Nebula

History of Astronomy

  • Jan 1, 1000

    Big Bang

    Big Bang
    13.7 billion years ago an explosion out of nothing produced matter and expanded the universe. The state of the expanding matter was extremely dense and at enormusly high tempuratures.
  • Jan 1, 1025

    Stonehenge

    Stonehenge
    3,000 B.C. Stonehenge is mde up of around 100 massive stones. Nobody knows it's main purpose, but it has been theorized to be a burial ground for high class citizens.
  • Jan 1, 1060

    Aristotle

    Aristotle
    384 B.C. He studied physics, chemistry, biology, zoology, botany, psychology, political theory, logic, metaphysics, history, literary theory, and rhetoric. He was a teacher to Alexander the Great. Many of his philosophies stood for tousands of years.
  • Jan 1, 1070

    Eratosthenes

    Eratosthenes
    276 B.C. He is known for accurately estimating the Earth's circumfrance. He was able to divided the Earth into fithieths and found the Earth to have a circumfrance of 25,000 miles. The actual circumfrance is closer to 24,900 miles.
  • Jan 1, 1075

    Aristarchus

    Aristarchus
    310 B.C. He figured out the relative distance from the Earth to the sun and the moon. Found out that the sun is 400 times further from the Earth than the moon.
  • Jan 1, 1080

    Hipparchus

    Hipparchus
    190 A.D. He was the first Greek astronomer/philosopher to develop quantitative/accurate models for the motion of the Sun and Moon.
  • Jan 1, 1090

    Ptolemy

    Ptolemy
    90 A.D. Ptolemy was the author of several scientific treatises, three of which would be of continuing importance to later Islamic and European science.
  • Feb 19, 1473

    Nicolas Copernicus

    Nicolas Copernicus
    He was an astronomer, mathematician, and a physicst. Most notable for his idea of a heliocentric solar system in which everything orbited the sun.
  • Dec 14, 1546

    Tycho Brahe

    Tycho Brahe
    He was a danish astronomer and alchemist. He created many helpful inventions which were very accurate at measuring longitudes and latitudes. He discovered the variation of the moon's longitude.
  • Feb 15, 1564

    Galileo Galilei

    Galileo Galilei
    Experimented with different weight and sized balls and found out thst their acceleration was indepedent from their mass. He designed the first pendulum clock. He also significantly improved the telescope. Lastly he is credited with discovering Jupiters 4 biggest moons.
  • Dec 27, 1571

    Johannes Kepler

    Johannes Kepler
    He was a German mathematician and astronomer. Kepler developed the 3 laws of planetary motion. He also invented eyeglasses.
  • Giovanni Cassini

    Giovanni Cassini
    Was the first to discover the space between Saturn's rings. The distance between ring A and ring B is known as Cassini Division. He also discovered four of Saturn's moons.
  • Christiaan Huygens

    Christiaan Huygens
    He formulated the the wave theory of light. He had also discovered the pendulum clock, centrifugal force, and the true shape of Saturn's rings.
  • Isaac Newton

    Isaac Newton
    He was a mathematician and a physcist. Ha had theories on light, calculus, and celestial machines. Developed his 3 laws of motion which deals with gravity.
  • Edwin Hubble

    Edwin Hubble
    He was a astronomer and a mathematician. He showed that other galaxies exist. This gave scientists a better idea of how big the universe actually is. Hubble discovered that the universe is constantly expanding by looking at other galaxies' red shifts. He came up with Hubble's Law.
  • James Van Allen

    James Van Allen
    American physicst famous for his discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts. The belts are 2 zones of radiation encircling the Earth. This brought new understanding of cosmic radiation and its effect on Earth.