Histories Greatest Astronomers

Eratosthenes

240 BCE

Born: 276 B.C
Died: 195 B.C.
Accomplishments: Measured the circumference of the Earth.
Date of Discovery: 240 B.C.
Importance: He proved the Earth was round and measured its size to a very close approximation.

Claudius Ptolemy

150

Born: 90 A.D.
Died: 168 A.D.
Accomplishments: Created the Ptolemaic model for the Solar System
Date of Discovery: 150 A.D.
Importance: Falsely depicted where the Solar System’s bodies were in relation to Earth, It was used for almost 1500 years by Astronomers

Nicolaus Copernicus

1543

Born: 1473 A.D.
Died: 1543 A.D.
Accomplishments: Proposed and advocated the Heliocentric model for the solar system
Date of Discovery: 1543 A.D.
Importance: Changed the way the Solar system and its bodies are viewed and studied

Tycho Brahe

1572

Born: 1546 A.D.
Died: 1601 A.D.
Accomplishments: Made detailed observations of the heavenly bodies in the sky
Date of Discovery: 1572 A.D. -- 1601 A.D.
Importance: His observation would be used by other scientists in creating many new and revolutionary observations and ideas

Johannes Kepler

1609

Born: 1571 A.D.
Died: 1630 A.D.
Accomplishments: Created Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion
Date of Discovery: 1609 A.D. -- 1618 A.D.
Importance: Accurately described planetary motions and relations

Issac Newton

1687

Born: 1643 A.D.
Died: 1727 A.D.
Accomplishments: Devised the Universal law of Gravitation and also the Three Laws of Motion
Date of Discovery: 1687 A.D.
Importance: Accurately described Gravity between the Heavenly bodies in the Solar System

Albert Einstein

1905

Born: 1879
Died: 1955
Accomplishments: Devised relativity, proposed space-time, and its distortion by gravity devised energy and matter relationship (e=mc^2), etc.
Date of Discoveries: 1905 -- 1955
Importance: Depicted how fundamental principles work and how space and time behave with matter