Women in Science
PEOPLE’S
Hypatia’s Heritage uncovers the important role women have
played in the evolution of scientific thought.
BY
K A T H E R I N E
W H I T E
Hypatia’s Heritage
A History of Women in Science from Antiquity
through the Nineteenth Century
by Margaret Alic
Beacon Press, 1986. Paperback $9.95
here persists the notion that women
are incapable of scientific creativity.
A dangerous misconception in a world
dominated by science and technology. To label
women incapable of the kinds of achievements
our culture values most indicates the contempt
this culture continues to hold for women. Fur­
ther, it robs many women of the confidence and
the opportunity to use their natural talents to
create a better world. Historians, by omitting or
misrepresenting the accomplishments of
women, have perpetuated the myth of female
inferiority. Margaret Alic’s book, Hypatia’s
H eritage, counters this perspective and gives to
o f importance before Marie Curie. One of the
great mathematicians, astronomers, and philo­
sophers o f her day, she is deserving of her place
in history, but has been remembered more for
the circumstances of her death than the quality
women the esteem to which their history entitles
them.
Alic’s well-documented research chronicles
w om en's involvement in scientific discovery
throughout the evolution of western civilization.
Exploring the lives and work of individual
women during each successive period of history,
Alic reveals not only the nature of their con­
tribution s to science but the social and intellec­
tual climate in which they worked.
Although societies varied in their response to
wom en’s participation in academics, women
have suffered intellectual oppression since the
rise of patriarchy. Many societies denied wo­
men any access to education. Others permitted
women to be educated, but devalued or dis­
credited their achievement. Often, for reasons
o f propriety, personal safety, or to insure that
their work be taken seriously, women published
under male pseudonyms. Hypatia s Heritage
uncovers the important role women have played
in the evolution of scientific thought despite
these obstacles to achievement and to future
recognition.
The book owes its title to Hypatia of Alex­
andria, a fifth century scientists often recog­
nized by historians as the only female scientist
o f her work.
The last pagan scientist in the western world.
GW
her violent death coincided with the last years o f
the Roman Empire. Since there were to be no
significant advances in mathematics, astronomy
or physics anywhere in the West fo r another
1000 years, Hypatia has come to symbolize the
end o f ancient science.
Anne Conway, a seventeenth century
naturalist of singular importance, was not so
fortunate as to be considered of symbolic in­
terest to historians. Her writings literally laid
the groundwork for the development of modem
evolutionary theories, yet she has been all but
forgotten. For reasons of propriety her name
was omitted from the title page of her most
important treatise. The work was subsequently
attributed to her editor, Francis van Helmont,
despite the objections of Conway's contempo­
raries. Anne Conway’s story is not unique.
“ She was in some respects the archetypical
woman scientist, a member of the aristocracy,
she embarked on a rigorous course of self-
education, made her contributions to science
and was forgotten.’’
Among the many other forgotten women of
science rediscovered in this book are: Ada
Lovelace, nineteenth century mathematician
whose partner, Charles Babbage, was given full
credit for inventing the forerunner to the mod­
em computer; Lady Mary Montegu, eighteenth
century feminist who intriduced the small-pox
vaccine to Europe; Emilie Chatelet, influential
eighteenth century mathematical philosopher,
remembered instead for her love affair with the
poet, Voltaire; and Trotula, one of the most
renowned physicians and medical scholars of
the Middle Ages, written out of medical history
in the early twentieth century by men who did
not believe her work could have been done by a
woman.
As Alic stresses, “ Because historians have
been unable to accept the accomplishments of
women, feminists are forced to reaffirm repeat­
edly the historical validity o f Trotula and other
women scientists.” Our history is being rewrit­
ten and women are discovering a heritage rich
in intellectual creativity and courage. Such dis­
coveries undo the misconceptions of the present
and free us to lay claim to a better future. For
this reason Hypatia's Heritage is not just a book
for and about women of science, it is a book for
every person interested in the possibilities
that a new understanding of the past has to offer.
(Ed. note: Margaret Alic teaches at Portland
State University. She will appear at A Woman's
Place Bookstore to autograph her book on
January 9, 5-7 p.m.) 9
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