Astronomers

  • 280 BCE

    Aristarchus of Samos

    Aristarchus of Samos
    Made the first heliocentric model of the solar system (meaning the earth revolves around the sun)
  • 130 BCE

    Eratosthenes

    Eratosthenes
    Measured the sun's rays at the summer solstice at two different places to find the circumference of the earth.
  • 1543

    Nicolaus Copernicus

    Nicolaus Copernicus
    He published his heliocentric theory of the universe and proposed that Earth rotates on its axis.
  • Isaac Newton

    Isaac Newton
    Builds first reflective telescope known as the Newtonian telescope.
  • Isaac Newton

    Isaac Newton
    Published the "principia mathematica".