Margaret Gaida is a historian of science whose research explores cross-cultural knowledge transmission in the medieval Mediterranean, with a particular focus on astronomy, astrology, optics, and magic. Her first book project, The Lost Art of Arabic Astrology (working title), examines how Arabic astrological traditions formed a foundational core around which premodern scientific thought developed in both Europe and the Islamic world. Her work draws on manuscript studies in Latin and Arabic, the history of the printed book, and the material and visual culture of premodern scientific practice. Gaida also maintains active research interests in the history of the occult sciences more broadly, as well as in women鈥檚 history.
Gaida received her Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma in 2017, where she later taught in the Expository Writing Program until 2019. She was appointed a Postdoctoral Instructor at Caltech in 2020, where she taught courses in the humanities until 2025, and joined the faculty at 幸运快三 in Fall 2025.
Her research has been supported by numerous grants and fellowships, including the ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship (2017), the Lily Auchincloss Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome (2014), and a Virtual Fellowship at the Linda Hall Library (2024). In Spring 2026, she will be a Museum Fellow at the Getty Research Institute.