Thread by @mike_malaska

“Astronomy and Astrology are pretty much the same thing.”
And with that, I’ve pretty much pissed off every amateur and professional astronomer. But, there are really strong and provable connections.
Strap in for a long thread, and a wild ride. [1/n]
(with side links to explore)

Astronomy makes observation of the heavens, and predicts/explains physical properties and timing of those objects.
Astrology makes observations of the heavens, and predicts/explains spiritual or human-centered properties and timing.
(Starting data same, applications different.)

Looking at history, astronomy and astrology pretty much the same until 1700's, when the Science and beliefs kinda split out. Astrology goes way back. Prolly every culture had their own “sky-watcher” to look at heavens and figure out what to do.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeoas…)

"Hey Oog, is it time to move the village to the summer pasture yet?"
"Or should I be planting crops?"
storytellersnightsky.com/sirius-and-the…

And we still those records from the ancient sky-watchers today. Remember that “guest star” in 1054 from Chinese records?
hubblesite.org/image/3885/cat…

And how about the Bayeux Tapestry depiction of Halley’s Comet in 1066?
albertis-window.blogspot.com/2009/09/bayeux…

The idea that celestial events can affect us here on Earth is now validated by Science. Many extinction events are from asteroid impacts. The entire premise of NASA’s upcoming DART mission is to “do it to them before they do it to us!”. nasa.gov/planetarydefen…

You can draw a direct line from solar observing satellites/heliophysics and extensive Earth-crossing asteroid surveys to past astrological “scanning the heavens for portents of Doom”.

(An especially nasty solar hissy-fit could make modern society have A Very Bad Day: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carringto… )

If you look at a granular level of human history, say 1000 year jumps, astrology/astronomy has been happening since way back. Only at last jump, 2000, did we, say, care about the mineral composition of the moon. But, at 1000, we were observing heavens, and recording...

There is another Science set that also goes waaaay back. Alchemy/Chemistry/Herbalism/Medicine. That science/practice is ancient. It didn't split until about same time (1700’s ish), when chemistry as a science became more rigorous.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_o…

Finding regular systematic order and atomic theory was the big revolution. (Developing the Periodic Table, in my opinion was one of humankind’s greatest science advances).
asbmb.org/asbmb-today/sc…

But since time ancient, probably even as one of the "earliest professions" herbalists were useful to every tribe/hunting group. Those were the first doctors, first medicine.
"Go see Oog, he give you thing - make hurty stop".

All material scientists, chemists, and medicinal chemists, pharmacists, and doctors can trace their scientific and practice lineage back to ancient alchemy, and also, before that, to the herbalist-medicine man.

Before standardization of chemical symbols in 1700's, a lot of symbols were shared between alchemy/chemistry and astrology/astronomy. For example, many of the planet symbols were also used for elements. Mercury-mercury (go figure), Mars-iron, Saturn-lead.

Here is a thread on the symbol for Mars and iron being the same. And the (lucky?) amazing connections between Mars surface composition and alchemical and astrological symbols. (neat links and discussion in that thread contributed by @ampanmdagaba )

https://twitter.com/mike_malaska/status/1401194532864098306?s=20

Many of the zodiacal symbols (astrology) were also used for chemical processes (alchemy-chemistry). For example, the astrological symbol for Libra also was used as a symbol representing the chemical process of sublimation.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libra_(as…

Interestingly, alchemical symbols (sciencenotes.org/alchemy-symbol…) were degenerate, and non-standardized. With the regularization of the symbology in chemistry (elements of Periodic table, Kekule structures), a lot of these symbols disappeared.

Srsly, synthetic organic chemistry is one of the few sciences where you can post up a slide with only chemical structures, reaction arrows/conditions and all the chemists in the room, regardless of language, understand it and can repeat it.
For example: synarchive.com/syn/173

(side note: I once saw a graduate student draw the Daphnilactone A structure and she drew it on a chalk blackboard WITHOUT TAKING THE CHALK OFF THE BLACKBOARD and I remember the entire audience applauding.)

There is still one commonly used symbol that can tie back to alchemy. That’s the "delta" symbol, used to indicate heat. You could think of it as deltaG energy or you could recognize it as the symbol for the alchemical symbol for “fire” or “heating up”. sciencenotes.org/earth-air-fire…

(The triangle is also used for “danger” or “caution”, possibly also tying back to “fire!” and that whole “three of anything is a bad!”)

Astronomy also is full of symbols that tie back to astrology/alchemy. The symbol for Earth masses that you use (M(Earth))? Well, that symbol stood for Earth and stretches back to ancient Greece and the symbol for planet Earth and Earth as an element.*
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_sym…

*in Middle Ages this symbol was used for copper and copper alloys in alchemy. Wikipedia entry lists this as "verdegris".

So if you ever doubt that there is a connection between astronomy and astrology, all you need to do is look at your astronomy slides and think about the deep history of the symbols you are using!

Oh. And the connection between herbalism and medicine? Yeah, so back in the day herbalists would scour for plants that would treat health conditions. Modern pharma still does this.

My favorite example is common aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid.) Original came from willow tree bark. Willow is pant genus “Salix” so that’s where salicylic acid comes from.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_o…

(seriously, that History of Asprin Wikipedia link is just a wild ride in itself. Every section is just gold.)

Oh...did I just mention "gold"? Yeah the alchemical symbol for gold is the same as for the Sun. So, think about that when you see the M(solar) symbol in an astronomy presentation.
And gold WAS the ultimate goal for alchemy.

Many current examples of semi-synthetic drugs that came from natural products: artemisinin (malaria), quinine (malaria), cyclosporine (dry eye), penicillin (antibacterial), bacitracin (antibacterial), tacrolimus (FK-506, immunosuppressant).

So a chunk of pharmaceutical and drug discovery science is just herbalism with clinical trials and regulatory approval.

The really fascinating thing I find about all this is the deep connection of the Sciences to the ancient past and how intertwined all the practices are. Astronomy-Astrology-Alchemy-Chemistry-Herbalism-Medicine all blur and intertwine.

Modern sub-branches all tie back to those ancient roots.

(Asteroid science tying back to “portents of Doom” is a very useful funding strategy, btw.)

[end thread]