[caption id="attachment_111313" align="alignright" width="250"] Iranian Professor Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win the highest accolade in the field of mathematics[/caption]
Irans president has heaped praised upon Maryam Mirzakhani, an Iranian professor at Stanford University who has become the first woman to win the prestigious Fields Medal, also known as the Nobel Prize of mathematics.
I congratulate you on winning the worlds topmost award in the field of mathematics, said President Hassan Rouhani in a message to extol the success achieved by the Iranian mathematician.
Today, Iranians can justly feel proud that the first woman to win the Fields Medal is their fellow citizen, the Iranian president added.
Yes, the most competent should verily sit at the highest position and enjoy respect, note the president.
On behalf of the Iranian nation, I value your scientific endeavors, Rouhani said, adding all Iranians across the globe are the countys national asset.
The Iranian mathematician has been awarded the 2014 Fields Medal in recognition of her contributions to the understanding of the symmetry of curved surfaces.
Officially known as the International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics, the Fields Medal will be presented to Mirzakhani, one of four candidates, by the International Mathematical Union on August 13 at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), held this year in Seoul, South Korea.
Fluent in a remarkably diverse range of mathematical techniques and disparate mathematical cultures, Mirzakhani embodies a rare combination of superb technical ability, bold ambition, far-reaching vision, and deep curiosity, the ICM announcedin a statement.
Born in 1977 in Tehran, Mirzakhani got her bachelors in math from Irans prestigious Sharif University of Technology in 1999 and received her masters as well as PhD degrees from Harvard University in the United States in 2004.
She has also won the Blumenthal Award for the Advancement of Research in Pure Mathematics and the Satter Prize of the American Mathematical Society.
She became full professor of Mathematics at the age of 31 in 2008 at Stanford University where she is currently working.