Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician Hypatia is the first female mathematician whose life is reasonably well recorded.
Hypatia worked on commentaries of Diophantus's "Arithmetica," Apollonius's "Conics," and edited the work of her father, Theon, on Ptolemy's "Almagest." She contributed to the understanding of algebraic equations and conic sections. She is believed to have invented the astrolabe and the hydrometer.