Scientists of Astronomy Bri Fields 9/25/2015 2B

Aristarchus Born: 310 BC, Samos, Greece Died: 230 BC, Alexandreia, Greece Ethnicity: Greek Discovery: He figured out how to measure the relative distances from the Earth of the Sun and the Moon. Aristarchus’s work on the motion of Earth has not survived, but his ideas are known from references by several well known scientists, for example Archimedes.

Tycho Brahe Born: December 14, 1546, Scania, Sweden Died: October 24, 1601, Prague, Czech Republic Ethnicity: Danish Discovery: SN 1572 was a supernova in the constellation Cassiopeia, one of about eight supernovae visible to the naked eye in historical records. Importance: In 1572, a 'new star' appeared that is now known as Tycho's Supernova. Tycho understood that this 'new star' should show parallax; the apparent shift in position of an object as a result of a change in the location of the observer.

Nicolaus Copernicus Born: February 19, 1473, Toruń, Poland Died: May 24, 1543, Frombork, Poland Ethnicity: Polish and German Discovery: proposed that the planets instead revolved around the sun. His discovery is his importance because he changed how the world looked at the solar system. Before his discovery the world thought that the sun revolved around the Earth versus the Earth revolving around the Sun; which it does.

Johannes Kepler Ethnicity: German Born: December 27, 1571, Weil der Stadt, Germany Died: November 15, 1630, Regensburg, Germany Discovery: 1571-1630 discovered and demonstrated that the Earth orbits the Sun Importance: (1) the planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one focus (2) the time necessary to traverse any arc of a planetary orbit is proportional to the area of the sector between the central body and that arc (the “area law”) (3) there is an exact relationship between the squares of the planets’ periodic times and the cubes of the radii of their orbits (the “harmonic law”).

Galilei Galileo Ethnicity: Italian Birth : February 15, 1564 Death : January 8, 1642 Discovery: confirmation of the phases of Venus, the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter, and the observation of sunspots. Importance: Considered the father of modern science, made contributions to physics, astronomy, cosmology, mathematics and philosophy. Also invented and improved the telescope.

Sir Isaac Newton Ethnicity: English Born: January 4, 1643, Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, United Kingdom Died: March 31, 1727, Kensington, London, United Kingdom Discovery: Laws of Motion An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force. Acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. For every action there is an equal and opposite re-action. Importance: created the math that is now known as calculus, improved telescope, defined and explained motion, mathematics, and optics. Sir Isaac Newton

William Herschel Ethnicity: Hanoverian; later British Discovery: Discovery of Uranus and infrared radiation, Deep sky surveys Born: November 15, 1738, Hanover, Germany Died: August 25, 1822, Slough, United Kingdom Importance: same as discovery. Also made contributions to music.

Caroline Herschel Born: 16 March 1750 Hanover Died: 9 January 1848 Hanover Nationality: German Discovery: observed and analyzed several comets and in particular the periodic comet 35P/Herschel-Rigollet. Along side her brother, William Herschel. Importance: First woman to be awarded a Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, and to be named an Honorary Member of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Edmund Halley Born: 8 November 1656 Haggerston, Middlesex, England Died: 14 January 1742 Greenwich, Kent, England Ethnicity: English Discovery: discovered the orbit of the eponymous Halley's Comet. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain. Importance: observed comets, published papers and observed Mars

Edwin Hubble Ethnicity: American Born: November 20, 1889 Marshfield, Missouri Died: September 28, 1953 San Marino, California Discovery: played a major role in establishing the field of extragalactic astronomy Importance: regarded as one of the most important observational cosmologists of the 20th century

Born: 14 March 1879 Ulm, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Empire Died: 18 April 1955 Princeton, New Jersey, United States Ethnicity: German Importance: Einstein's work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science Discovery: developed the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics Albert Einstein

Stephen Hawkins Ethnicity: English Born: January 8, 1942 (age 73), Oxford, United Kingdom Discovery: general relativity and quantum gravity, especially in the context of black holes Importance: world- renowned British theoretical physicist, known for his contributions to the fields of cosmology Stephen Hawkins

Neil deGrasse Tyson Ethnicity: American Born: October 5, 1958 (age 56), Manhattan, New York City, NY Discovery: One of Tyson's most controversial decisions at the time was the removal of Pluto from the display of planets. He classified Pluto as a dwarf planet Importance: Planetarium renovations, classifying planets, Astronomical TV personality Neil deGrasse Tyson