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127
Claudius Ptolemy
AD 90-168
-He set up a model of the solar system in which the Sun, stars, and other planets revolve around the Earth. He also wrote many scientific texts that impacted Western intellectual thought. -
1520
Nicolaus Copernicus
AD 1473-1543
-He proposed the new model that showed the Earth revolving around the sun, instead of vice versa. He wrote a book as he lay dying at age 70. While his ideas were not all factually correct, they too impacted the way people thought -
Johannes Kepler
AD 1571-1630 He discovered that the planets revolved around the sun not in perfect circles, but in eclipses. He also created three laws that deal with the motion of the planets that are still used by astronomers today. -
Galileo Galilei
AD 1564-1642 He improved on existing models of the telescope. With his telescope, he discovered the four primary moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn. -
Christiaan Huygens
AD 1629-1695 He proposed the earliest theory about the nature of light. He also discovered Saturn's largest moon, Titan. He even made the first drawing of the Orion Nebula. -
Isaac Newton
AD 1643-1727
He calculated three laws on forces of motion between objects that are still widely used today. He also invented Calculus. -
Charles Messier
AD 1730-1817
He discovered 13 comets over the course of his life. He also discovered and noted nebulas. -
Caroline Herschel
AD 1750-1848
She was the first woman to discover a comet. She was also William Herschel's sister. -
Annie Jump Cannon
AD 1863-1941
She classified over 350,000 stars over the course of her life. She also developed the Harvard Spectral System, which is used to classify stars today. -
Stephen Hawking
AD 1942-2018
He proposed the idea that the universe has an end, but has no boundary or border. He wrote many books and gave many lectures that altered how scientists think today.