Marion Dolan

Dr Marion Dolan is retired from the University of Pittsburgh where she was an adjunct professor in the history of art and architecture and lectured for the Osher Lifelong Learning program at Carnegie-Mellon University for many years. She published a book on astronomical art, Astronomical Knowledge Transmission Through Illustrated Aratea Manuscripts. This book on astronomical manuscripts investigates the transmission of ancient knowledge carried in a Greek poem on astronomy written in the third century BC. It tracks the astronomical content and artworks as they changed through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and how that information was received and taught. She has also written two historical novels, one on the life of Emperor Frederick II and one on the British Raj in India. Her most recent publication is Decoding Astronomy in art and Architecture (Springer Praxis Books), October 2021.

Dr. Dolan received her BS, MFA and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in medieval manuscripts, minoring in medieval architecture and history of astronomy. Now an independent scholar, she continues her research on the transmission of astronomical knowledge and teaches art history at the NSU Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, where she also serves as a docent. Archeoastronomy has been a lifelong area of study; she has taught the subject many times, including aboard a ship during a cruise around the world as faculty member for Semester at Sea based at the University of Virginia.