Astronomers & Discoveries
The people who expanded our understanding of the cosmos
Astronomy: Annie Jump Cannon
Annie Jump Cannon Annie Jump Cannon (; December 11, 1863 – April 13, 1941) was an American astronomer whose cataloging work was instrumental in the development of contemporary stellar classification....
Astronomy: Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; SAY-gən; November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. Initially an assistant professor at Harvard, S...
Astronomy: Caroline Herschel
Caroline Herschel Caroline Lucretia Herschel ( HUR-shəl, HAIR-shəl, German: [kaʁoˈliːnə ˈhɛʁʃl̩]; 16 March 1750 – 9 January 1848) was a German astronomer, whose most significant contributions to astr...
Astronomy: Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (born Cecilia Helena Payne; (1900-05-10)May 10, 1900 – (1979-12-07)December 7, 1979) was a British-born American astronomer and astrophysicist. Her w...
Astronomy: Charles Messier
Charles Messier Charles Messier (French: [ʃaʁl me.sje]; 26 June 1730 – 12 April 1817) was a French astronomer. He published an astronomical catalogue consisting of 110 nebulae and star clusters, whic...
Astronomy: Clyde Tombaugh
Clyde Tombaugh Clyde William Tombaugh (; February 4, 1906 – January 17, 1997) was an American astronomer and telescope maker, best known for discovering Pluto in 1930, marking the first detection of ...
Astronomy: Edmund Halley
Edmund Halley Edmond (or Edmund) Halley (; 8 November [O.S. 29 October] 1656 – 25 January 1742 [O.S....
Astronomy: Edwin Hubble
Edwin Hubble Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953) was an American astronomer. He played a crucial role in establishing the fields of extragalactic astronomy and observational ...
Astronomy: Fritz Zwicky
Fritz Zwicky Fritz Zwicky (; German: [ˈtsvɪki]; February 14, 1898 – February 8, 1974) was a Swiss astronomer. He worked most of his life at the California Institute of Technology in the United States...
Astronomy: Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei, was an Italian astronomer, physicist, and engineer, sometimes de...
Astronomy: Georges Lemaitre
Georges Lemaitre Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître ( lə-MET-rə; French: [ʒɔʁʒ ləmɛːtʁ] ; 17 July 1894 – 20 June 1966) was a Belgian Catholic priest, theoretical physicist, and mathematician who m...
Astronomy: Gerard Kuiper
Gerard Kuiper Gerard Peter Kuiper ( KY-pər; born Gerrit Pieter Kuiper, Dutch: [ˈɣɛrɪt ˈpitər ˈkœypər]; 7 December 1905 – 23 December 1973) was a Dutch astronomer, planetary scientist, selenographer, ...
Astronomy: Harlow Shapley
Harlow Shapley Harlow Shapley (November 2, 1885 – October 20, 1972) was an American astronomer, who served as head of the Harvard College Observatory from 1921–1952, and political activist during the...
Astronomy: Henrietta Leavitt
Henrietta Leavitt Henrietta Swan Leavitt (; July 4, 1868 – December 12, 1921) was an American astronomer. Her discovery of how to effectively measure vast astronomical distances led to a shift in the...
Astronomy: Isaac Newton & Gravity
Isaac Newton & Gravity Sir Isaac Newton ( ; 4 January [O.S. 25 December] 1643 – 31 March [O.S....
Astronomy: Jan Oort
Jan Oort Jan Hendrik Oort ( or ; 28 April 1900 – 5 November 1992) was a Dutch astronomer who made significant contributions to the understanding of the Milky Way and who was a pioneer in the field o...
Astronomy: Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Jocelyn Bell Burnell Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell (; née Bell; born 15 July 1943) is a Northern Irish physicist who, while conducting research for her doctorate, discovered the first radio pulsars...
Astronomy: Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German polymath who was an astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and music theorist. He is a key figur...
Astronomy: Karl Schwarzschild
Karl Schwarzschild Karl Schwarzschild (German: [kaʁl ˈʃvaʁtsʃɪlt] ; 9 October 1873 – 11 May 1916) was a German physicist and astronomer. Schwarzschild provided the first exact solution to the Einstei...
Astronomy: Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center. The pub...
Astronomy: Percival Lowell
Percival Lowell Percival Lowell (; March 13, 1855 – November 12, 1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars, and fu...
Astronomy: Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking Stephen William Hawking (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018) was an English theoretical astrophysicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical ...
Astronomy: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar ( CHƏN-drə-SHAY-kər; Tamil: சுப்பிரமணியன் சந்திரசேகர், romanized: Cuppiramaṇiyaṉ Cantiracēkar; 19 October 1910 – 21 August 1995) was an Indian-Am...
Astronomy: Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe Tycho Brahe ( TY-koh BRAH-(h)ee, - BRAH(-hə); Danish: [ˈtsʰykʰo ˈpʁɑːə] ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe, Danish: [ˈtsʰyːjə ˈʌtəsn̩ ˈpʁɑːə]; 14 December 1546 – 24 October 1601), generally calle...
Astronomy: Vera Rubin
Vera Rubin Vera Florence Cooper Rubin (; July 23, 1928 – December 25, 2016) was an American astronomer who pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates. She uncovered the discrepancy between the predicted...
Astronomy: William Herschel
William Herschel Frederick William Herschel ( HUR-shəl; German: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel [ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈhɛʁʃl̩]; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-British astronomer and compos...