Five Women Rewrite History with Top Mathematics Awards

For decades, the world's most prestigious mathematics awards have been overwhelmingly dominated by men. Over the last 90 years, a total of 217 times, the fields that have received the highest awards in the discipline — the Fields Medal, Abel Prize, Shaw Prize, Wolf Prize, Crafoord Prize and Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics — have been awarded.

However, it can be said that only seven of these prizes have been bestowed on women, and five of the remarkable mathematicians won by women have made history with their brilliant research that inspired future generations.

Claire Voisin is one of two women to win several prestigious mathematics awards. In 2017 she was awarded the Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences and in 2024 was awarded the Crafoord Prize in Mathematics, becoming the first woman to receive this award.

Voisin is known for her groundbreaking research in algebraic geometry, which has led to the study of complex geometric structures. She was also the first woman Mathematician to join the prestigious Collège de France. In addition to her research, Voisin has always believed that women researchers deserve to be recognized more, and that they need to work harder than men.

In 2014, Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman and first Iranian to receive the Fields Medal, which is the highest honor for young mathematicians. She was a pioneer in the geometry and dynamics of curved surfaces which revolutionized modern geometry and had a profound impact on theoretical physics. All of the Fields Medal winners were men prior to her.

Key Highlights:

• Only seven major maths awards have gone to women
• Five women broke barriers in mathematics
• Their achievements inspire future women in STEM

In 2017, Mirzakhani died of cancer at age 40, but her legacy lives on with many mathematicians around the world yet inspired. In 2020, she was posthumously awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics for her outstanding contributions to the field.

In 2019, Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck was the first female to receive the Abel Prize for mathematics. Her groundbreaking work on geometric partial differential equations, gauge theory and mathematical physics has significantly influenced contemporary mathematics. Uhlenbeck's career was characterized by early experiences of gender discrimination, but she went on to carve out one of the most influential careers in mathematics and was a prominent supporter of women in science and mathematics.

Maryna Viazovska from Ukraine was the second female to receive the Fields Medal in 2022. She was awarded this honor for solving the centuries old sphere-packing problem in eight and 24 dimensions, which is one of the greatest advances in geometry. Viazovska, who at age 33 became a full professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), calls maths "visual and intuitive. After receiving the prize, she commented, "She said that she hoped that there would be more women who would be recognized in the future in the highest level of mathematics.

In 2023, Belgian mathematician and physicist Ingrid Daubechies was awarded the Wolf Prize in Mathematics for her groundbreaking contributions in the fields of wavelet theory and applied harmonic analysis. Her research revolutionized the fields of image compression, medical imaging, signal processing, digital photography, and telecommunications. Daubechies is also the first female president of the International Mathematical Union, and has been a fervent champion of greater access to women and researchers in developing nations.

These five women have transformed modern mathematics with their innovative discoveries and are breaking the glass ceiling in the male-dominated profession. Their success not only led to their own significant advances in mathematical research but also inspired future generations of women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.