Stanford University mathematics professor Maryam Mirzakhani was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. She first became known to the international mathematics community as a gold medalist in the 1994 and 1995 International Math Olympiads, finishing with a perfect score in 1995. Mirzakhani earned her bachelor’s degree at Sharif University of Technology before moving on to Harvard for her doctoral work.

Today, at the International Congress of Mathematicians, held in Seoul, South Korea Mirzakhani will be awarded the Fields Medal. The medal, officially known as the International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics is considered to be the “Nobel Prize of mathematics.”

The Fields Medal, launched in 1936, is awarded to 2,3 or 4 mathematicians not over 40 years of age at each International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The award is named for mathematician John Charles Fields and comes with a cash prize, which has been set at $15,000 Canadian since 2006.

In the award’s 78 year history, Maryam Mirzakhani is the first woman and the first Iranian to be honored.

“This is a great honor. I will be happy if it encourages young female scientists and mathematicians. I am sure there will be many more women winning this kind of award in coming years,” said Mirzakhani in a statement.

Mirzakhani has recently been investigating the symmetry of surface geometry in an area known as Teichmüller dynamics. Although the work is considered to be pure, theoretical mathematics it may have implications for theoretical physics, quantum field theory, engineering and materials science.

“Oftentimes, research into these areas does have unexpected applications, but that isn’t what motivates mathematicians like Maryam to pursue it. Rather, the motivation is to understand, as deeply as possible, these basic mathematical structures. Maryam’s work really is an outstanding example of curiosity-driven research.” said Ralph Cohen, a professor of mathematics and the senior associate dean for the natural sciences in Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences.

According to Mirzakhani she is drawn to the work because of its elegance and longevity.

Three other medals were awarded this year to Martin Hairer, Artur Avila and Manjul Bhargava.