10 FAMOUS ASTRONOMERS
galileo galilei 1564–1642
Supported heliocentricism, discovered Jupiter’s moons and developed telescopes
Galileo’s support of the copernican heliocentric model saw his ideas investigated by the roman inquisition of 1615. But the italian’s own achievements were formidable, including developing telescopes enabling good views of the milky Way and Jupiter’s moons.
eratosthenes 276–194BC
Measured the circumference of the earth
eratosthenes – born in cyrene, now in libya – used the angle of the noonday sun at different places in egypt to estimate the circumference of earth. His figure was remarkably accurate – in fact, according to some commentators, he was out by less than 2%.
William Herschel 1738–1822
Discovered uranus and its moons
Born in Germany Herschel moved to england as a teenager. He became famous for discovering uranus and two of its major moons, titania and oberon, as well as two of saturn’s moons. He also discovered infrared radiation.
Johannes Kepler 1571–1630
Improved the refracting telescope and developed
the laws of planetary motion
Kepler’s laws described how planets moved around the sun, challenging the geocentric models of Aristotle and Ptolemy. the German was a huge influence on sir isaac newton.
Charles Messier 1730–1817
Composed a database of celestial objects
this french astronomer was the first to compile a systematic catalogue of nebulae and star clusters that is still used in the classification of many celestial objects.
Annie Jump Cannon 1863–1941
Co-created the Harvard classification scheme
this American astronomer’s classification scheme organised and ordered stars based on their temperatures. Her catalogue listed some 230,000 stars.
edwin hubble 1889–1953
discovered Hubble’s Law, suggesting that the Universe is expanding Hubble’s law states that the recessional velocity of a galaxy increases with its distance from the earth. the American was a major champion of the idea of the existence of galaxies beyond the milky Way.
George Gamow 1904–68
early advocate of the big bang theory
Born in odessa (in modern-day ukraine), Gamow was one of the foremost advocates of the theory that the universe was formed in a colossal explosion billions of years ago.
claudius ptolemy c 90–c 168
Writings dominated astronomy for 12 centuries
the Almagest produced by this Greco-roman astronomer and geographer was a celestial almanac that, though based on an erroneous geocentric model, became established as the definitive reference work for some 12 centuries.
Nicolaus Copernicus 1473–1543
Proposed a heliocentric model for the universe
since the days of Aristotle, the accepted model of the solar system had the earth stationary at its centre, with the sun and planets revolving around it. the Polish astronomer’s revolutionary heliocentric model – with the sun as the stationary force - challenged this view.
Supported heliocentricism, discovered Jupiter’s moons and developed telescopes
Galileo’s support of the copernican heliocentric model saw his ideas investigated by the roman inquisition of 1615. But the italian’s own achievements were formidable, including developing telescopes enabling good views of the milky Way and Jupiter’s moons.
eratosthenes 276–194BC
Measured the circumference of the earth
eratosthenes – born in cyrene, now in libya – used the angle of the noonday sun at different places in egypt to estimate the circumference of earth. His figure was remarkably accurate – in fact, according to some commentators, he was out by less than 2%.
William Herschel 1738–1822
Discovered uranus and its moons
Born in Germany Herschel moved to england as a teenager. He became famous for discovering uranus and two of its major moons, titania and oberon, as well as two of saturn’s moons. He also discovered infrared radiation.
Johannes Kepler 1571–1630
Improved the refracting telescope and developed
the laws of planetary motion
Kepler’s laws described how planets moved around the sun, challenging the geocentric models of Aristotle and Ptolemy. the German was a huge influence on sir isaac newton.
Charles Messier 1730–1817
Composed a database of celestial objects
this french astronomer was the first to compile a systematic catalogue of nebulae and star clusters that is still used in the classification of many celestial objects.
Annie Jump Cannon 1863–1941
Co-created the Harvard classification scheme
this American astronomer’s classification scheme organised and ordered stars based on their temperatures. Her catalogue listed some 230,000 stars.
edwin hubble 1889–1953
discovered Hubble’s Law, suggesting that the Universe is expanding Hubble’s law states that the recessional velocity of a galaxy increases with its distance from the earth. the American was a major champion of the idea of the existence of galaxies beyond the milky Way.
George Gamow 1904–68
early advocate of the big bang theory
Born in odessa (in modern-day ukraine), Gamow was one of the foremost advocates of the theory that the universe was formed in a colossal explosion billions of years ago.
claudius ptolemy c 90–c 168
Writings dominated astronomy for 12 centuries
the Almagest produced by this Greco-roman astronomer and geographer was a celestial almanac that, though based on an erroneous geocentric model, became established as the definitive reference work for some 12 centuries.
Nicolaus Copernicus 1473–1543
Proposed a heliocentric model for the universe
since the days of Aristotle, the accepted model of the solar system had the earth stationary at its centre, with the sun and planets revolving around it. the Polish astronomer’s revolutionary heliocentric model – with the sun as the stationary force - challenged this view.
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