Mila Nikolova facts for kids

Mila Nikolova (born in 1962, died June 20, 2018) was a brilliant Bulgarian mathematician. She was known for her important work in a field called image processing. This is about how computers understand and change pictures. She also worked on inverse problems and compressed sensing, which are ways to solve tricky math puzzles and make data smaller.

Mila Nikolova's Journey in Science

Mila Nikolova started her career in Bulgaria as a science journalist and an engineer. She loved learning and went on to study even more.

Studying in France

In 1995, Mila earned her Ph.D. from the University of Paris-Sud in France. A Ph.D. is a very high university degree that shows you are an expert in your field. Her studies focused on signals and images. Later, in 2006, she earned another special degree called a habilitation in mathematics from Pierre and Marie Curie University.

Working as a Researcher

After her studies, Mila Nikolova worked with a big French company called Électricité de France. Then, in 1996, she joined the teachers at Paris Descartes University.

In 1999, she became a senior research fellow at CNRS, which is a very important French research organization. She worked with different top schools, like the École nationale supérieure des télécommunications and the École normale supérieure Cachan. By 2009, she became a director of research at CNRS, leading important scientific projects.

Awards and Special Honors

Mila Nikolova's amazing work was recognized by many.

Michel-Monpetit Prize

In 2010, she won the prestigious Michel-Monpetit Prize [fr] from the French Academy of Sciences. This award honored her for her "originality and depth" in mathematical image processing and solving complex inverse problems. It showed how important her ideas were.

Honored by Colleagues

After she passed away, the Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Vision published a special issue just for her. This is a big honor, showing how much her work meant to other scientists in her field.