khot of New York University who won the Rolf Nevanlinna Prize and Stanley Osher from the University of California, Los Angeles, who won the Carl Friedrich Gauss Prize. 

Phillip Griffiths of Princeton University was named the winner of the Chern Medal, and the Leelavati Prize went to Argentinian professor Adrian Paenza.



By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)

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mathnerd

mathnerd

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I'm talking about the assumption that families without accelerated/gifted kids will not be excited/care that a woman has, for the first time ever, won a Fields, which is the most prestigious award in Mathematics.

 

It caught my attention because SeaConquest mentioned she was coming "here" to post about this and I thought it was odd that it was on the Accelerated board.

 

 

 

You see discussions on the International Math Olympiads and how to work towards it more on the AL board than on any other board on this forum - and Maryam is one of the winners of IMO (and she is at Stanford, which gets discussed occasionally here too!).

 

Anyway, it is great to see a woman achieve highly in a STEM field and kudos to her. She is an inspiration.

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Arcadia

Arcadia

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She still strongly filters what she tells other girls her age because she feels they won't accept her if she talks about going on research trips or to compete in a math competition.

Show her the Simons Foundation article. It's really morale boosting for girls. Her doodles on that link are lovely too. It make me want to go play billiards though after reading :)

 

I am happy there is finally a female winner because more role models are always good.

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freerange

freerange

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The author wasn't accelerated or gifted as a child, so I though it odd that this seemed news for the accelerated/gifted board, s'all.

 

 

 

"Mirzakhani became known to the international math scene as a teenager, winning gold medals at both the 1994 and 1995 International Math Olympiads – she finished with a perfect score in the latter competition. 

 

 

 

Winning a gold medal at IMO suggests she was profoundly gifted as a high school student.

 

Posting here seems entirely appropriate, since this is where parents of students aspiring to this sort of mathematical brilliance are most likely to read. 

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Dmmetler

Dmmetler

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Show her the Simons Foundation article. It's really morale boosting for girls. Her doodles on that link are lovely too. It make me want to go play billiards though after reading :)

 

I am happy there is finally a female winner because more role models are always good.

 

She thought the doodles were really neat, because that's how DD takes notes-by drawing and doodling and then adding words here and there, more than by writing, and she often will illustrate math or science concepts as she reads about them, so seeing a high level mathematician who also seems to have a similar style of learning and processing really appealed to her.

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SeaConquest

SeaConquest

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I'm talking about the assumption that families without accelerated/gifted kids will not be excited/care that a woman has, for the first time ever, won a Fields, which is the most prestigious award in Mathematics.

 

It caught my attention because SeaConquest mentioned she was coming "here" to post about this and I thought it was odd that it was on the Accelerated board.

 

I mean...I'd hazard a guess that 99% of the posters on this site couldn't understand the mathematics that won a Fields medal, but that doesn't mean that a much larger percent of the posters wouldn't be interested, excited, inspired. Or have kids who would want to know,

 

The author wasn't accelerated or gifted as a child, so I though it odd that this seemed news for the accelerated/gifted board, s'all.

 

 

Forgive me. My comment was not intended as a slight to others. As has been mentioned, I generally come to this board first and, given that so many here have children who show mathematical giftedness and/or are interested in math competitions, I felt that this board was most appropriate.

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jewellsmommy

jewellsmommy

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I'm talking about the assumption that families without accelerated/gifted kids will not be excited/care that a woman has, for the first time ever, won a Fields, which is the most prestigious award in Mathematics.

 

It caught my attention because SeaConquest mentioned she was coming "here" to post about this and I thought it was odd that it was on the Accelerated board.

 

I mean...I'd hazard a guess that 99% of the posters on this site couldn't understand the mathematics that won a Fields medal, but that doesn't mean that a much larger percent of the posters wouldn't be interested, excited, inspired. Or have kids who would want to know,

 

The author wasn't accelerated or gifted as a child, so I though it odd that this seemed news for the accelerated/gifted board, s'all.

 

 

Well, I'm with you, Gil ;) . Dd is 2e with dysgraphia so I tend to look at the challenges board more often then here. It is not that there is anything wrong with posting the article here, but the whole idea that parents of non-gifted can't appreciate this is off putting to me. Math is where dd excels, and so this is very inspiring. Having the dysgraphia makes dd feel 'dumb' because her writing and spelling looks like that of kindergartner. I always point out how she quickly picks up math concepts but you know how hard kids can be on themselves. Anyway, this woman probably was gifted as a child but so what? That doesn't mean only gifted people will appreciate this.

 

Shrug, not a big deal or anything, just saying that I see Gil's point. We are all brought together by the love of education, aren't we? If we can't appreciate this then we're only left with kilts and cupcakes. :001_smile:

 

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Arcadia

Arcadia

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but the whole idea that parents of non-gifted can't appreciate this is off putting to me.

 

There was no slight intended. However I have already been once bitten twice shy in real life and sometimes on this board :( Makes me think thrice before posting anything on the general board.

 

Link to general board thread.

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/524859-dr-maryam-mirzakhan-1st-female-feilds-medalist/

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jewellsmommy

jewellsmommy

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There was no slight intended. However I have already been once bitten twice shy in real life and sometimes on this board :( Makes me think thrice before posting anything on the general board.

 

Link to general board thread.

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/524859-dr-maryam-mirzakhan-1st-female-feilds-medalist/

 

I can understand that. :001_smile: Thank you for sharing the article.

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quark

quark

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I follow the lives of today's leading mathematicians because there is always some small little parallel that reminds me of kiddo. The doodles and proofs and theoretical ramblings especially. I don't know why I feel this loss like it is so personal. She has achieved so much for one so young. Remarkable, remarkable person.

 

Thank you for sharing. A sad day indeed for mathematics.

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