Hypatia of Alexandria

“There was a woman in Alexandria named Hypatia, daughter of the philosopher Theon, who attained such knowledge in literature and science that she far surpassed all the philosophers of her own time. Having succeeded to the school of Plato and Plotinus, she explained the principles of philosophy to her listeners, many of whom came from afar to receive her instruction.” With these words, the historian Socrates the Scholastic described what was perhaps the most important scientist and philosopher of antiquity.