Born in 1977 in Tehran, Mirzakhani grew up in the Iranian capital and got her bachelor in math from the country’s prestigious university, Sharif University of Technology, in 1999, while later she received her master and PhD degrees from Harvard University in the United States.

“Thanks to my great teachers in Iran, both in high school and at Sharif University for providing a stimulating environment for their students,” she expressed at the award ceremony.

Her research interests mainly include hyperbolic geometry, Teichmüller theory, ergodic theory, and symplectic geometry.