Hypatia Of Alexandria: Biography And Contributions Of This Greek Philosopher
Hypatia of Alexandria was an illustrious woman with extensive training in various areas such as mathematics, astronomy and philosophy, being documented as the first female mathematician and scientist in history.
She worked as a teacher in a school in the city of Alexandria and throughout her life she dedicated herself to cultivating her intellect and curiosity to continually learn, which allowed her to discover great things. She also showed political and social interest in what was happening in her time.
In this biography of Hypatia of Alexandria We will briefly review his life and his contributions to science.
Hypatia, whose name can also be written as Hypatia, was born and always lived in the city of Alexandria (Egypt), between 355 and 370 AD since the year in which he was born is not known with certainty, although most historians take the year 370 as the year in which he was born.
Hypatia’s father was Theon, a man of Greek origin who settled in the city of Alexandria. Theon produced numerous works related to various topics (philosophy, astronomy, mathematics and other sciences). Furthermore, Father Hypatia was the last director of the Serapeum Museum, the second most important library in Alexandria and the place where Hypatia also worked teaching classes like his father. Regarding Hypatia’s mother, however, there is no document that talks about her.
Thanks to his father, Hypatia She was educated in an intellectual environment, with a continuous search for learning and belonging to the Alexandrian Neoplatonic school Many historians agree that Hypatia was the first woman whose knowledge of mathematics and other sciences is known.
Furthermore, her passion for learning led her to acquire knowledge about philosophy, the history of religions, principles of pedagogy and many other areas of a different nature.
Hypatia had the great luck, for the time in which she lived, to grow up with all kinds of means at her disposal that allowed her to develop her intellect from a young age and become the great scientist with great training that she became.
In the year 391, Emperor Theodosius I The Great, at the request of a patriarch called Theophilus of Alexandria, ordered the destruction of all pagan temples in Alexandria, among which was the Serapean Museum.
So, Theon and Hypatia had to move all the documents that had not been destroyed to their house in order to be able to preserve them so that they can continue working there and teach their students.
Lifestyle of Hypatia of Alexandria
The lives of Hypatia and her father, Theon, were marked by asceticism, because They followed an austere lifestyle of renunciation of material pleasures and hedonism, so that they dedicated themselves to cultivating physical, mental and spiritual perfection.
Hypatia learned from her father to cultivate her body, and not just her intellect, through a daily routine of physical exercise because Both followed the idea that says “a healthy mind in a healthy body.” so they were looking for balance to have a clear mind and a healthy physique.
Political and social life of Hypatia
Hypatia of Alexandria was a learned woman, so it has been documented that She was greatly admired by the majority of the citizens of Alexandria highlighting that he moved around the city in a carriage and dressed in a white cloak, just like philosophers did.
There are also writings that report that his presence was frequent in scientific and public institutions of the city, always worrying about political and social problems, holding meetings with municipal officials and officials of the Empire.
In addition, he attended scientific conferences and debates on mathematics, philosophy and astronomy with other teachers and young people from the library or his school.
Besides, His prestige also unleashed envy and indignation on the part of some citizens reasons among which are the causes of his murder.
Her career as a teacher
Hypatia He taught in a school for more than 20 years on different subjects (astronomy, mathematics and philosophy), reaching greater prestige than his father, Theon; becoming the greatest intellectual influence in the city after the death of his father.
Students from all over came to his classes and most of them used to belong to the aristocracy, although there were also municipal officials, foreigners, scientists, officials, politicians and scholars, among others; For this reason, Hypatia became a very famous teacher because all of her students felt great admiration for her because of her wisdom and her great virtues in teaching her.
His students were a model of diversity because they belonged to diverse cultures, religions, origins and ethnicities to whom Hypatia transmitted a philosophical doctrine with an integrative Pythagorean spirit that did not divide her students by religion, ethnicity or any other aspect.
Sineo, a disciple of Hypatia, wrote some documents about her in which he reported that she was a woman well prepared academically and with an overwhelming personality, being corroborated by other disciples, such as Socrates Scholasticus, who also confirmed what others documented. his disciples that he looked healthy and attractive.
His death
Hypatia of Alexandria She was murdered by a group of fanatics for defending paganism and rationality in the year 415 despite having been a woman much admired in her city.
However, he had to live through some very complicated years because the end of the Roman Empire was approaching, so there were many social, ideological and political conflicts that caused the murder of many people in addition to Hypatia.
The 5th century historian Socrates the Scholastic, says in one of his documents that Hypatia was murdered because of the envy and resentment that many had towards her, for being a very academically prepared person and for having different ideas from the group that had her. killer.
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Legacy and contributions of Hypatia
Hypatia of Alexandria is considered the first female mathematician and scientist in history She is a symbol of ancient science because in the stages close to her death there were no great advances in astronomy, physics and mathematics.
In the area of mathematics, Hypatia found a way to give original solutions to algebraic equations developing a commentary on the “Arithmetic” of Diophantus of Alexandria, a mathematician admired by Hypatia.
Together with his father, he revised and reissued Euclid’s “Elements of Geometry,” an edition that is still used today.
On the other hand, Hypatia was in charge of developing review comments about the “Almagest” the astronomical canon made by Ptolemy, where he had made several observations of the stars.
It is also documented that Hypatia dedicated part of her research work to study the curves resulting from making a complete cut in a cone through a plane in different positions and, more specifically, the circumference obtained at the moment in which the plane is positioned perpendicular to the axis of the cone without passing through its vertex.
Furthermore, there are numerous sources that They attribute to Hypatia of Alexandria the merit of being the inventor of the astrolabe, an instrument used to visualize the position of planets and stars. Such an instrument was a fundamental tool at that time, being used by scientists to observe the position of the stars in the sky, being able to carry out research, and by navigators who used this device to know the course, altitude and time of day.
During her time, back in the 4th and 5th centuries, Hypatia was a very famous and admired woman and became a legend among the people of the East; however, in the West it remained forgotten over the course of several centuries
It was not until the 18th century, thanks to some writers, such as Voltaire, John Toland, Charles Kingsley and Edward Gibbon, when the life and contributions to science of Hypatia of Alexandria were rescued in Western memory. Thanks to writers of that time, several touches of the biography and work of this illustrious woman could be rescued, despite the fact that most of his works could not be rescued because they disappeared when she was murdered.
Several writers, when talking about Hypatia’s life, gave it a romantic touch. On the other hand, other authors, among whom Voltaire stands out, were in charge of turning her into a standard-bearer against the fanaticism that prevailed in her time and into a distinguished person of feminism and also of Neoplatonic philosophy.
There is no doubt that gathering information about Hypatia to prepare a biography that recounts the private and social life, in addition to the contributions of this illustrious woman, has been a difficult task, because there are very few documents about her life and work, and It is suspected that the works he created that were not destroyed were signed by other authors who appropriated them after his death.
