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which have been dismissed as trivial or non-mathematical and seeing if they do in fact belong in
our history—and if so, where.
6. Hypatia
Hypatia, the daughter of Theon the mathematician, was initiated in her father’s studies; her learned commentaries
have illuminated the geometry of Apollonius and Diophantus, and she publicly taught, both at Athens and Alexandria,
the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. In the bloom of beauty, and in the maturity of wisdom, the modest maid refused
her lovers and instructed her disciples; the persons most illustrious for their rank and merit were impatient to visit the
female philosopher; and Cyril beheld with a jealous eye the gorgeous train of horses and slaves who crowded the door
of her academy. (Gibbon, n.d. chapter XLVII)
Hypatia was born in the later part of the Roman Empire, an era when women were not free to pursue careers. This was
a time when orthodox belief effectively wiped out centuries of scientific discovery. Ancient Greek works were torched
and scholars were murdered. Hypatia was the last proprietor of the Hellenic Age wonder, the Library of Alexandria.
She is portrayed as a young adult facing the issues of a changing world. The reader will discover uncanny parallels
to many current situations within the United States and, indeed, the world. Hypatia, a real, historically documented
heroine, is a find for today’s young adults who are searching for strong, non-fiction role models. (From review of a
novel, ‘Dear Future People’, at http://www.erraticimpact. com/ ̃feminism/html/women_hypatia.htm)
Mathematicians, like engineers and physicists, have very rarely been women—the rarity is far more
serious than (for example) for poets and painters. As a result, the study of ‘women mathematicians’
faces a serious difficulty in even getting off the ground, since there has until the twentieth century
been no continuing tradition from which to construct a history. The feminist historian (of whom
Margaret Alic 1986 was a pioneer) therefore necessarily (a) points out the existence of numerous
such women of whom we know little or nothing, and (b) attempts to weave the major lives of which
we do know something into some kind of thread. The philosopher and mathematician Hypatia,
who was stoned to death by a Christian mob in 415ce, (this much is undoubtedly historical fact)
is the most important early, perhaps the founding figure for the tradition, and the questions which
surround her life and activity may illustrate the wider problem. For if one were to take any other
figure from Greek mathematics as ‘representative’ of something (Nicomachus as a Palestinian,
Ptolemy as an African,...), generalizations based on the little that is known of their lives would
be hard, although the works at least give some basis for building theories. With Hypatia, the
difficulty is the opposite one. Her life is unusually well documented, in the general context of
Greek mathematics, as the result of friendly and hostile accounts by later Christian writers. Most
particularly, her devoted pupil Synesius, bishop of Cyrene in Libya, wrote a number of letters to
her and about her which give substantial detail about her life and teaching, if from a particular
viewpoint. On the other hand, although her ability as a mathematician is well documented and at
least the titles of some works have been preserved, there is no extant text attributed to Hypatia, no
‘Hypatia’s theorem’, no discovery which tradition assigns to her. With Heron, as was noted above,
we know the works but nothing of who he was; with Hypatia, it is the other way round.
On her life and her philosophy, for which the sources are good (Synesius does not appear to
have been so interested in mathematics), Maria Dzielska’s monograph (1995) is a recent excellent
source. Dzielska begins with an account of the myths which have built up around her as an iconic
figure since the seventeenth century, and which my opening quotes illustrate. She was a victim of
Christianity and symbol of the death of the ancient learning at the hands of the new ignorance
(Gibbon); a feminist icon and precursor of (for example) Marie Curie (Margaret Alic); a symbol of