Ancient Astronomers Timetoast Timeline

Eratosthenes

332 BCE

Eratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek polymath: a mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theorist.He invented longitude and latitude.

Claudius Ptolemy

127

Ptolemy made contributions to astronomy, mathematics, geography, musical theory, and optics. He compiled a star catalog and the earliest surviving table of a trigonometric function

Nicolaus Copernicus

Apr 24, 1543

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and a Catholic canon. Copernicus' studies gave him a thorough grounding in the mathematical astronomy taught at the university (arithmetic, geometry, geometric optics, cosmography, theoretical and computational astronomy) and a good knowledge of the philosophical and natural-science writings of Aristotle

Tycho Brahe

Mar 12, 1546

Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer, known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical observations.Coming from a wealthy family, Brahe had the freedom to devote his life to the study of the cosmos.

Johannes Kepler

1609

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) discovered and demonstrated that the Earth orbits the Sun. He helped the development of calculus.

Sir Isaac Newton

1665

Newton’s three laws of motion set the foundation for modern classical mechanics.His discovery of the gravitational force gave man the ability to predict movements of celestial objects, while simultaneously validating Kepler’s laws and the heliocentric Copernican model of the solar system.

Albert Einstein

1905

German-born theoretical physicist; developer of the theory of relativity (1879–1955). In 1907, a few years after introducing the concept that light existed in small packets called quanta, Einstein applied quantum theory to a mechanical system for the first time.