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.

Theano was a student and wife of the ancient Greek philosopher, great mathematician Pythagoras, who lived in VI - V centuries BC. Her very life is shrouded in mystery and became a subject of legends and myths. Some scholars even believe that there was more than one woman now identified as Theano, while others think that in fact it was only one person using various pseudonyms. Her only detailed biography was compiled by an ancient historian and chronicler Diogenes Laertius, who lived almost seven centuries later and who himself relied on various sources which are not known to us.

According to him, Theano was born circa 546 BC, probably on Crete. She is believed to be a daughter of Brontinus the Orphic, a member of a religious group worshiping Osiris.

Pythagoras teaching his female students

After returning from his travels, Pythagoras founded a school or, as is often called, a university in Crotone, a Dorian colony in South Italy. Pythagoras gathered a small group of devoted students, whom he taught philosophy, as well as the foundations of mathematics, music, and astronomy, which were considered by him to be a triangular basis for all arts and sciences. Besides this, Pythagoras taught techniques of meditation, self-awareness, self-control, self-esteem, and self-appreciation.

At the age of 60, Pythagoras married his student Theano, a wonderful beautiful girl who conquered the heart of a philosopher with her pure love, unlimited devotion and faith.

It is known that she was an important person at Pythagoras school. Some researchers believe that most of Pythagoras’ writings were made by Theano.

It’s known that Theano wrote about medicine, physics, mathematics and child psychology. Theano was an author of “Cosmology”, “The Theorem of the Golden Mean” (irrational numbers which appear in lots of aspects of nature are described), “The Theory of Numbers”, “The Construction of the Universe” (she created a theory about the universe and 10 concentric spheres), “On Virtue”, and Pythagoras’ biography “Life of Pythagoras.”

Their marriage turned out to be perfect. Theano became so enthusiastic about her husband’s works that after his death she became a leader of the Pythagorean school.

The family of Pythagoras was an example for the entire city, their house was regarded as a temple of goddess Demeter, and the courtyard was called a temple of Muses.

Theano gave birth to two sons and three daughters, who were faithful followers of their father’s philosophy. One of the sons subsequently became a teacher of Empedocles and introduced him to the Pythagorean education.

Being a proponent of the infinite universe, Theano believed in the immortality of human soul as its integral part. Metaphorically speaking she reached this immortality.