Her passing and leaving behind a young daughter reminds me of the loss of my mother due to breast cancer when I was a child. I am saddened by the set back her passing will have on the field of mathematics, but more angry at the destructive power this disease has on families. I pray her child and spouse learn to live with this burden.
I'm floored. This is a very significant loss, not just for her family and friends but for the entire field of mathematics. The subject has been set back for years.
Hey dang, may we please have a black bar? Maryam was a massive contributor to mathematics, and we've already seen multiple threads hit the front page about her passing. It would seem she deserves the honor.
Volume of posting is not a good measure for whether a person deserves a black bar. People are always going to be tempted to post what they think other people want to see - there's no direct correlation between a subject being popular and HN-significant. No doubt many major mathematicians and other well-known people will continue to pass away in the coming years, and some of those will receive a lot of attention from this site as well, even without any real significance in tech.
I'm convinced an exception can be made for the first female winner of the Fields medal in a vastly male-dominated field. As for significance on HN, I'd argue that the post hitting #1 three separate times suggests that it's quite a bit popular with the HN crowd.