This is an amazing story, worthy of an article in itself! As you say, we imagine a 'bain marie' to reference homely tradwife Mary making custard for her husband and family, when in fact it comes from a radical, groundbreaking female scientist-philosopher in the Hypatia mold.

I think Alexandria could be a wormhole I am about to descend into. I toyed with the idea of studying Spanish and Arabic instead of Spanish and German at university, which would have involved a year studying at Alexandria University.

I'm not one for regretting past decisions, but that is one fork in the road where I maybe wish I had been bolder and less lazy. It would have been a fascinating insight. Learning Arabic - with its script - from scratch scared me off, unfortunately.