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240 BCE
Eratostenes
Eratostenes proved the earth was in fact not flat, but round, by measuring the size of the earth using the sun. His measurement was only 211 miles off, but still gave us a good depiction of how the earth is actually round and how big it really is. -
150
Claudius Ptolemy
Ptolemy's discovered that the planets, sun, and stars revolved around the Earth and called it the Ptolemaic System. However, it turned out to be wrong. This was important because his discoveries had an impact on Western Intellectual thought. -
1514
Nicolaus Copernicus
Copernicus made a solar system model where the earth revolved around the sun. It wasn't completely right, but overall it changed the way scientists viewed our solar system. -
1572
Tycho Brahe
Recorded planetary positions more accurate than other peoples previous work. He built vast instruments which set accurate sights on the stars. Tycho also used multiple clocks and timekeepers. Since this was before the telescope, this was an important discovery because it allowed him to see the universe such as the sun revolving around the still earth, and the planets revolving around the sun. -
Johannes Kepler
Kepler calculated three laws involving motion of planets. He discovered that planets travel around the sun in ellipses, not circles. He discovered that planets don't travel at the same rate throughout their orbits. He also discovered that the distance from the sun and the length of two planets orbits are related. This discovery was important because it is still used by scientists today and proved that planets travel in ellipses not circles. -
Isaac Newton
Newton calculated three laws of motion between objects. His first discovery was an object in rest stays in rest, and an object in motion stays in motion. His second discovery is the force of an object is equal to the rate of change of its linear momentum in an inertial reference frame. His third discovery is for every action there is an equal opposite action. These discoveries are important because these laws are apart of our education today, and altered the science field. -
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein discovered that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant. He also figured out that the laws of physics are the same throughout the universe. Einstein also discovered space-time. This was an important discovery because it changed the way we look at our universe.