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Term paper on STEM fields

It is well-known that females were historically excluded from purely “boys club” of STEM fields, however female scientists date as far back as Ancient Greece and Egypt, and maybe even further. In more recent years, they have become crucial to the scientific community. Most women who worked in the sphere of science were sisters, daughters or wives of scientific males. During their times, females were always forced onto the backburner but, given equivalent rights, might have overshadowed their male colleagues. Some even masked themselves as males and most, if not all, faced incredible difficulties. Every person nowadays ought to recognize their names and some of their accomplishments, as these females have laid fine basis for the advancements that appeared later. That is why this paper is meant to trace the progress of females in Egypt and critically analyze the effects of the legal system, societal norms and professional practice in such fields as M, S E, and of course, Technology.

The First Females Scientists

Females in STEM fields go back a long path. There are some who see in Merit Ptah, the initial woman scientist. She worked c. 2700 BCE, right after Imhotep, the primary person being honored for the intellectual accomplishment, and is believed to have been a physician. Nevertheless, if not the primary, then one of the earliest recognized females in science would have to be En Hedu’ Anna, who worked in Babylon around 2350 BC and was the main priestess of the Moon Goddess of Babylon. She was involved in math and astronomy to complete her responsibility of arranging the calendar. In early 5th century BC, Hypatia of Alexandria, the initial prominent females in math, was a well-known head of Neoplatonist School of Philosophy in Alexandria. She was extremely cruelly hacked to small pieces for her scientific opinions without any trial.

The initial lady to make a considerable input to the evolvement of math field was Hypatia of Alexandria. Hypatia was an ancient philosopher, who taught in the spheres of math, astrology and astronomy. She worked in Alexandria in Hellenistic Egypt during the control of the pagan cults by Roman Empire. He was the daughter of the famous philosopher Theon, who was also a mathematician. The young girl became the head of Neoplatonist School of Philosophy. There she gave lectures on math and philosophy, especially the philosophy of Neoplatonism. Hypatia concentrated her teachings on those of Plotinus, the establisher of Neoplatonism, and Iamblichus. Hypatia taught philosophical ideas with an amazing scientific emphasis than the earlier followers of Neoplatonism. She is characterized by all scholars as a charismatic teacher. Hypatia used to symbolize science and learning, which were identified with paganism by the early Christians.

According to Plotinus, ultimate reality is beyond the reach of both thought and language. In addition, the life object was to aim at this ultimate reality that could not be described precisely. Needless to mention, Plotinus said that people did not feature the mental ability to realize the ultimate reality along with its consequences. The further reality levels within the hierarchy levels beneath the ultimate reality were distinguished by Iamblichus. There was a reality level which was corresponded to each distinct thought of which the mind of a human was capable. What’s more, according to Hypatia, who was regarded as the charismatic teacher, these philosophical issues had a bigger scientific emphasis when comparing to the earlier Neoplatonism followers. Hypatia symbolized both learning and science, which were identified with paganism by the early Christians. However, it is interesting that there were a number of prominent Christians among her pupils in Alexandria. Synesius of Cyrene, one of the most famous, later became the Bishop of Ptolemais. Besides, there were a number of letters, which Synesius wrote to Hypatia, that have been preserved. Hence, someone, filled with both admiration and reverence for the learning and scientific abilities of  Hypatia, can be seen. Following her passing away, many scientists departed marking the start of the decline of Alexandria as a main center of ancient learning.

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