Hypatia of Alexandria

[susanreads]

She is an astronomer, January:

Hypatia of Alexandria

IV-V Centuries

Hypatia was an astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher born in the IV century AD in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. She was the author of many works on astronomy, all of which have been lost. According to science historians she wrote several studies about mathematics and astronomy (e.g. about the ptolemaic tables and explanations about the Almagest). She built and improved astronomical instruments such as the "plane astrolabe", an ancient instrument for determining the altitude of the sun and stars, and the "planisphere", the map of celestial bodies. Historians describe her as a charismatic teacher. Many students came to Alexandria specifically to study with Hypatia, some of whom subsequently became important politicians and philosophers.

She was brutally killed by a radical Christian mob, which identified her as a defender of paganism and rationality.

On the calendar there's also an old portrait, a modern portrait against a background of stars, and a quote: "Hypatia far surpasses all the philosophers of her own time." Socrates Scholasticus

I first heard about Hypatia as a mathematician, not as an astronomer, though astronomy is mentioned in the paragraph about her in "A History of Their Own":

Hypatia (c. 370-415) left a reputation as a great scholar, although none of her writings have survived. The daughter of a mathematician, she taught both mathematics and philosophy at the university in Alexandria. She was a popular teacher and was known as The Nurse or The Philosopher. Hypatia invented a number of scientific instruments and wrote works on astronomy and mathematics. In 415 the Christian Patriarch of Alexandria incited a mob to attack her; she was pulled from her chariot and killed by the crowds. Both her body and all her books were burned.

Her Wikipedia article has as much about her death (also sensationalised and misrepresented in a recent movie, so I hear) as about her life, and more about her "legacy" in legend and fiction than about her work. I prefer the article in Britannia Online.