Astronomers

  • Aristarchus of Samos
    280 BCE

    Aristarchus of Samos

    Made the first heliocentric model of the solar system (meaning the earth revolves around the sun)
  • Eratosthenes
    130 BCE

    Eratosthenes

    Measured the sun's rays at the summer solstice at two different places to find the circumference of the earth.
  • Nicolaus Copernicus
    1543

    Nicolaus Copernicus

    He published his heliocentric theory of the universe and proposed that Earth rotates on its axis.
  • Isaac Newton

    Isaac Newton

    Builds first reflective telescope known as the Newtonian telescope.
  • Isaac Newton

    Isaac Newton

    Published the "principia mathematica".