Zitate von Maryam Mirzakhani inspirieren und bewegen. Das gilt weit über das Fach Mathematik hinaus, das die Iranerin als Professorin an der Stanford University lehrte. Hier ist eine Sammlung von Zitaten der gebürtigen Teheranerin.
Mirzakhani promovierte in Harvard. Als erste Frau überhaupt erhielt sie die Fields-Medaille für herausragende Entdeckungen auf dem Feld der Mathematik (eine Art Nobelpreis, allerdings für junge Talente). Ihr Forschungsgebiet war die hochdimensionale Geometrie, spezieller: geometrische Strukturen auf Oberflächen.
Die Mathematikerin verstarb 2017 im Alter von 40 Jahren. So rätselhaft den meisten ihre mathematischen Arbeiten erscheinen mögen (den Autor dieses Beitrags eingeschlossen), so ansprechend und inspirierend sind die Sätze von Mirzakhani, die sich in Interviews finden. Ein Storytelling zu Themen wie Geduld, Faszination oder Teamwork, das Bescheidenheit und tiefen Respekt vor der Sache demonstriert.
Zitate von Maryam Mirzakhani
Geduld: „The beauty of mathematics only shows itself to more patient followers.“
Grenzen: „I like crossing the imaginary boundaries people set up between different fields—it’s very refreshing. There are lots of tools, and you don’t know which one would work. It’s about being optimistic and trying to connect things.“
Aha-Momente: „Of course, the most rewarding part is the “Aha” moment, the excitement of discovery and enjoyment of understanding something new, the feeling of being on top of a hill, and having a clear view. But most of the time, doing mathematics for me is like being on a long hike with no trail and no end in sight!“
Tempo: „I am a slow thinker, and have to spend a lot of time before I can clean up my ideas and make progress.
Romane: „As a kid, I dreamt of becoming a writer. My most exciting pastime was reading novels; in fact, I would read anything I could find. I never thought I would pursue mathematics before my last year in high school.“
Faszination: „The more I spent time on mathematics, the more excited I became.“
Teamwork: „I find collaboration quite exciting. I am grateful to my collaborators for all I have learned from them. But in some ways I would prefer to do both; I usually have some problems to think about on my own.“
Motivation: „I think it’s rarely about what you actually learn in class it’s mostly about things that you stay motivated to go and continue to do on your own.“
Wege: „It’s not only the question, but the way you try to solve it.“
Perspektiven: „I find it fascinating that you can look at the same problem from different perspectives and approach it using different methods.“