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Maryam Mirzakhani, Fields Medal Recipient, Dies at 40 (A. J. Cave, USA, 07/16/17 7:53 am)There is very sad news out of Stanford that Maryam Mirzakhani, Iranian-born mathematics professor, has died of breast cancer. She was 40. I wrote about her a few years ago when she became the first woman to win the coveted Fields medal in mathematics (2014). Her pioneering work would eventually change the way we think about the formation of the universe (multi-verse). She wanted to be a writer and ended up a mathematician, because she liked solving puzzles. Her young daughter calls her mother's mathematical worksheets "paintings." May her legacy and her memory be a blessing.
The link to Stanford press release is below and there are numerous articles and videos about her and her work.
As a sidenote, my guess is that since she was so young and did not fit the high-risk profile, her breast cancer was detected in later invasive stages 3 or 4, when the 5-year survival rate drops to 25 percent. All women are at risk (and some men) and 1 in 8 women in US develops invasive breast cancer. There are 1.7 million new cases globally every year and 75 percent of them are now being detected in women who are considered low-risk (younger than 50, without a family history of breast cancer, or breast cancer mutation genes BRCA1, BRCA2 and 6 other genetic markers). Breast cancer kills about 500,000 women every year--40,000 of them in the US. Today, 70 percent of deaths from breast cancer are in the developing countries. Direct and indirect costs of breast cancer are estimated to top $32 billion dollars a year. That doesn't include the grief over losing a loved one.
I read somewhere : "I hope cancer gets cancer and dies." Yes, please.
JE comments: How incredibly sad. For an academic, 40 is still the beginning of one's intellectual life. Did anyone among WAISworld's several Stanford folks know Dr Mirzakhani?
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