Memes are going around about Hypatia, saying that she was unique among women, and "one of the first" but we do her legacy a dishonor and misogynize her death when we ignore other well known female mathematicians from history. Hypatia is the first female mathematician whose life is reasonably well documented, which isn't the same as saying she was "the first" or "one of the first". Here's a list of other known ancient women mathematicians.
Gargi, Maitreyi, and Apala (1500–500 BCE): These Indian women are mentioned as scholars and philosophers in the ancient Vedic texts (like the Rigveda and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad). One account credits Apala with inventing a method for extracting square roots
Aethra (10th/9th century BCE): The oldest woman known to have complex mathematical knowledge, she taught accounting using an abacus in ancient Greece.
Themistoclea (6th century BCE): A priestess of Delphi from whom Pythagoras is said to have derived most of his moral principles as well as principles of arithmetic and geometry.
Theano (6th century BCE): A student and later the wife of Pythagoras, she was a philosopher and mathematician who belonged to the Pythagorean school. Treatises on polyhedra and the golden ratio are attributed to her. She and her daughters helped preserve and spread Pythagoras' works after his death.
Tymicha (6th century BCE): A Spartan and member of the Pythagorean community known for her staunch refusal to reveal the secrets of Pythagorean teaching to the tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse.
Polygnoti (7th/6th century BCE): A student of Thales, she was knowledgeable in geometric theorems and introduced acrophonic symbolism to simplify arithmetic notation. She is also credited with proving the theorem that "the angle in a semicircle is a right angle".
Diotima (5th century BCE): A philosopher from Mantinea, mentioned in Plato's Symposium. While known for philosophical discussions, it highlights the participation of women in intellectual circles where abstract reasoning, fundamental to mathematics, was discussed.
Arete of Cyrene (4th century BCE): A philosopher and mathematician who taught natural philosophy and authored more than forty books. She took over the management of her father Aristippus's school after his death.
Lasthenia of Arcadia and Axiothea of Phlius (4th century BCE): Both women studied mathematics and philosophy at Plato's Academy, disguised as men in some accounts. Axiothea went on to teach in Athens and Corinth.
Melissa (3rd century BCE): A Pythagorean philosopher known for her work on the construction of regular polygons that can be inscribed in a circle.
Ban Zhao (45–c. 116 CE): A Chinese historian, philosopher, and political advisor during the Han Dynasty. While primarily known for her historical writings, she was an exceptionally learned individual who taught mathematics and astronomy to Empress Deng Sui, indicating a high level of mathematical literacy.
Pandrosion of Alexandria (4th century CE): A Greek geometer who was a contemporary of Pappus of Alexandria, known for her work on the problem of doubling the cube and the geometric mean. She taught mathematics in Alexandria a generation before Hypatia. Early translations of Pappus's works obscured her gender, but modern scholarship confirms she was a woman.
Hypatia of Alexandria (b. 350–370 CE, died 415 CE) was a renowned Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician who lived and taught in Alexandria, Egypt, during a period of intense political and religious conflict under the Roman Empire. In March 415 CE, she was ambushed in her chariot by a fanatical Christian mob led by a lector. They dragged her into a church, brutally murdered her, and burned her remains. While her death was tragic, she was not unique amongst educated women of history to practice mathematics. She is however, the first female mathematician whose life is reasonably well documented.
Khana (Khona) (5th century CE): She is a prominent figure in Indian astronomy and mathematics (specifically related to astrology). She was the daughter-in-law of the famous astronomer Varahamihira and is known through popular anecdotes for her insightful astronomical calculations.
Wang Zhenyi (1768–1797): She lived during the Qing dynasty of China where she is regarded as the most notable female mathematician and astronomer.
The absence of a continuous and well-documented history of women in mathematics across many global cultures highlights the historical challenges women faced in gaining recognition and access to education. Works that appear to be authored by men were instead authored by women who had their names and gender changed by later biographers and historians.
In the Bible, women often had their gender obscured and their real names changed. For example, the real name of the second wife of Abraham was hidden behind a cipher. Her real name was Elsheba.
King David was illiterate, but his son King Solomon was taught his letters and his math by his mother Queen Bathsheba. And it was the Queen of Sheba who came to test Solomon to see that he was fit for Kingship and had learned well - such was the power of Matrilineal lineage in Egypt to have the final say on whether a man became King or Pharaoh or not. These women were educated.
Let's not buy into stupid Christian Nationalist ideas about women that merely doubles down on the misogyny of men historically, with their dumb ideas about being intellectually superior in STEM.
