"RESERVE YOUR RIGHT TO THINK, FOR EVEN TO THINK WRONGLY IS BETTER THAN NOT TO THINK AT ALL."

The brilliant teacher stood in the center of the city dressed in a traditional cloak, speaking with authority about the ideas of philosophers like Plato and Aristotle. The students crowded around, eager to absorb the knowledge of this illustrious speaker. Her name was Hypatia, and she was one of the greatest mathematicians, astronomers, and philosophers of her era. At a time when women were mostly confined to their homes and considered property, Hypatia’s life was extraordinary.

She was born in the city of Alexandria, Egypt, which was then ruled by the Greeks. It was a vibrant city of culture and learning, and one of its most important institutions was the Museum, a kind of university whose library held more than a half-million scrolls. Many great thinkers taught at the Museum and were developing new ideas about medicine, physics, biology, astronomy, and geography.

One of them was Hypatia’s father, Theon of Alexandria. When Hypatia was born, he devoted himself to teaching her all he knew. They developed a strong bond, working together to study and write “commentaries” about classic texts. Writing a commentary meant that you read the works of someone else and wrote your own thoughts and ideas about it. Theon saw how brilliant his young daughter was, and soon her knowledge had surpassed his.

She began writing her own commentaries and giving lessons to students in her home, which became a gathering place for her devoted followers. She wrote texts about algebra and geometry, expanding on existing theories and coming up with new ones. She was also an inventor: she came up with designs for a number of scientific instruments.

When Hypatia started giving public lectures about philosophy, word spread about this remarkable woman. She went out in public, wearing scholars’ robes instead of traditional women’s clothes; she even drove her own chariot. Soon the city officials were consulting with her on important city business. Many men wanted to marry Hypatia, but she refused, preferring to focus on her work.

Her lessons and talks were incredibly popular—but not with everyone. Tension was building in the region, as different groups fought for power. Some of the powerful people began to dislike mathematicians. They said they were tricksters, or even witches. The Museum and its library were eventually destroyed, and in 415 CE, the brilliant Hypatia, the first known female mathematician and scientist, was killed by an angry mob who felt threatened by her advanced scientific ideas. Though her life was cut short, her ideas and inventions lived on for centuries, influencing great thinkers like Sir Isaac Newton and René Descartes.