Maryam Mirzakhani's success showed us the challenges women in maths face

For centuries, it was socially unacceptable for women to study mathematics at the highest levels

When Marin Alsop conducted the Last Night of the Proms, she said that she was “quite shocked that it can be 2013 and there can still be firsts for women”. The following year, Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman to win the Fields Medal, awarded to mathematicians under 40 for their contribution to the subject. Now, after Mirzakhani’s sad death from breast cancer at the age of 40, I am struck by the stark reality that in the 80 years since the award was first given, there has still been only