"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]