Years After the Early Death of a Math Genius, Her Ideas Gain New Life
A new proof extends the work of the late Maryam Mirzakhani, cementing her legacy as a pioneer of alien mathematical realms. The post Years After the Early Death of a Math Genius, Her Ideas Gain New Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine
In the early 2000s, a young graduate student at Harvard University began to chart an exotic mathematical universe — one inhabited by shapes that defy geometric intuition. Her name was Maryam Mirzakhani, and she would go on to become the first woman to win a Fields Medal, math’s highest honor. Her earliest work dealt with “hyperbolic” surfaces. On such a surface, parallel lines arc away from each…
