Hypatia of Alexandria
Native spelling: Ὑπατία
Alexandria, Egypt
Neoplatonist philosopher and mathematician who led a school in Alexandria, is credited with commentaries on Diophantus's Arithmetica and Apollonius's Conics, and is the earliest woman mathematician whose life and work are documented in reasonable detail.
Hypatia was born in Alexandria, then part of the Eastern Roman Empire — the city lies in modern Egypt — sometime in the second half of the 4th century CE; ancient sources disagree enough on the year that no birth date can be given with confidence here. She was the daughter of Theon of Alexandria, a mathematician and astronomer associated with the Museum of Alexandria, who educated her in mathematics, astronomy and philosophy.
Around 400 CE Hypatia became head of the Platonist school in Alexandria, where she lectured publicly on mathematics, astronomy and Neoplatonic philosophy, attracting students from pagan and Christian backgrounds alike; her pupil Synesius of Cyrene, whose letters are a major source for her life, later became a Christian bishop. None of her writings survive as independent works, but historical testimony credits her with a commentary on the thirteen books of Diophantus's Arithmetica, a foundational text of number theory, and a commentary on the Conics of Apollonius of Perga, and possibly with revisions to editions of Ptolemy's astronomical tables prepared jointly with her father. She is also credited with teaching the construction and use of instruments such as the astrolabe.
Hypatia held real influence in Alexandrian civic life, at times advising the Roman prefect Orestes, which drew her into the bitter political conflict between Orestes and Cyril, the city's bishop. In March 415 she was murdered by a mob during a period of religious and political unrest, an event widely regarded by historians as a symbolic marker of the transition from the classical intellectual culture of antiquity toward the Christianized world of late antiquity.
Workplaces: Platonist school, Alexandria
Egypt