Theano (mathematician)

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Theano (last part of the 6th century BCE) was one of the few women in ancient mathematics and is also thought to have been a physician.

Life and work

The best known interpretation of her life is that her father Pythonax of Crete (an Orphic philosopher and physician) was a great supporter of Pythagoras. She was first a student of Pythagoras, and supposedly became his wife. It is often said that she and her two daughters took over the Pythagorean school after his death. In other traditions she is said to be the daughter of Brontinus - Pythagoras successor, or the daughter of Pythagoras and wife of Brontinus.

In the Greek school of philosophy run by Pythagoras there were many women who joined in as teachers and scholars. Those in his school lived in a communal manner and published all their writings under the name of Pythagoras. Today, then, it is difficult to determine who actually did which work.

No writings of Theano are extant, although apocryphal literature written in her name does exist. McLemore writes that her most important work was related to the principle of the Golden Mean.

References

• Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey (1986). Women in Science. The MIT Press. ISBN 026215031X
• Encyclopaedia of World Biography Entry
• McLemore, Ethel W. "Past Present (we) - Present future (you)," Association for Women in Mathematics Newsletter, 9(6) (Nov/Dec 1979), 11-15.

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