Ada Lovelace Day!

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to raise awareness of the achievements and successes of women in technology and science.  This year it is today (7th October) though last year it was on 24th March.

One of the fascinating women of the ancient world and foundation of science is Hypatia of Alexandria, who -sadly- we know very little about but who was very active in the scientific and philosophical community of her time.  Unfortunately, it was a very unsettled time and none of her works survive (a situation sadly common among early scientists).   But what we do know shows her as a very dedicated woman, highly focused on the life of mind.

The fictionalized version of her life as presented in the movie Agora is probably far from accurate,  it is a very pretty (if slightly depressing) film and Rachel Weisz does her best to bring Hypatia to life.

Also, it is always worth looking through the 2D Goggles to the universe next door where Ada Lovelace was a two-fisted science heroine.