timeline

  • 240 BCE

    Eratosthenes

    Eratosthenes measured Earth's circumference mathematically using two surface points to make the calculation.
  • 150

    Claudius Ptolemy

    the Almagest
  • 1514

    Nicolaus Copernicus

    the first modern European scientist to propose that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun,
  • 1572

    Tycho Brahe

    His study of the “new star” that appeared in 1572 showed that it was farther away than the Moon and was among the fixed stars, which were regarded as perfect and unchanging
  • Johannes Kepler

    discovered that the Earth and planets travel about the sun in elliptical orbits.
  • Sir Isaac Newton

    the formulation of three Laws of Motion
  • Albert Einstein

    Albert Einstein produced four papers that revolutionized science. One explained how to measure the size of molecules in a liquid, a second posited how to determine their movement, and a third described how light comes in packets called photons, and the fourth paper introduced special relativity, leading physicists to reconsider notions of space and time that had sufficed since the dawn of civilization.