Classics professor studies ancient scientific and technical texts

Courtney A. Roby, classics, has an unusual background. She’s a longtime math lover and a former electrical engineer, who turned to the ancient world.

As an electrical engineering PhD student, Roby was dissatisfied. She had some big context questions about technology and engineering: “Why do we use a particular set of practices in developing new technologies? How do an engineer’s priorities work together with the priorities of the entire superstructure, be it public or private, in which the engineer works?” The skills that she was learning in her graduate work weren’t getting her closer to any answers.

“It’s not the kind of thing that you spend much of your time thinking about as an engineer,” says Roby. “That’s not your job. That’s not your problem.”

Read the full article on the Cornell Research website.