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Period: 1473 to 1543
Copernicus
Copernicus created the first working heliocentric model of the solar system. For this discovery, he became the Father of Modern Astronomy. Photo:
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Period: 1546 to
Tycho Brahe
Known as a brilliant mathematician, Brahe plotted the motions of the planets so accurately that his calculations formed the basis from which Johannes Kepler formulated his famous laws on planetary motion. In addition to all this, Brahe also accurately plotted the orbit of the comet of 1577. Photo:
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Period: 1564 to
Galileo Galilei
Galilei was the first to resolve the Milky Way into individual stars. He was also the first to observe, and make sketches of the phases of Venus, apart from discovering sunspots, and four moons of Jupiter. Photo:
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Period: 1571 to
Johannes Kepler
Kepler created the Laws of Planetary Motion, including The Law of Ellipses, The Law of Equal Areas, and The Law of Harmonies. Photo:
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Period: to
William Herschel
Herschel discovered the existence of infrared radiation, using a prism and three common mercury-filled thermometers. He also discovered the planet Uranus Photo:
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Period: to
Pierre-Simon Laplace
Laplace fixed the masses of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, and published many differential equations that described planetary orbits and tides. He also was the first to postulate the theory that the solar system was formed from a large, flattened disc. Photo:
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Period: to
Sir Arthur Eddington
Eddington proved Einstein's theory that extreme masses can, and do, bend light. Another achievement was that Eddington showed that there exists a close relationship between the mass of a star and its luminosity. Photo:
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Period: to
Edwin Hubble
Hubble was able to conclusively show that the Milky Way galaxy was only one of billions of other galaxies in the Universe, and not the only one. He also created Hubble’s Law, which shows that the further away an object is, the higher its recessional velocity, which fact provided a basis for the development of cosmology as a science. Photo:
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Period: to
Gerhard Kuiper
Kuiper used spectroscopy to identify CH4 (methane) on Saturn’s moon Titan and CO2 (carbon dioxide) on Mars. Kuiper also is credited with the postulation and subsequent discovery of the Kuiper Belt. Photo:
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Period: to
Carl Sagan
Sagan was the co-author and narrator of the TV series Cosmos, as well as an astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and a hugely successful populariser of science in general – that is in addition to authoring and publishing more than 600 scientific research papers. Photo:
https://www.bing.com/th?id=OIP.dFKsKQGDP8Eg8ptchEu0XAHaE6&w=157&h=200&c=8&rs=1&qlt=90&o=6&pid=3.1&rm=2