EDITORIAL – SCIENCE AND THE STARS
I‘m not terribly handy, so learning about how something works has always interested me – from simple things that make our day-to-day lives easier (and that we take for granted), such as the wheel, to complex devices and architectural feats that leave one in awe, such as aqueducts. In terms of the latter, for example, I spent May 2017 in the South of France and was lucky enough to visit the Pont du Gard aqueduct. That visit will forever stay with me. I walked beneath its grand arches and wondered: exactly how did the Romans create these massive stone structures that helped carry water across the Empire? In this issue, I got my answer as it’s one of the things that we explore, while also looking at how the earliest scientific discoveries and technologies evolved.
I’m also excited to announce that we are kicking off a new series that will touch on astronomy in the ancient world. It’s another area that has always piqued my curiosity from the movement of the stars and planets to space travel and the inner workings of our universe. Of course for the ancients astronomy was inextricably linked with astrology (which my grandmother dabbled in). I’ve always wanted precisely) ancient societies tracked in the skies. What meanings did they find in the stars? What omens did they impart on their people? How did planetary movements shape ancient societies? So many questions, and hopefully, in the forthcoming issues, we will have many answers.
