History of Astronomy

Big Bang

Jan 1, 1000

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.

Stonehenge

Jan 1, 1025

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.

Aristotle

Jan 1, 1060

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.

Eratosthenes

Jan 1, 1070

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.

Aristarchus

Jan 1, 1075

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.

Hipparchus

Jan 1, 1080

190 A.D. He was the first Greek astronomer/philosopher to develop quantitative/accurate models for the motion of the Sun and Moon.

Ptolemy

Jan 1, 1090

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.

Nicolas Copernicus

Feb 19, 1473

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

Tycho Brahe

Dec 14, 1546

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.

Galileo Galilei

Feb 15, 1564

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.

Johannes Kepler

Dec 27, 1571

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

Giovanni Cassini

Jun 8, 1625

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

Apr 14, 1629

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

Jan 4, 1643

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

Nov 20, 1889

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

Sep 7, 1914

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.