Astronomers Timeline

By Eli500
  • 218 BCE

    Eratosthenes (276-195 B.C)

    Eratosthenes used the Sun to measure the size of the Earth. This is important because many thought the Earth to be flat. His measurement was only 211 miles off the true measurement.
  • 100 BCE

    Ptolemy (100-170 A.D)

    Ptolemy made a famous work called Almagesti. He was able to predict the movement of the planets this was important because it was a feat no one had yet to complete.
  • 1476

    Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)

    Copernicus In 1514 distributed a book that stated Earth's motion caused the retrograde movement. He also believed the Sun was in the center of the solar system. This discovery was important because he was correct, but not many believed him.
  • 1546

    Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)

    Tycho achieved goal of measuring to one minute of arc. He also discovered a nova in 1572 this was important because it was a rare event and lasted for eighteen months.
  • 1571

    Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

    Kepler determined that planets travelled around the sun in ellipses not circles. This was important because it helped him in creating 3 laws that involve the motion of planets.

  • Sir Isacc Newton (1643-1727)

    He studied motions mostly the forces of gravity. This is important because Newton created Three very important laws from his research.

  • Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

    Einstein suggested that space and time are linked which is something called space-time. Photoelectric effect was the work in 1905 that proposed that light should be thought of as a photon stream which helped scientist explain things that were unexplained.