Hypatia (born c. 350-370 - died 415 AD) was a Greek philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician who lived in Alexandria, Egypt. She was a daughter of Theon of Alexandria, a mathematician who was the head of a school called the "Mouseion" and who edited Euclid’s Elements.
Hypatia received her first education in Alexandria and then studied in Athens. There, she studied the works of Plato and Aristotle. And then, having returned to Alexandria, Hypatia began to teach students from all over the Mediterranean. She quickly became renowned as a great teacher and a wise counselor.
Hypatia was a prominent thinker of the Neoplatonic school in Alexandria and supported the original Neoplatonic principles formulated by Plotinus, a major Greek-speaking philosopher of the ancient world at that time.
It was not the best time for philosophy. During the reign of Constantine, Christianity became the dominant religion, and the traditional Hellenistic religion and culture became outlawed and persecuted. In 391, the Serapeum of Alexandria, an Ancient Greek temple, was destroyed with all the books in it. In 394, Emperor Theodosius abolished the Olympic Games, thus ending the ancient tradition that had existed for more than a thousand years. Fanatical mobs were destroying ancient monuments and temples, slashing and burning everything that somehow reminded them of the hated Greco-Roman world.
It took a big deal of courage for this young, delicate woman to keep teaching. In part, she was helped by the fact that from 382 to 412, the bishop of Alexandria was Theophilus, who ruled the local Christian community with an iron hand. Even though he was opposed to Neoplatonism, he was friends with Hypatia. This was one of the reasons she became so popular in Alexandria.
After the death of Theophilus, his nephew Cyril became the new bishop. Cyril pursued a tough policy of establishing Christianity and eradicating the last remnants of the ancient culture. Unlike Theophilus, he was an avowed enemy of Hypatia and even stooped as low as spreading rumours that Hypatia was a witch.
Cyril closed the churches of the Novatianists, who supported his opponent Timothy, and he confiscated their property. Then he closed synagogues in Alexandria, confiscated all the property belonging to Jews, and expelled them from the city. Even Orestes, the Roman prefect in Alexandria, sent a report to the emperor and complained about Cyril.
In March 415, during the Christian season of Lent, a crowd of religious fanatics under the leadership of one Peter raided Hypatia's carriage when she was travelling home. The crowd pulled Hypatia out of the carriage, beat her, and dragged her to a Christian church. There, the mob stripped Hypatia naked and murdered her with sharp ostraka, which are pieces of pottery. Her body was torn apart, and the remains burned in the fire.
The murder of Hypatia is often considered to be an event that marked the end of classical antiquity and the final decay of the intellectual life of Alexandria.

Hypatia was known as an inventor. She invented the following devices:
Astrolabe - a device for determining the latitudes and longitudes in astronomy, which was used to determine the location of the sun, stars, and planets;
Planisphere - a star chart analog computing instrument, which displays the visible stars for any time and date and helps recognize stars and constellations;
Hydrometer - a device for determining the relative density of fluid.
Hypatia edited the existing text of Book III of Ptolemy's Almagest and wrote a commentary on Diophantus's thirteen-volume Arithmetica.
Hypatia was also renowned as a talented scientist and teacher. People from different parts of the world came to Alexandria, where she was teaching mathematics and astronomy.

Interesting facts about Hypatia:
Hypatia herself adhered to the traditional Hellenistic religion, although many of her students were Christians.
At some point Hypatia had great political influence in Alexandria.
According to Damascius, Hypatia remained a lifelong virgin.

She lived so unimaginably long ago that even for the Egyptians of Nefertiti’s generation her time was seen as a distant antiquity. She lived when the pyramids had just started being built. It was seven centuries before the Babylonian King Hammurabi compiled his famous Code of Laws, eleven centuries before King Tut was born, and twenty-four centuries before Julius Caesar was assassinated in Rome.
Peseshet was the lady overseer of the female physicians of the royal court of ancient Egypt somewhere around 2400 BC, and was the earliest recorded female doctor and one of the first female scientists. She probably specialized in obstetrics, healing with herbs, and spiritual rituals, like other well-known female doctors from Egypt. Being a doctor in Ancient Egypt was a tremendous honor and almost always meant the highest rank in society, usually a Priest or Priestess.
Her name was discovered in the inscription in the tomb in the necropolis near the step pyramid of Saqqara. The tomb most likely belonged to her son, who himself had a title of the Priest Overseer, and Peseshet was among those whom he proudly acknowledged. If he was indeed her son, she obviously raised a good one.

When writing about Caroline Herschel, one always experiences some mixed feelings. The story of her life is both sad and uplifting. Afflicted with a terrible disease at the tender age of ten that affected her physically for the rest of her life and forever dashed her dreams of having her own family, and a renowned astronomer who achieved full recognition and received the highest scientific honors that many scholars don’t even dream of—it’s all the same person.
Caroline Lucretia Herschel was born in Hanover, Germany on 16 March 1750. She was the eighth child of Isaac Herschel, a self-taught oboist and a bandmaster in the Hanoverian Foot Guards, and his wife Anna Ilse Moritzen.
At the age of ten, Caroline stopped growing (her height was four feet three inches) and became blind in her left eye as a result of typhus.
Her mother assumed she would be a house servant and never get married, so she was forbidden from studying French and advanced needlework. Nevertheless, when her mother was not around, Caroline’s father tutored her individually or included her in her brothers’ lessons.
After her father died, in August 1772, Caroline left Hanover and moved to Bath, a city in southwest England, joining her brothers, William and Alexander, who had already made it their permanent residence.
William had two passions that he pursued fervently from a young age: music and astronomy. He masterfully played various instruments and even composed numerous musical works, including 24 symphonies, eventually becoming a Director of Public Concerts in the city of Bath. Caroline assisted her brother as a soprano soloist during his public performances.
In the struggle between his two passions, his affection for astronomy took the upper hand and soon William began spending almost all of his time building telescopes, perfecting this craft to the point of inventing his own refined model, which was considered the best of its time. William also engaged in observational work, using his improved tools to gaze at the stars. Despite her desire to become a professional singer, as a faithful sister, Caroline again assisted her brother. This time in his scientific endeavors.
Aside from helping her brother, Caroline conducted independent astronomical observations. In the period between 1786 and 1797, she discovered eight comets and 14 nebulae.
After the death of her brother William in 1822, Caroline returned to Hanover, continuing her astronomical studies. In Hanover she completed a catalogue of nebulae and stellar clusters (more than 2500 objects).
Caroline Herschel was the first woman to be awarded a Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1828), and to be named an Honorary Member of the Royal Astronomical Society (1835). She was also named an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1838. When Caroline was 96 years old, the King of Prussia presented her with a Gold Medal for Science (1846).
Throughout the twilight of her life, Caroline remained physically active and healthy, and regularly socialized with other scientists.
Caroline Herschel died peacefully in Hanover on 9 January 1848. She is buried next to her parents and with a lock of William’s hair. To the very end she remained a devout fan and disciple of her brother.