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© Copyright 1999, Jim Loy
Hypatia (daughter of Theon and resident of Alexandria) is the earliest known female mathematician. She was also a philosopher. She wrote commentaries to Euclid's Elements, Ptolemy's astronomical works, and Apollonius' Conics. None of these commentaries has survived. She is also famous for being beautiful. But she is most famous for being the victim of brutal murder in March in the year 415, at the hands of a mob (including monks), for being a vocal non-Christian. She was apparently cut to death with oyster shells, and then her body was burned.