Astronomers

  • 150 BCE

    Ptolemy discovers the ptolemaic system

    Ptolemy discovers the ptolemaic system
    Ptolemy was an astronomer, mathematician, and geographer who lived in the 2nd century BC. He is known for his geocentric model of the universe.
  • 1543

    Copernicus discovers the heliocentric solar system

    Copernicus discovers the heliocentric solar system
    Copernicus was a Polish astronomer who famously proposed that the earth and other planets revolved around the sun in a heliocentric system, and not--as was widely believed back then--that the earth was the center.
  • Tycho Brahe discovers/explains the Tychonic System

    Tycho Brahe discovers/explains the Tychonic System
    Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer whose measurements of stellar positions achieved unparallelled accuracy for their time.
  • Galileo invents the telescope

    Galileo invents the telescope
    Galileo Galilei was an Italian natural philosopher, astronomers, and mathematician who made fundamental contributions to the sciences of motion, astronomy, and strength of materials and to the development of the scientific method.
  • Kepler discovers the 3 major laws of planetary motion; 1. the Law of Ellipses 2. the Law of Equal Areas 3. the Law of Harmonies

    Kepler discovers the 3 major laws of planetary motion; 1. the Law of Ellipses 2. the Law of Equal Areas 3. the Law of Harmonies
    Johannes Kepler was a German astronomer who discovered three major laws of planetary motion.
  • Isaac Newton discovers gravity

    Isaac Newton discovers gravity
    Isaac Newton was an English mathematician and physicist who is widely regarded as the single most important figure in the Scientific Revolution.
  • William Herschel discovers Uranus

    William Herschel discovers Uranus
    William Herschel was a German-born British astronomer who founded sidereal astronomy for the systematic observation of the stars and nebulae beyond the solar system.
  • Annie Jump Cannon shares studies of stellar classification

    Annie Jump Cannon shares studies of stellar classification
    Annie Jump Cannon was an American astronomer whose work in star cataloging lead to the development of modern star classification systems. She classified 400,000 stars, which was more than anyone had previously achieved.
  • Albert Einstein discovers black holes

    Albert Einstein discovers black holes
    Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist. He is widely held to be one of the greatest and most influential scientists of all time. Einstein developed the special and general theories of relativity and won the Nobel prize for Physics in 1921 for his explanation of the photoelectric effect. He is also famous for his works in quantum mechanics.
  • Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovers pulsars

    Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovers pulsars
    Jocelyn Bell Burnell is a British astronomer who discovered pulsars, the cosmic sources of peculiar radio pulses.