During the year 400 A.D.  there were three major mathematicians alive.  Martianus Capella was around 35 years old and Synesius of Cyrene was about thirty years old.  There is a dispute about when Hypatia of Alexandria was born, so she was  between 30 and 45 years old at the turn of the century.

Hypatia was the most prominent of these mathematicians and was the first woman to be involved in the academic part of society.  Hypatia also had interests in astronomy and astrology.  She was the daughter of the famous mathematician Theon who died in 395 A.D.  None of Hypatia’s writings have been found to this day.  All that is known about her work are the titles of her works and references to them by other mathematicians such as her pupil Synesius of Cyrene.  Synesisus claims that he invented the astrolabe with the help of Hypatia, but this fact is disputed among historians.  It is known that Hypatia wrote commentaries on Apollonius’ Conics  and Diophantus’ Artimetica.  It is possible that she also helped her father write his commentary on Ptolemy's Almagest..  Her works also influenced the scientists Descartes, Newton, and Leibniz.  Hypatia was murdered in 415 A.D. by a mob of supporters of Cyril, the archbishop of Alexandria, because they believed she was responsible for preventing a friendship between Cyril and her good friend Orestes,  the Roman prefect of Alexandria.

Author: Tim Lucas

References:
Adair,  Ginny. “Hypatia.” http://www.scottlan.edu/lriddle/women/hypatia.htm

Deakin, Michael A. B. “The Primary Sources for the Life and Work of Hypatia of    Alexandria.”
 http://www.polyamory.org/~howard/Hypatia/primary-sources.html

History of Mathematics
 http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/mathhist/mathhist.html

Mac Tutor Hisotry of Mathematics Archive,        http://www.groups.dcs.stand.ac.uk/~history/index.html

“Biography of Hypatia”  http://www.lib.virginia.edu/science/parshall/hypatia.html