Cosmology

  • Period: 1473 to 1543

    Nocolaus Copernicus: Formulated a model of the universe with the sun in the middle

  • Period: 1546 to

    Tyco Brahe: Made some of the most accurate observations of planetary positions.

  • Period: 1571 to

    Johannes Kepler: Discovered planets move in orbits shaped like and ellipse, a line between a planet and the sun covers equal area in equal time, the square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.

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    Isaac Newton: Described the movement of the plants with his laws of motion, motion of the planets was explained with his theory of gravity and suggested that earths gravity cause the moons orbit.

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    William Hershel: Found the planet Uranus and its two means and formulated a theory of stellar evolution.

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    Pierre-Simon Laplace: Applied Isaac Newton's theory of gravitation to the entire solar system

  • Period: to

    Percival Lowell: Fueled speculation there was canals on mars, predicted existence of a planet beyond the orbit of Neptune and initiated the search that ended in the discovery of Pluto.

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    Henriette Leavitt: Discovered the relationship between period and luminosity in Cepheid variables, pulsating stars that vary in brightness in periods ranging from a few days to several months.

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    William de Siiter: Developed theoretical models of the universe based on Einstein's theory

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    Harlow Shapley: Proved that our solar system is only a peripheral member of our galaxy.

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    Edwin Hubble: His research helped prove that the universe is expanding and created a classification system for galaxies.

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    Albert Einstein: Predicted the existence of black holes, said that a rocket travelling at the speed of light will have a higher mass then one not moving and showed that time does not pass at the same speed everywhere.

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    Georges Lemaître: Discovered the expansion of the universe and he proposed the universe began with a "single quantum"

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    Fred Hoyle: Astronomer who formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis

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    Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson: Discovered the cosmic microwave radiation and that the ancient light began saturating the universe 380,000 years ago