Sanjay Gupta: Can Science and God Coexist?
Faith and science may often seem at odds with one another, but renowned geneticist and former NIH director, Dr. Francis Collins, says that he sees…
Thought Leader: Sanjay Gupta
The ancient night sky and the earliest astronomers
We don’t know when ancient humans first began contemplating the night sky – likely thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of years in the past.
“That’s one of my favorite things about astronomy, that ancient humans were able to do it without advanced tools,” says Moiya McTier, an astrophysicist and folklorist, and author of the recent book, The Milky Way: An Autobiography of our Galaxy. “You don’t have to know advanced math. You don’t have to have fancy equipment. You just have to live in a place that’s dark enough. So I think astronomy is, like, the people’s science in that way.”
“I actually have a very broad definition of science,” Moiya told Short Wave co-host Aaron Scott. “To me, science is any rigorous attempt at understanding and explaining the world around you. … If you look at the explanations that are encoded within myths, you can see that they knew enough about the world around them to predict eclipses, to predict annual floods in Egypt, for example. I think that you can use folklore and mythology to understand the early scientific attempts of humanity.”
But the stars observed by our ancient ancestors did not look exactly the same as the ones we see today. That’s because everything in our galaxy is in motion: the rotating Milky Way, the wobbling axis of Earth, the planet’s annual lap around the Sun.
On today’s episode, Moiya McTier draws out the connections between astronomy and folklore, why the night sky is more dynamic than it might look, and what it feels like to live on an astronomical timescale.
Relevant and recent posts
Marc Short on what to expect from DOGE in relation to next year’s legislative agenda
Marc Short comments on what to expect from DOGE in relation to next year’s legislative agenda for CNBC. Looking for a great keynote or public…
Thought Leader: Marc Short
Marc Short on whether Musk has permanently changed how congressional communication functions
In this video, Marc Short joins CNBC to discuss whether Musk and Twitter have permanently changed how congressional communication functions and what to expect for…
Thought Leader: Marc Short
More with this speaker
Fate & Fabled Podcast | Music of the Gods
Thought Leader: Moiya McTier
