The reason why people born under the sign of Aquarius are described as unorthodox, unpredictable, strange, progressive, non-conformist, inventive, original and ahead of its time is because these are the attributes of Uranus, the planet that is the co-ruler of this sign. Although those who have personal, fast-moving planets in this sign might possess those qualities to a certain extent, those who have Uranus in the sign of Aquarius are most likely to possess those qualities to the highest degree.
Unfortunately, as one of the three transcendental planets, the movement of Uranus is very slow. This planet takes 84 years to travel around the zodiac circle, which means that it stays in each sign for about 7 years. That means that only 7 consecutive generations of people within an eighty-four-year cycle have the privilege of having this planet placed in its domicile sign.
Of course, when any planet is located in the sign of its domicile, it has a strong dignity and influence regardless of the degree on which it is placed within that sign. Although every zodiac degree has some peculiar meaning and is of no lesser importance than any other, some degrees are simply more potent than others. In other words, not all degrees are created equal. When planet Uranus is concerned, as a co-ruler of sign of Aquarius, it has a strong dignity in this sign no matter on which degree it is placed. Nevertheless, it seems that Uranus exert a particularly powerful influence when placed between 2° 00’ and 2° 59’ of this sign.
The reason i am making this claim is because not one, but three truly significant inventors have Uranus placed on that particular degree. Their inventions are not only radical and revolutionary, but are largely responsible for how the world we live in today look like and, importantly, are completely in the symbolism of this planet and its ruling sign.
When one take into account some of the various meanings of this planet such are electricity, flying and computers, the reader will not be too surprised which three inventors have Uranus located in the sign of Aquarius at that particular degree.
The first inventor that has Uranus placed on a 2° of Aquarius in his chart is Alessandro Volta (18.2.1745, 10:23 in Como, Italy), Italian physicist best known as the inventor of electric battery which provided the first source of continuous current. His work constitutes a crucial milestone in the history of science since he was the first inventor who managed to produce a stable flow of electricity.
With Uranus in conjunction with Mercury in Aquarius it is no surprise that Volta showed interest in electricity from an early age, which, in the second half of the 18th century, was still unexplored phenomena and a completely new scientific field. In 1775 his interest in electricity led him to improve the electrophorus, a device used to generate static electricity. He discovered and isolated methane gas in 1776.
In 1791 Luigi Galvani announced that the contact of two different metals with the leg muscles of a skinned frog resulted in the generation of an electric current that caused the leg to twitch. Galvani interpreted that as a new form of electricity found in living tissue, which he called “animal electricity.” Volta felt that the frog merely conducted a current that flowed between the two metals, which he called “metallic electricity.” He began experimenting in 1792 with metals alone. He would detect the weak flow of electricity between disks of different metals by placing them on his tongue. Volta found that animal tissue was not needed to produce a current. That provoked much controversy between the animal-electricity adherents and the metallic-electricity advocates, but, with his announcement of the first electric battery in 1800, Volta proved that electricity could be generated chemically and debunked the prevalent theory that electricity was generated solely by living beings.
Known as the voltaic pile or the voltaic column, Volta’s battery consisted of alternating disks of zinc and silver separated by paper or cloth soaked either in salt water or ssodium hydroxide. When the top and bottom contacts were connected by means of a wire an electric current flowed through the system and this was a constant flow, in contrast with the Leiden jar which stored static electricity and released it in a single discharge when its inner and outer coatings were shorted. A simple and reliable source of electric current that did not need to be recharged like the Leyden jar, his invention quickly led to a new wave of electrical experiments. Within six weeks of Volta’s announcement, English scientists William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle used a voltaic pile to decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen, thus discovering electrolysis and creating the field of electrochemistry.
As can be seen from Volta’s chart, Mercury and Uranus in Aquarius are in trine to Mars and Saturn in Libra. Therefore, his invention of the voltaic pile was created as a result of a disagreement and competition (Mars) with other (Libra) scientist (Saturn). This configuration also describes his experiments (Uranus) with metals (Mars), his metallic (Mars) electricity (Uranus) and, most characteristically, his battery (Uranus) itself, which consists of two (Mercury) different metals (Mars) placed on top of each other, in the series (Mercury), while the constant flow of electric current (Uranus) was created when the top and bottom contacts were connected (Mercury) by means of a wire (Mercury).
As is known, Aquarius is a fixed sign. When taking into account the characteristics of signs of fixed quality such as stability, constancy, reliability, then it is not surprising that inventor who has Uranus in the fixed sign of Aquarius managed to create a device that produced stable, constant flow of electric current.
The significance of Volta’s invention is not only that his pile was perhaps the first purely electric devise and precursor of battery, but that his device allowed subsequent scientists to conduct experiments (Uranus) which were, until then, not only unfeasible, but also unimaginable.
During the next transit of Uranus across the 2° of Aquarius, which occurred during April and May 1828 and during January 1829, no significant inventor was born. Perhaps for that reason, during the next transit over that degree, which occurred during the spring of 1912, two important scientists were born.
The first one is Wernher von Braun (23.3.1912, 09:15 in Wirsitz, Germany), German-American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany and a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the United States.
Von Braun worked in Nazi Germany’s rocket development program where he helped design and co-developed the V-2 rocket, which was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile, during World War II. After the war he was secretly moved to United States along with many other German scientists and engineers. While working for the U.S. army he developed the rockets that launched the United States’ first space satellite Explorer 1 in 1958. Couple of years later, while at NASA, he was the chief architect of the Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. He is regarded as either the “father of space travel”, “father of rocket science” or “father of the American lunar program”.
The chart of Wernher von Braun is truly remarkable. It is rare to see a chart in which no less than five planets are in signs in which they have a particularly strong dignity. Uranus and Jupiter are placed in signs of their domiciles, while Sun, Moon and Venus are exalted. Uranus, placed on a 2° of Aquarius in the 9th house is ruler of the MC, which perfectly shows his vocation as aerospace engineer and his achievements in the field of rocket technology. Uranus forms the exact sextile to Sun on a 2° of Aries, an aspect that perfectly describes someone who is considered to be the father (Sun) of space travel and rocket science (Uranus).
A strongly placed Sun always indicates pronounced organizational skills, while a connection with Uranus shows someone who is the leader (Sun) of a team of engineers (Uranus), which Von Braun was throughout his career. Unfortunately, the same aspect shows that his inventions were, during the war, primarily used for destructive purposes, as weapons (Aries).
What is also noticeable in von Braun’s horoscope is the emphasis on the sign of Gemini, which, along with Aquarius, is a sign that also symbolizes flight, flying machines and all related themes. Not only is his ASC in that sign, but also the dispositor of both Sun and Mercury, Mars which is placed, furthermore, on the degree of Aquarius and is in sextile and mutual reception with Mercury. Unfortunately, Mars is in conjunction with Pluto in Gemini which is, again, an indication that his inventions will be used as weapons of mass destruction. Nevertheless, in essence, his horoscope is a textbook example of how a chart of an engineer and pioneering rocket builder should look like.
Exactly three months after the birth of Wernher von Braun the third inventor was born whose chart contains the position of Uranus on a 2° of Aquarius. The man in question is Alan Turing (23.06.1912, 02:15 in London), an English mathematician, logician, cryptographer and computer scientist. Around the same time that Von Braun was developing and manufacturing V-2 rockets for the Nazis, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, Britain’s codebreaking center that produced Ultra intelligence. There he led a section that was responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for speeding the breaking of German ciphers, including improvements to the pre-war Polish bombe method, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine. Turing played a crucial role in cracking intercepted coded messages that enabled the Allies to defeat the Axis powers in many crucial engagements, including the Battle of the Atlantic.
Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science with the creation of Turing machine, which is considered a model of a general-purpose computer. He is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.
Alan Turing’s chart is not as striking as Volta and von Braun’s charts in the sense that it does not contain as many striking and numerous aspects. ASC in Gemini and Venus and Pluto in Gemini are definitely positions that indicate above average intelligence, but Mercury, apart from the wider conjunction with Neptune, which is the combination that describes cryptography, is not in such striking aspects with other planets.
But, contrary to two previous examples, in Turing’s chart, Uranus is placed exactly at the cusp of MC. A perfect example just how potent and powerful influence a planet can exert when it is placed at the cusp of an angular house, especially considering that Uranus is not a dispositor of any planet in his chart and doesn’t form numerous striking aspects with other planets.
The extent to which this planet marked and determined his life can be concluded from the following facts. He was clearly a genius (Uranus), he invented a machine (Uranus) that is the forerunner of modern computers (Uranus), he is considered the father of artificial intelligence (Uranus), he was a homosexual (Uranus) and he ended his life by committing suicide (Uranus). What more can be said.
What is common in all three charts of these important inventors is that Uranus, apart from being on the 2° of Aquarius, is in all three cases either the ruler of the 10th house or is in that house, which is not surprising since what they achieved and are known for (10th house) is clearly in the symbolism of this planet.
The last transit of Uranus over 2° Aquarius was from the 6th to 26th of December 1996. Those born then are now in their mid-twenties. Whether a significant inventor was born then, whose Sun is placed in the sign of Sagittarius or Capricorn, remains to be seen.
