http://www.nature.com/news/iranian-is-first-woman-to-nab-highest-prize-in-maths-1.15686 Courtesy of IMU Maryam Mirzakhani of Stanford University is the first female mathematician to win a Fields Medal in the prize's 78 years of history. Expand The International Mathematical Union (IMU) has revealed on its website the winners of the 2014 Fields medals, considered the highest honour in mathematics. The four young medallists — including Maryam Mirzakhani, the first female winner since the prizes were established in 1936 — have been selected for their contributions to topics ranging from dynamical systems to the geometry of numbers and the solution of equations of the type that describe many physical phenomena.