Zaha Hadid was born 31st October 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq into a wealthy and politically engaged family. Her father was a wealth industrialist from Mosul, Iraq who helped to found the left leaning Al-Ahali Group and the National Democratic Party in Iraq. As a family, they often took trips to southern Iraq to visit the ancient Sumerian cities, which sparked her initial interest in architecture. She began her education studying math at the American University of Beirut but eventually moved to London, where she began studying architecture at the Architectural Association School of Architecture. After graduating, she worked with her former professors across Europe, before opening her own firm, Zaha Hadid Architects in London in 1980. In addition to running her firm, she also began teaching at Harvard, Cambridge, Columbia and University of Chicago. Her projects include the aquatic center for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, MAXXI Museum in Rome and the Guangzhou Opera House in China. For these works and her other exquisite pieces, Queen Elizabeth II made her Dame in 2012. Although she does not identify with any particular style of architecture, her drawings and pieces can be identified from their colorful and radical designs, which set her apart from other designers. During her career, she became to be known as the Queen of Curves and was considered one of the greatest architects, as she did not like to be identified as a female architect or an Arab architect. She was simply an architect (The Guardian). Zaha Hadid passed away on the 31st of March 2016 in a Miami, Florida hospital where she suffered a heart attack while recovering from bronchitis.