Hypatia was one of the first notable women scholars. Daughter of a professor, she was highly educated and taught alongside her father at the Alexandria Library in Egypt, without the limitations normally ascribed to women. Amongst the topics she studied, taught, and wrote about were philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. She is regarded as the first woman to influence the body of mathematical ideas.
She was lynched by a Christian mob (flayed) for being a pagan in March 415 AD. The prevailing theory is she was targeted by a Christian political rival (Cyril) for her popular support of the current pagan ruler of Alexandria (Orestes).
Hypatia's story was dramatized in the Spanish film, Agora, with Rachel Weisz playing Hypatia.
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