Woman in Science / With an Introductory Chapter on Woman's Long Struggle for Things of the Mind

by J. A. Zahm

There is reason to believe—although the fact is not definitely established—that she studied for a while in Athens in the school of philosophy conducted by Plutarch the Younger and his daughter Asclepigenia. After her return from Athens, Hypatia was invited by the magistrates of Alexandria to teach mathematics and philosophy. Here in brief time her lecture room was filled by eager and enthusiastic students from all parts of the civilized world. She was also gifted with a high order of eloquence and with a voice so marvelous that it was declared to be "divine."

Regarding her much vaunted beauty, nothing certain is known, as antiquity has bequeathed to us no medal or statue by which we could form an estimate of her physical grace. But, be this as it may, it is certain that she commanded the admiration and respect of all for her great learning, and that she bore the mantle of science and philosophy with so great modesty and self-confidence that she won all hearts. A letter addressed to "The Muse," or to "The Philosopher"—Τη Φιλοσοφω—was sure to be delivered to her at once. Small wonder, then, to find a Greek poet inditing to her an epigram containing the following sentiment:

"When I see thee and hear thy word I thee adore; it is the ethereal constellation of the Virgin, which I contemplate, for to the heavens thy whole life is devoted, O august Hypatia, ideal of eloquence and wisdom's immaculate star."[111]

But it was as a mathematician that Hypatia most excelled. She taught not only geometry and astronomy, but also the new science of algebra, which had but a short time before been introduced by Diophantus. And, singular to relate, no further progress was made in the mathematical sciences, as taught by Hypatia, until the time of Newton, Leibnitz and Descartes,—more than twelve centuries later.

Hypatia was the author of three works on mathematics, all of which have been lost, or destroyed by the ravages of time. One of these was a commentary on the Arithmetica of Diophantus. The original treatise—or rather the part which has come down to us—was found about the middle of the fifteenth century in the Vatican Library, whither it had probably been brought after Constantinople had fallen into the possession of the Turks. This valuable work, as annotated by the great French mathematicians Bachet and Fermat, gives us a good idea of the extent of Hypatia's attainments as a mathematician.

Another of Hypatia's works was a treatise on the Conic Sections by Apollonius of Perga—surnamed "The Great Geometer." Next to Archimedes, he was the most distinguished of the Greek geometricians; and the last four books of his conics constitute the chief portions of the higher geometry of the ancients. Moreover, they offer some elegant geometrical solutions of problems which, with all the resources of our modern analytical method, are not without difficulty. The greater part of this precious work has been preserved and has engaged the attention of several of the most illustrious of modern mathematicians—among them Borelli, Viviani, Fermat, Barrow and others. The famous English astronomer, Halley, regarded this production of Apollonius of such importance that he learned Arabic for the express purpose of translating it from the version that had been made into this language.

A woman who could achieve distinction by her commentaries on such works as the Arithmetica of Diophantus, of the Conic Sections of Apollonius, and occupy an honored place among such mathematicians as Fermat, Borelli, and Halley, must have had a genius for mathematics, and we can well believe that the glowing tributes paid by her contemporaries to her extraordinary powers of intellect were fully deserved. If, with Pascal, we see in mathematics "the highest exercise of the intelligence," and agree with him in placing geometers in the first rank of intellectual princes—princes de l'esprit—we must admit that Hypatia was indeed exceptionally dowered by Him whom Plato calls "The Great Geometer."

There is still a third work of this ill-fated woman that deserves notice—namely, her Astronomical Canon, which dealt with the movements of the heavenly bodies. It is the general opinion that this was but a commentary on the tables of Ptolemy, in which event it is still possible that it may be found incorporated in the work of her father, Theon, on the same subject.

In addition to her works on astronomy and mathematics, Hypatia is credited with several inventions of importance, some of which are still in daily use. Among these are an apparatus for distilling water, another for measuring the level of water, and a third an instrument for determining the specific gravity of liquids—what we should now call an areometer. Besides these apparatus, she was likewise the inventor of an astrolabe and a planisphere.

One of her most distinguished pupils was the eminent Neo-platonist philosopher, Synesius, who became the Bishop of Ptolemais in the Pentapolis of Libya. His letters constitute our chief source of information respecting this remarkable woman. Seven of them are addressed to her, and in four others he makes mention of her. In one of them he writes: "We have seen and we have heard her who presides at the sacred mysteries of philosophy." In another he apostrophizes her as "My benefactress, my teacher,—magistra—my sister, my mother."