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384 BCE
Aristotle
384-322 BC. Great philosopher that proved earth is spherical, and also believed the earth was center of the universe. To his belief, the stars, planets, moon, and the sun were located in spheres that revolved around the Earth. -
200 BCE
Mariner`s Astrolabe
Mariner`s Astrolabe was an inclinometer that was used to fathom the latitude of a ship by measuring the sun's noon declination. -
190 BCE
Hipparchus
190-120 BC, Greek. Considered the greatest “astronomer of all ancient time” He observed the first known star catalog. And created the scale to determine the brightness of a star. Founder of trigonometry. He measured the distance between the earth and the moon. His best discovery was the “wobble” of the earth’s axis. -
100 BCE
Ptolemy
100-170 AD, Greek. Claudius Ptolemy was an astronomer, geographer, mathmatician, who believed earth was center of the universe. He also wrote a book called almagest. -
1473
Copernicus
1473-1543 AD. A mathmatician, astronomer, scientist, and religious figure. Established the concept of a heliocentric solar system, in which he believed the sun is the center of the solar system. He also believed earth spun on its axis daily. Also created scientific method -
1546
Tycho Brahe
1546-1601 AD. Danish astronomer who made the most accurate astronomical observations of his time. His observations included a full study of the solar system and surprisingly accurate positions of more than 777 stars. He recorded a lot of data on the motion of the sun, planets, and moon. -
1564
Galileo
1564-1642 AD. Italian astronomer. Made a homemade version of the first telescope. Jupiter moons : lo, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Observed and discovered sunspots. Stars aren’t fixed to astronomical spheres. Venus goes through phases similar to the moon showing that both Earth and Venus orbit the Sun. Very controversial ideas, because they went against catholics religion. -
1570
Hans Lippershey
1570-1619 AD. Lens maker from Germany. Used lens to make telescope. 3 times magnification for the telescope. -
1571
Johannes Kepler
1571-1630 AD. German astronomer who founded the Kepler’s Law of Planetary Motion. Brahe’s assistant. He learned that ellipticals go in ovals and not circles. -
Refracting Tslescope
A telescope that uses a converging lens to collect light in the 1600s. A reflecting telescope uses a single or combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. -
Giovanni Cassini
1625-1712 AD. French astronomer who discovered some of the moons of planet Saturn and the division of the rings. -
Sir Isaac Newton
1643-1727 AD. English physicist who is most famous for his law of gravitation, laws of motion, and principles of modern physics. -
Reflecting Telescope
A telescope that uses a single or combination of curved mirrors to reflect light and form an image in the 17th century. A reflecting telescope uses a converging lens to collect light. -
William Herschel
1738-1822 AD. Sir William discovered the planet Uranus and multiple moons around other gas giants. Formulated Stellar Evolution Theory. He performed the simple experiment in which he determined the temperature of different colors of sunlight passing through a prism. -
Percival Lowell
1855-1916 AD. Studied “planet x” and Pluto. Planet X turned out to be Pluto. There were multiple markings on mars and he believed there were aliens making the markings on mars. -
Albert Einstein
1879-1955 AD. Theory of Relativity and gravitation in 1905. This theory was only proven a couple of years ago. This theory is now summed up as E=mc2 -
Ejnar Hertzsprung
1873-1967 AD. Danish chemist who classified stars by color and brightness by using the HR diagram, that he created. -
Edwin Hubble
1889-1953 AD. He came up with, and studied the Big Band Theory. He used the color of the stars to discover that the universe is expanding. Hubble’s Law stated galaxies are moving away away from each other -
Karl Jansky
1905-1950 AD. Karl Jansky was a radio engineer who in August 1931, discovered the radio waves that are emanating, or emerging from space. -
Sputnik
October 4, 1957. In the midst of the Cold War, Russia successfully launched the first ever satellite into space to orbit around the Earth. This was not good for the United States so, in 1958, President Eisenhower created NASA. -
Yuri Gagarin
1934-1968 AD. Gagarin is known as the first human to journey into space, completing a 108 minute orbital flight in his spacecraft. -
John Glenn
1921-2016 AD. On February 20, 1962 Glenn became known as the first American to orbit Earth, and the fifth human in space. Glenn orbited around the Earth three times. -
Apollo Missions
1963-1972 AD. Project Apollo's goals had landed Americans on the moon and returned them safely to Earth. They also established he technology to meet national interest in outer space, accomplished superiority with space for the U.S and more. -
Neil Armstrong
1930-2012 AD. Armstrong's first flight was as command pilot in March 1966, which made him NASA's first civilian astronaut in space. Depsite the fact that, Armstrong is best known for being the first human on the moon on July 20, 1969. -
Space Shuttle Columbia
On April 12, 1981, the first space shuttle, Space Shuttle Columbia went into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center Brevard County, Florida. The flight was completed August 31, 2011. -
Mars Pathfinder
December 4, 1996- July 4, 1997. Mars Pathfinder was designed as a technology demonstration to deliver the first-ever robotic rover to the surface of Mars. The mars pathfinder not only accomplished this goal but it also returned a revolutionary amount of data and outlived its primary design. -
Cassini Orbiter
The Cassini Orbiter was carried to Saturn, operators plunged Cassini into the planet to ensure Saturn's moons remain immaculate for future exploring, specifically the Enceladus and Titan. The Saturn orbiter is named after Giovanni Cassini, who discovered Saturn`s satellites. In 1675, Giovanni discovered what is known today as the 'Cassini Division', which is the gap separating Saturn's rings into two parts. The Titan probe was named Huygens, who discovered Titan in 1655. -
SpaceX Falcon Heavy
Space X was created with the goal of minimizing space transpotation costs. Falcon Heavy was intended to carry humans farther into space, especially when it was to Moon and Mars. This also included potential asteroid mining.
