Hypatia of Alexandria lived in th 4th century A.D., in hard times for a female philosopher and scientist. According to Wikipedia, she is “the first female mathematician whose life is reasonably well recorded.” The astronomer and university teacher Hypatia tried to conserve the (ancient-classical) knowledge that was endangered by religious turmoil in the wake of the fall of the Roman empire.
Rachel Weisz plays a wonderful Hypatia in Amenábar’s movie “Agora“. In its end, she’s killed by religious fanatists (in this case Christian ones), who tear her skin off, mostly because she failed to comply with the religion’s rules and the position in society she was supposed to take.