Ancient Astronomers Timeline

  • Period: 276 BCE to 195 BCE

    Discovery of the round Earth

    between 276-195 BC, Eratosthenes discovered that the Earth indeed was not flat by using the sun to measure the size of the Earth. This was an important discovery because it helped scientists to get a better idea of how big the Earth was. Although he wasn't completely right, he was close in measurement.
  • Period: 90 to 168

    Discovery of solar system model

    In the second century, Claudius Ptolemy made a solar system model which showed the planets, sun, and stars revealing around Planet Earth. Even though this was wrong, it still is important because it helped later astronomers create a correct model.
  • Period: 1473 to 1543

    Discovery of a model

    In the 16th century, Nicolaus Copernicus created a model of the solar system which revealed to have the Earth revolving around the Sun. This discovery is important because it changed how we view the solar system today.
  • Period: 1571 to

    Discovery of Ellipses

    During Kepler's lifetime, he made the discovery of ellipses. This was an important discovery because people originally thought that planets circles the sun in circles instead of ellipses. This changed how people measured the orbits.
  • 1572

    Discovery of the supernova

    In 1572, Tyson Brahe discovered the Supernova. This is an important discovery because this is one of the main events in the life cycle of a star.
  • The discovery of Newton's Laws

    In 1686, Sir Isaac Newton discovered the three laws of gravity that are now known a Newton's laws. These were important because they are the foundation of science and things involving gravity specifically.
  • Period: to

    Discovery of laws of physics

    In the 20th century, Albert Einstein discovered that the laws of physics remained the same throughout the whole universe. This is important because without this discovery, we would have assumed that there were different laws of physics like gravity throughout the universe.