-
384 BCE
Aristotle
- Contributions to mathematics, science, theatre
- Proved the earth was spherical (350 BC)
-
348 BCE
Plato
- Laid the foundation of philosophy
- Taught Aristotle
- Described the 5 regular solids
- Proposed the system that the sun and moon rotated around the earth
-
1473
Nicholaus Copurnicus
1) Planets don't revolve around one fixed point;
2) The earth is not at the center of the universe;
3) The sun is at the center of the universe, and all celestial bodies rotate around it;
4) The distance between the Earth and Sun is only a tiny fraction of stars' distance from the Earth and Sun;
5) Stars do not move, and if they appear to, it is only because the Earth itself is moving;
6) Earth moves in a sphere around the Sun, causing the Sun's perceived yearly movement;
- notes one note -
1546
Tycho Brahe
- Accurate and comprehensive observations
- People believed in the geocentric model of the universe
- Helped overturn the idea that earth was in the center of our solar system
-
1564
Galileo Galilei
- Made fundamental contributions to the sciences of motion, astronomy, and strength of materials and to the development of the scientific method.
- His discoveries with the telescope revolutionized astronomy and paved the way for the acceptance of the Copernican heliocentric system, but his advocacy of that system eventually resulted in an Inquisition process against him.
- First person to look at the moon through a telescope
- Improved the telescope
-
1570
Hans Lippershey
- Patented the first telescope
-
Isaac Newton
- Invented Newtonian telescope
- 3 laws of motion and universal law of gravitation
- Developed the first reflective telescope
-
William Herschel
- Noticed a small object moving slightly every night
- Discovered several moons around the gas giants
- Found Saturn's 6th and 7th moons
- Worked with the heliocentric model
-
Pierre-Simon Laplace
- Theorised black holes
- Suggested that the nature of the universe is completely deterministic
-
Percival Lowell
- Went to Harvard 1878
- Discovered canals of mars
- Started the practice of building observatory
- Worked on a similar model to what we use today
- Led to the discovery of Pluto
-
Henrietta Leavitte
- Invented Leavitt's Law – way of determining the relationship between luminosity and something
-
Albert Einstein
- Laws of relativity
- Contribution to what causes gravity
- Heliocentric Model of the galaxy
-
Harlow Shapley
- He began finding the dimensions of stars in a number of binary systems
-
Edwin Hubble
- Discovered that nebulae were galaxies
- The universe is always expanding
- Made the Hubble model
- Worked with the heliocentric model
- Found other galaxies
- Measured distance (the further away one was from another the faster they were moving apart)
- Named after telescope
-
Georges Lemaitre
- The further away the galaxy from the viewer the greater the light shifted
- Credited with the idea of the expanding universe and the big band theory – confirmed by Edwin Hubble
-
Robert Wilson
- First to discover the cosmic microwave background radiation
-
Fred Hoyle
- Argued that the universe was in a stable state
-
Arno Penzias
- Radiation that falls toward the earth from outer space
- Studied cosmic radiation – remnant of the big bang
