What’s a mathematical pool? What trajectory does the ball take as it bounces off its banks? Is it possible to find a pool with areas that are inaccessible, given the ball's initial position? And what do pretzels and doughnuts have to do with it? Mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win the Fields Medal, attempted to provide an answer to some of these intriguing questions – which are  deep mathematical problems. Maryam Mirzakhani was an excellent mathematician, one of the most brilliant minds of our millennium, and she was born May 12, 1977. Upon her death on July 15, 2017, the mathematical community’s grief was so tremendous, so that in 2018, in occasion of the first Women’s Committee of the Mathematical Society, it was determined that May 12 would be designated as the official Women in Mathematics Day. In order to commemorate this recurrence in collaboration with the Italian Mathematical Union (Unione Matematica Italiana), Comic&Science presents a story which sees Maryam as the main protagonist, with the help of Davide La Rosa’s surreal writing, of Silvia Ziche’s masterful drawings, and of Dario Grillotti’s valuable watercolors. As usual, Walter Leoni's clever and well-loved panels accompany the story, which takes place in a peculiar setting rich with mathematical allusions.

Comic&Science is a CNR Edizioni line which borrow its name from the namesake Lucca Comics & Games Cultural Programming Section, where it has an annual fixture since 2012. Its main goal is to promote the relationship between science and entertainment, in belief that both constitute some important educational experiences for individual and civic growth.

Cutated by Roberto Natalini (Cnr-Iac) and Andrea Plazzi.

Roberto Natalini. He’s a mathematician (graduated from University of Rome “La Sapienza”, in 1983; PhD from Univ. Bordeaux I, in 1986) and the Research Manager at the Institute for applied mathematics (Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo). He’s in charge of the studying and approximating differential equations that have applications in biology, fluid dynamics, traffic, and monument conservation. He’s a member of Board of Directors of the Italian Society of Applied and Industrial Mathematics (Società Italiana di Matematica Applicata e Industriale), for which he runs the informative website MADDMATHS! He organizes the comic-scientific event in Lucca with Andrea Plazzi.

Andrea Plazzi. He graduated in Mathematics. He worked on the reconstruction of biological structures from experimental data, as well as the development of a geometry engine for 3D modeling systems. He has been working with comics since 1977. He organized several exhibitions, collaborated with Italian and foreign magazines and editors (Star Comics, Panini, Dark Horse), and translated comics from English (Alan Moore, David Lapham, Paul Hornschemeier) and from French (Marjane Satrapi), focusing on American comic books (Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Uncanny X-Men) and comic novels. Along with PuntoZero label, he translated the majority of Will Eisner’s works, and also oversaw them for Kappa Edizioni (A Life Force, Last Day in Vietnam, The Name of The Game, The Spirit) and for Fandango Libri (A Contract with God, Dropsie Avenue, A Family Matter, Minor Miracles). Since 1997 he oversees Leo Ortolani’s publishing, i.e., Rat-Man author.

Davide La Rosa (Como, 1980) created the ‘Fumetti Disegnati Male’ project with Emiliano Mattioli, a magazine of 'graphically incorrect comics'. A controversial figure of 'cartoonist who cannot draw', he is the author of numerous volumes, such as ‘Zombi gay in Vaticano’, ‘Suore ninja’, ‘Paco Lanciano e il fagiano crononauta’ and ‘La Divina Commedia illustrata male’.