The streets of Garden City have some peculiar names. Whether it is the Archery Arena, Sugar Refinery, or Milk Pool, every street was given its name for a reason, and each name has a story, sometimes centuries old.

By the mid-twentieth century, Cairo’s rapid urban expansion gave rise to a distinctive pentagonal paving pattern now known internationally as “Cairo tiling.” Long familiar to Cairenes as part of the city’s everyday landscape, it achieved global mathematical fame for its unusual geometric properties, even as its local origins remained largely overlooked.

An excerpt from Beth Baron’s forthcoming book tells the story of pioneering Egyptian physician Hilana Sidarus and women entering medicine.