SOURCE: "Hypatia of Alexandria" in Hypatia's Heritage, The Women's Press, 1986, pp. 35-49.

In the following excerpt, Alic summarizes Hypatia's career within the context of the political and intellectual climate of early-fifth-century Alexandria.

She was a person who divided society into two parts: those who regarded her as an oracle of light, and those who looked upon her as an emissary of darkness. (Elbert Hubbard, p. 280)

A slight scientific renaissance occurred in fourth-century Alexandria, illuminated by the most famous of all women scientists until Marie Curie. For fifteen centuries Hypatia was often considered to be the only female scientist in history. Even today, for reasons that have more to do with the romanticising of her life and death than with her accomplishments, she is frequently the only woman mentioned in histories of mathematics and astronomy.⁶

Hypatia is the earliest woman scientist whose life is well documented. Although most of...