Monday, July 25, 2011

"Materials Science in Ancient Rome"


Rather interesting, especially the "colloidal crystals".

Two books, the “De Architectura” by Vitruvius and the “Naturalis Historia” by Pliny the Elder, give us a portrait of the Materials Science, that is, the knowledge of materials, in Rome at the beginning of the Empire. Here, I am reporting some very attractive contents that we can find in these books. The reader will see the discussion proposed in fours case studies: concretes, coatings, amorphous materials and colloidal crystals, to describe them in modern words.

Materials Science in Ancient Rome by Amelia Carolina Sparavigna


Pliny the Elder [Wikipedia]

De Architectura [Wikipedia]

Naturalis Historia [Wikipedia]

No comments: