[math-fun] Maryam Mirzakhani first female Fields Medal winner (Tehran-Iran born prof. at Stanford)
and what did she actually do? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryam_Mirzakhani says some stuff, but basically I did not understand a word of this. http://www.mathunion.org/fileadmin/IMU/Prizes/2014/news_release_mirzakhani.p... contains a few actually comprehensible claims. Despite Iran culture and education system allegedly being anti-female, unlike the enlightened West, you'll notice the first female Fields medalist came from Iran.
On 13/08/2014 02:36, Warren D Smith wrote:
Despite Iran culture and education system allegedly being anti-female, unlike the enlightened West, you'll notice the first female Fields medalist came from Iran.
She appears to have been in the USA since starting her PhD. I think all we can deduce from this is: Iran's education system isn't so abysmally anti-woman that even a woman smart enough to win a Fields medal can't get a decent undergraduate education there. That's a great deal better than nothing, but still consistent with Iran's education system (and, still more, its culture) being terribly anti-woman. I have no knowledge of whether that is actually the case. -- g
Historically, Iran has done well in the IMO (not as well this year, but it was still respectable). Prof. Mirzakhani won two gold medals for the Iranian team in the mid 90's. China, USA, Russia are usually in the group of the top teams, as one might expect. Oddly, to me, India has not done as well. Does India emphasize computer science over math, or is it otherwise not as concerned with math, at least as far as HS competitions are concerned? Other reason(s)? -----Original Message----- From: math-fun [mailto:math-fun-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Gareth McCaughan Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2014 7:56 AM To: math-fun@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [math-fun] Maryam Mirzakhani first female Fields Medal winner (Tehran-Iran born prof. at Stanford) On 13/08/2014 02:36, Warren D Smith wrote:
Despite Iran culture and education system allegedly being anti-female, unlike the enlightened West, you'll notice the first female Fields medalist came from Iran.
She appears to have been in the USA since starting her PhD. I think all we can deduce from this is: Iran's education system isn't so abysmally anti-woman that even a woman smart enough to win a Fields medal can't get a decent undergraduate education there. That's a great deal better than nothing, but still consistent with Iran's education system (and, still more, its culture) being terribly anti-woman. I have no knowledge of whether that is actually the case. -- g _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
I don't know why India might not do well in math competitions. It may be its low per capita income, considerably below China's. But there are quite a few very eminent Indian (pure) mathematicians currently (including 2014 Fields medalist Bhargava). --Dan On Aug 14, 2014, at 7:24 AM, Cordwell, William R <wrcordw@sandia.gov> wrote:
Historically, Iran has done well in the IMO (not as well this year, but it was still respectable). Prof. Mirzakhani won two gold medals for the Iranian team in the mid 90's. China, USA, Russia are usually in the group of the top teams, as one might expect. Oddly, to me, India has not done as well. Does India emphasize computer science over math, or is it otherwise not as concerned with math, at least as far as HS competitions are concerned? Other reason(s)?
Don't forget that, up until the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran had a modern western society under the Shah. For example, I roomed with a physics grad student who spent his summers doing laser research in Iran. It's no mystery why Iran has enough technical sophistication to build an atomic bomb. --ms On 2014-08-14 09:55, Gareth McCaughan wrote:
On 13/08/2014 02:36, Warren D Smith wrote:
Despite Iran culture and education system allegedly being anti-female, unlike the enlightened West, you'll notice the first female Fields medalist came from Iran.
She appears to have been in the USA since starting her PhD.
I think all we can deduce from this is: Iran's education system isn't so abysmally anti-woman that even a woman smart enough to win a Fields medal can't get a decent undergraduate education there.
That's a great deal better than nothing, but still consistent with Iran's education system (and, still more, its culture) being terribly anti-woman. I have no knowledge of whether that is actually the case.
participants (5)
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Cordwell, William R -
Dan Asimov -
Gareth McCaughan -
Mike Speciner -
Warren D Smith