-
Period: 276 BCE to 194 BCE
Eratosthenes
Discovery: made the first measurement of the size of earth
Year it occurred: BC
Importance: made people interested in actually testing to see if he was right
Interesting fact:in 255 BCE he because director of the "great library" in Athens -
Period: 100 BCE to 168 BCE
Claudius Ptolemy
Discovery: considered that earth is the center of our universe
Year it occurred: AD
Importance: started the discussion of the solar system
Interesting fact: virtually nothing is known about his life -
Period: Feb 19, 1473 to May 24, 1542
Nicolaus Copernicus
Discovery: Copernican System- the solar system was centered on the sun, with Earth and other planets orbiting it.
Year it occurred:1530
Importance: got people thinking about how there are seasons, what surrounds the earth and how the solar system works
Interesting fact: the discovery of this did not come out until the year of his death -
Period: Dec 14, 1546 to
Tycho Brahe
Developed astronomical instruments
Occurred: 1552-62
Importance: measuring and fixing positions of the stars
Interesting fact: Brahe's measurements were the most accurate before the invention of the telescope -
Period: Dec 27, 1571 to
Johannes Kepler
Discovery: laws of planetary motion
Year it occurred: 1600s
Importance: told other astronomers about the orbit of planets
Interesting fact: he came up with the harmonic law -
Period: to
Sir Isaac Newton
Discovery: discovery of the composition of white light and colored lights
Year it occurred: 1700s
Importance:started the evolution of light discoveries
Interesting fact: in math he also discovered calculus -
Period: to
Albert Einstein
Discovery: General Theory of Relativity
Year it occurred:1915
Importance: brought to the world a better understanding of the interaction of space, time, and gravity
Interesting fact:in 1921 Einstein received the Noble Prize in Physics for his "services to theoretical physics"