Transcript THE WHO`S WHO OF EARLY ASTRONOMY

THE WHO’S WHO OF
EARLY ASTRONOMY
Ptolemy
• 140BC; Greek; the Earth
was the center of the
universe & the sun &
other planets revolved
around it; lasted 1500
yrs
Copernicus
• 1543;Polish; the sun was
the center of the
universe & the planets
revolved around it in
circular paths
He practiced
medicine.
Without a
medical degree.
Tycho Brahe
• late 1500’s; Danish; the
sun & moon revolved
around the Earth & the
other planets revolved
around the sun; recorded
exact data on the
positions of the sun,
moon, & the planets
His body is currently
entombed in the Church
of Our Lady in front of
Týn in Old Town Square
near the Prague
Astronomical Clock.
Johannes Kepler
• 1609; Tycho’s assistant;
stated that all planets revolve
around the sun in an ellipse &
the sun is not the exact center
of their orbits
• Kepler came up with three
laws relating to the movement
of the planets.
This brilliant astronomer was the first to discuss how the moon
affects tides. Galileo was one of his contemporaries who
scoffed at him and said that this theory was a baseless one.
Kepler’s mother used to collect herbs and natural medicines. She
was considered to be a witch. Kepler had to hire lawyers to defend
his mother from being sentenced to death.
His grandmother was tried in the Salem Witch Trials and
sentenced to death.
Galileo Galilei
• 1609; first person to use
a telescope to observe
objects in space;
discovered 4 moons
orbiting Jupiter, craters &
mtns on the moon, &
sunspots
A hundred years after he died, when his body was
being moved for reburial, a fan snipped off the
middle finger of his right hand as a memento.
Galileo’s finger is now on display, erect, at the
Museum of the History of Science in Florence
Isaac Newton
• 1687; explained that
gravity keeps all objects
in orbit
Edwin Hubble
• 1920’s; studied &
discovered other
galaxies