Maryam Mirzakhani Dies at 40
The death of Maryam Mirzakhani continues a generation old trend of prominent spiritual leaders, politicians, and academics who have remained silent and passed on. In the long run we are all dead according to Keynes. In an exercise of utility this is not the greatest outcome. Mirzakhani as others whom left before will receive a 0 score. This is in line with a numbering of the people. Non parametric considerations are also highly likely. Overall I was impressed with her mathematical genius but the world is enduring an in continuo Chemical Assault Scorched Earth. If persons at this level ritualistically perform the human race is in for trouble.
BY ANDREW MYERS AND BJORN CAREY
Maryam Mirzakhani
Despite the breadth of applications of her work, Mirzakhani said she enjoyed pure mathematics because of the elegance and longevity of the questions she studied.
A self professed slow mathematician, Mirzakhani's colleagues describe her as ambitious, resolute and fearless in the face of problems others would not, or could not, tackle. She denied herself the easy path, choosing instead to tackle thornier issues. Her preferred method of working on a problem was to doodle on large sheets of white paper, scribbling formulas on the periphery of her drawings. Her young daughter described her mother at work as "painting."
"You have to spend some energy and effort to see the beauty of math," she told one reporter.
In another interview, she said of her process: "I don't have any particular recipe [for developing new proofs]...It is like being lost in a jungle and trying to use all the knowledge that you can gather to come up with some new tricks, and with some luck you might find a way out."
Mirzakhani was born in Tehran, Iran, and was fortunate to come of age after the Iran Iraq war when the political, social and economic environment had stabilized enough that she could focus on her studies. She dreamed of becoming a writer, but mathematics eventually swept her away.
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