ASTRONOMERS

Filolao

470 BCE

470 BCE- 385 BCE. He consider that all matter is composed of limiting and unlimited things, and that the universe is specific by numbers. He is credited with having originated the hypothesis that the Earth was not the center of the Universe.

Hipatia

370 BCE

BCE 370 – BCE 415.
Hipatia was the first mathematical woman. She wrote several books on mathematics and astronomy.

Copernic

1473

1473 - 1543.
He formulated the heliocentric theory of the solar system via De revolutionibus orbium coelestium

Tycho Brahe

1546

1546 – 1601.
He is considered the largest observer of the sky in the period prior to the invention of the telescope. He measured the positions of the stars and planets and plotted the motion of the comet of 1577.

Galileo Galilei

1564

1564 - 1642.
He supported the heliocentric theory of Nicolaus Copernicus, and he improve the telescope. Galileo was the pioneer of the experimental scientific method

Johannes Kepler

1571

1571 - 1630.
He was known primarily for his laws on the movement of planets in their orbit around the Sun that provided the explanation of optical image formation through small apertures.

Giovanni Domenico Cassino

1625

1625 - 1712.
The most important achievement was to establish the first calculation adjusted to today's data on the distance between the Earth and the Sun and investigated atmospheric refraction.

Edmond Halley

1656

1656 - 1742.
Halley proposed two types of diving bells that would allow people to explore the deep sea.
Using Newton’ gravitational law predicted the comet of 1682 would return in 76 years.

William Herschel

1738

1738 - 1822.
He is especially known for discovering the planet Uranus, in 1781. He has discovered about 2,500 new nebulae and star clusters.

Pierre-Simon Laplace

1749

1749 - 1827.
Pierre raised the nebular theory about the formation of the solar system.

Heinrich Olbers

1758

1758 - 1840.
He discovered a method for determining the orbits of comets which is still used today. He discovered three asteroids Ceres, Palas and Vesta.

William Huggins

1824

1824 - 1910.
He revolutionized observational astronomy by applying spectroscopic methods to the determination of the chemical constituents of stars and other celestial objects.

George Ellery Hale

1868

1868 - 1938.
He already invented the first spectroheliograph model. He obtained interesting monochromatic photographs of the Sun with calcium and hydrogen light.

Edwin Hubble

1889

1889 - 1953.
Hubble discovered that many objects previously thought to be clouds of dust and gas and classified as "nebulae" were actually galaxies beyond the Milky Way.

Wilhelm Heinrich Walter Baade

1893

1893 - 1960.
Walter Baade define the concept of a stellar population, discovered 10 asteroids, and the existence of two types of cepheids.He made important discoveries in the field of stellar evolution and intergalactic distances.
Baade also determined the distance of the Andromeda Galaxy

Stephen Hawkings

1942

1942 - 2018.
Hawkings showed that Einstein's general theory of relativity implies that space and time must have a beginning in the big bang and an end inside the black holes.