| Astronomer Name |
During |
Place |
Achievements/ Scientific Work |
| Nicolaus Copernicus |
1473-1543 |
Polish |
developed a simple heliocentric model of the solar system |
| Tycho Brahe |
1546-1601 |
Danish |
observed a supernova now known as ``Tycho's supernova'' |
| Galileo Galilei |
1564-1642 |
Italian |
discovered mountains and craters on the moon, Venus phases |
| Johannes Kepler |
1571-1630 |
German |
established the three laws of planetary motion |
| John Babtist Riccioli |
1598-1671 |
Italian |
made telescopic lunar studies |
| Giovanni Cassini |
1625-1712 |
Italian |
measured rotational periods of Jupiter and Mars |
| Christiaan Huygens |
1629-1695 |
Dutch |
discovered Saturn's first satellite, Titan |
| Sir Isaac Newton |
1642-1727 |
English |
developed theories of gravitation and mechanics |
| Edmond Halley |
1656-1742 |
British |
discovered that the comet of 1682 was periodic |
| Charles Messier |
1730-1817 |
French |
discovered 19 comets |
| Joseph-Louis Lagrange |
1736-1813 |
French |
developed new methods of analytical mechanics |
| William Herschel |
1738-1822 |
British |
discovered Uranus and its two brightest moons, Titania and Oberon |
| Giuseppe Piazzi |
1746-1826 |
Italian |
discovered the largest asteroid, Ceres |
| Johann Bode |
1747-1826 |
German |
Invented Bode's law |
| Pierre-Simon Laplace |
1749-1827 |
French |
promoted the solar nebula hypothesis for the solar system origin |
| Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers |
1758-1840 |
German |
invented first successful method for calculating cometary orbits |
| Friedrich Bessel |
1784-1846 |
Prussian |
first to measure distance to the star 61 Cygni |
| Joseph von Fraunhofer |
1787-1826 |
German |
made measurements on wavelength of lines in the solar spectrum |
| Johann Franz Encke |
1791-1865 |
German |
discovered the first short-period comet (Encke's comet) |
| Friedrich von Struve |
1793-1864 |
Russian |
published catalog of over 3000 binary stars |
| Wilhelm Beer |
1797-1850 |
German |
prepared and published maps of the Moon and Mars |
| Thomas Henderson |
1798-1844 |
Scottish |
first to measure distance to a star (Alpha Centauri) |
| William Lassell |
1799-1880 |
British |
discovered Triton, the largest satellite of Neptune |
| Sir George Airy |
1801-1892 |
British |
improved orbital theory of Venus and the Moon |
| Urbain Le Verrier |
1811-1877 |
French |
accurately predicted the position of Neptune |
| Johann Gottfried Galle |
1812-1910 |
German |
first person to observe Neptune |
| Anders Ångström |
1814-1874 |
Swedish |
discovered hydrogen in the solar spectrum |
| Daniel Kirkwood |
1814-1895 |
American |
discovered the Kirkwood gaps in the asteroids orbits between Mars and Jupiter |
| William Huggins |
1824-1910 |
Cornwall(UK) |
first to show that some nebulae |
| Sir Joseph Lockyer |
1836-1920 |
British |
discovered helium |
| Henry Draper |
1837-1882 |
American |
made first photograph of a stellar spectrum |
| Edward Charles |
1846-1919 |
American |
discovered the first spectroscopic binary star, Mizar |
| Jacobus Cornelius |
1851-1922 |
Dutch |
discovered that the proper motions of stars were not random |
| Edward Barnard |
1857-1923 |
American |
discovered eight comets and Almathea, the fifth moon of Jupiter |
