A woman was awarded for the first time with a prestigious math medal at an international conference of mathematicians that opened in the South Korean capital Seoul on Wednesday.
The International Mathematical Union (IMU), a global body which promotes cooperation in mathematics, said it picked four winners for its Fields Medal, including Iranian-born Stanford University professor Maryam Mirzakhani, who is the first woman to win the prize established in 1936, according to (Yonhap) news agency.
The award, given to promising mathematics scholars under 40, is regarded as an equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the academic community.
The awardees were announced at the opening ceremony of the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), which will run through Aug. 21 in Seoul. Some 5,000 visitors from 120 countries will participate in the event, referred to as the Math Olympics.
The Fields Medal is given to only four scholars at most at each ICM, which is held every four years. Winners receive a gold medal worth 5,500 Canadian dollars (US$5,026) and a cash award of 15,000 Canadian dollars.