Famous Astronomers and Astrophysicists

14731543 Polish Nicolaus Copernicus

developed a simple heliocentric model of the solar system that explained planetary retrograde motion and overturned Greek astronomy

15641642 Italian Galileo Galilei

performed fundamental observations, experiments, and mathematical analyses in astronomy and physics; discovered mountains and craters on the moon, the phases of Venus, and the four largest satellites of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede

15711630 German Johannes Kepler

established the most exact astronomical tables then known; established the three laws of planetary motion

16431727 English Sir Isaac Newton

developed theories of gravitation and mechanics, and invented differential calculus

Edmond Halley

16561742 British

used his theory of cometary orbits to predict that the comet of 1682 (later named ``Halley's comet'') was periodic discovered 19 comets, 13 being original and 6 independent co-discoveries; compiled a famous catalog of deep-sky objects developed new methods of analytical mechanics; made many theoretical contributions to astronomy, improving our understanding of lunar motion and the perturbing effects of planets on cometary orbits; found solution to 3-body problem showing there could be two points (now called Lagrange points) in orbit of Jupiter where minor planets could stay almost indefinitely - the Trojan group of asteroids were later discovered at these positions discovered Uranus and its two brightest moons, Titania and Oberon; discovered Saturn's moons, Mimas and Enceladus; discovered the ice caps of Mars, several asteroids and binary stars; cataloged 2,500 deep sky objects discovered the largest asteroid, Ceres; accurately measured positions of many stars, resulting in a star catalog popularized a relationship giving planetary distances

Charles Messier

17301817 French

Joseph-Louis Lagrange

17361813 French

William Herschel

17381822 British

Giuseppe Piazzi

17461826 Italian 17471826

Johann Bode

German

from the Sun, which became known as ``Bode's law''; predicted an undiscovered planet between Mars and Jupiter, where the asteroids were later found made important mathematical contributions to differential equations; promoted the solar nebula hypothesis for the origin of the solar system invented first successful method for calculating cometary orbits; discovered several comets, including the comet of 1815, now called Olber's comet; discovered the asteroids Pallas and Vesta; posed the famous Olber's paradox: ``Why is the night sky dark?'' first to measure distance to the star 61 Cygni; proposed that Sirius has an unseen companion; worked out the mathematical analysis of what are now known as Bessel functions made detailed wavelength measurements of hundreds of lines in the solar spectrum; designed an achromatic objective lens discovered the first shortperiod comet, now called Encke's comet founded the study of double stars; published catalog of over 3000 binary stars; first to measure distance to the star Vega

Pierre-Simon Laplace

17491827 French

Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers

17581840 German

Friedrich Bessel

17841846 Prussian

Joseph von Fraunhofer

17871826 German 17911865 German 17931864 Germanborn Russian

Johann Franz Encke

Friedrich von Struve

Wilhelm Beer

17971850 German 17981844 Scottish 17991880 British 18011892 British 18111877 French

prepared and published maps of the Moon and Mars first to measure distance to a star (Alpha Centauri) discovered Triton, the largest satellite of Neptune improved orbital theory of Venus and the Moon; studied interference fringes in optics; made a mathematical study of the rainbow accurately predicted the position of Neptune, which led to its discovery first person to observe Neptune, based on calculations by French mathematician, Urbain Le Verrier; however, Neptune's discovery is usually credited to Le Verrier and English astronomer, John Crouch Adams, who first predicted its position discovered hydrogen in the solar spectrum; source of the Angstrom unit discovered the ``Kirkwood gaps'' in the orbits of the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter; explained the gaps in Saturn's rings first to show that some nebulae, including the great nebula in Orion, have pure emission spectra and thus must be gaseous discovered in the solar

Thomas Henderson

William Lassell

Sir George Airy

Urbain Le Verrier

Johann Gottfried Galle

18121910 German

Anders ngstrm

18141874 Swedish 18141895 America n 18241910 British 1836-

Daniel Kirkwood

William Huggins

Sir Joseph Lockyer

1920 British

spectrum a previously unknown element that he named helium made first photograph of a stellar spectrum (that of Vega); later photographed spectra of over a hundred stars and published them in a catalog; studied spectrum of Orion Nebula, which he showed was a dust cloud discovered the first spectroscopic binary star, Mizar discovered that the proper motions of stars were not random, but stars could be divided into two streams moving in opposite directions, representing the rotation of our galaxy discovered eight comets and Almathea, the fifth moon of Jupiter; also discovered star with largest proper motion, now called Barnard's star

Henry Draper

18371882 America n

Edward Charles Pickering

18461919 America n

Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn

18511922 Dutch

Edward Barnard

18571923 America n

Nobel Laureates
Hannes Alvn 19081995 Swedish 19101995 Indianborn America n 19111995 America n developed the theory of magnetohydrodynamics made important theoretical contributions concerning the structure and evolution of stars, especially white dwarfs carried out extensive experimental studies of nuclear reactions of astrophysical significance;

Subramanyan Chandrasekhar

William Fowler

developed, with others, a complete theory of the formation of chemical elements in the universe Antony Hewish 1924British led the research group that discovered the first pulsar

Arno A. Penzias

1933German- co-discovered the cosmic born microwave background America radiation n 1936America n 1941America n 1950America n co-discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation co-discovered the first binary pulsar co-discovered the first binary pulsar

Robert W. Wilson

Joseph H. Taylor, Jr.

Russell Alan Hulse

Others
Annie Jump Cannon 18631941 America n 18631932 German classified spectra of many thousands of stars; published catalogs of variable stars (including 300 she discovered) discovered hundreds of asteroids using photography revolutionized spectral observations by inventing and using the spectroheliograph; discovered magnetic fields in sunspots; first astronomer to be officially called an astrophysicist; founded the Yerkes, Mt. Wilson, and Palomar Observatories

Maximilian Wolf

George E. Hale

18681938 America n

Henrietta Swan Levitt

18681921 America n 18721934 Dutch

discovered the periodluminosity relation for Cepheid variables studied the astronomical consequences of Einstein's theory of general relativity; deduced that a near-empty universe would expand invented the color-magnitude diagram; by studying star clusters, independently discovered the relationship between absolute magnitude and spectral types of stars; a plot of this relationship is now called a HertzsprungRussell diagram (or H-R diagram); determined distance to the Small Magellanic Cloud first to give an exact solution of Einstein's equations of general relativity, giving an understanding of the geometry of space near a point mass; also made the first study of black holes first to measure the radial velocity of the Andromeda galaxy identified Sirius B as the first white dwarf star known used photographic methods to measure stellar parallaxes, leading to the discovery of the relationship between absolute magnitude and spectral types of stars; a plot of this relationship is now

Willem de Sitter

Ejnar Hertzsprung

18731967 Danish

Karl Schwarzchild

18731916 German

Vesto M. Slipher

18751969 America n 18761956 America n 18771957 America n

Walter Sydney Adams

Henry Norris Russell

called a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (or H-R diagram) 18791935 Swedishborn German invented and constructed the first Schmidt reflecting telescope using a corrector plate he devised to eliminate aberration of the image first to confirm Einstein's prediction that light will bend near a star; discovered the mass-luminosity relation for stars; theoretically explained the pulsation of Cepheid variables discovered the size of our galaxy and the direction of its center by studying the distribution of globular clusters; determined the orbits of many eclipsing binary stars first to measure distance to the Andromeda nebula, establishing it to be a separate galaxy; later measured distances to other galaxies and discovered that they recede at a rate proportional to their distance (Hubble's law) discovered the asteroids Hidalgo and Icarus; established two different stellar classes: the younger, hotter ``Population I'' and the older, cooler ``Population II'' advanced idea that the Universe originated as a small, dense ``cosmic egg'' that exploded and set its expansion into motion divided supernovae into

Bernhard Schmidt

Arthur S. Eddington

18821944 British

Harlow Shapley

18851972 America n

Edwin Hubble

18891953 America n

Walter Baade

18931960 Germanborn America n 18941966 Belgian 1895-

Georges-Henri Lemaitre

Rudolph Minkowski

1976 German Bernard-Ferdinand Lyot 18971952 French 18971963 Russianborn America n

Types I and II; optically identified many of the early radio sources invented the coronagraph

Otto Struve

made detailed spectroscopic studies of close binary stars; discovered interstellar matter (H II regions) observed Coma cluster of galaxies and determined that most of the cluster must be ``dark matter''; proposed existence of and then observed dwarf galaxies; proposed existence of supernovas (a term he coined) and that their collapse might lead to neutron stars; anticipated discovery of quasars by proposing that compact blue galaxies might be mistaken for stars; anticipated that dark matter could be studied by observing galaxies that acted as gravitational lenses calculated distance to center of galaxy; determined period for sun to complete one revolution of Milky Way; calculated the mass of the Milky Way; proposed existence of huge spherical cloud of icy comets (the Oort cloud) left behind from formation of the solar system discovered that stars are composed primarily of hydrogren, with helium the

Fritz Zwicky

18981974 SwissAmerica n

Jan Hendrik Oort

19001992 Dutch

Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin

19001979 English

second-most abundant element 19041968 Russianborn America n 19051950 America n first suggested hydrogen fusion as source of solar energy

George Gamow

Karl G. Jansky

discovered radio waves from space, thereby pioneering the birth of radio astronomy discovered Miranda, the fifth satellite of Uranus; discovered Nereid, the second satellite of Neptune; discovered the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest satellite; his spectroscopic studies of Uranus and Neptune led to discovery of comet-like debris at the edge of the solar system, now called ``Kuiper's belt'' pioneer of x-ray astronomy and space plasma physics; participated in discovery of the first known x-ray source outside the solar system (Scorpius X-1) suggested that small dark globules of interstellar gas and dusk (now called Bok globules) are collapsing to form new stars discovered the planet Pluto proposed the ``dirty snowball'' model of cometary structure

Gerard P. Kuiper

19051973 Dutchborn America n

Bruno B. Rossi

19051993 Italian

Bart Jan Bok

19061983 Dutch 19061997 America n 19062004 America

Clyde Tombaugh

Fred Whipple

n 19112002 America n 19111960 America n 19112008 America n built the first radio telescope (a parabolic reflector 31 feet in diameter), thereby becoming the first radio astronomer discovered the first active galaxy, part of a group now called Seyfert galaxies made theoretical contributions to understanding of quantum gravity; coined the term ``black hole''; introduced the concept of ``spacetime foam'' contributed to the development of the model nebular theory for the formation of the solar system; proposed (with Hans Bethe) the proton-proton reaction as the thermonuclear energy source for the sun a space scientist best known for discovering the Earth's magnetosphere proponent of the steady-state model of the universe; wellknown author of science fiction; proposed that earliest forms of life were carried through space on comets and that these primitive forms of life found their way to Earth; derisively coined the term ``Big Bang'' for a cosmic theory with which he did not agree proposed that radiation near 1-cm wavelength is left over

Grote Reber

Carl K. Seyfert

John A. Wheeler

Karl F. von Weizscker

19122005 German

James A. Van Allen

19142006 America n

Sir Fred Hoyle

19152001 British

Robert H. Dicke

19161997

America n 1920America n

from the hot Big Bang; invented the microwave radiometer, used to detect this radiation independently discovered the Herbig-Haro objects, which are gas clouds associated with young stars performed observational research on the spectra of quasars and other peculiar galaxies; contributed to understanding of stellar nucleosynthesis contributed to our understanding of cosmology, the nature of pulsars as rotating neutron stars, and the origin of planetary hydrocarbons

George H. Herbig

E. Margaret Burbidge

1919British

Thomas Gold

1920America n

Edwin E. Salpeter

explained how the triplealpha reaction could make carbon from helium in stars; 1924worked on atomic theory and 2008 quantum electrodynamics; Austrian- co-developed the Betheborn Salpeter equation; America contributed to nuclear n astrophysics, stellar evolution, statistical mechanics, and plasma physics 1926America n identified the first quasar, and discovered many more; determined ages of many globular clusters measured rotation curves for distant galaxies and ultimately concluded that 90% or more of the universe is made of invisible dark matter

Allan R. Sandage

Vera Rubin

1928America n

Riccardo Giacconi

1931Italian

pioneer of x-ray astronomy; participated in discovery of the first known x-ray source outside the solar system (Scorpius X-1) contributed to the development of general relativity by showing the necessity for cosmological singularities; elucidated the physics of black holes made important theoretical contributions to understanding solar neutrinos and quasars was a leader in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence; contributed to most of the space missions to explore Mars and the outer planets; warned that all-out nuclear war could lead to a ``nuclear winter'' discovered Pluto's satellite, Charon well-known painter of astronomical themes; codeveloped the most widely accepted theory of the formation of the Moon (from the collision of a giant planetismal with the Earth at the close of the planetforming period of the solar system) contributed to the theoretical understanding of black holes and gravitational radiation; co-founded the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory Project (LIGO)

Sir Roger Penrose

1931British

John N. Bahcall

1934America n

Carl Sagan

19341996 America n

James W. Christy

1938America n

William K. Hartmann

1939America n

Kip S. Thorne

1940America n

Stephen W. Hawking

1942British 1943Irish

combined general relativity with quantum theory to predict that black holes should emit radiation and evaporate co-discovered the first pulsar

Jocelyn Bell

Charles Thomas Bolton

1943America identified Cygnus X-1 as the n-born first black hole Canadian 1947America n developed the theory of cosmic evolution known as the inflationary universe director of National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center; developed techniques to study structure of dense molecular clouds where star formation is occurring developed techniques for very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) using atomic frequency standards to synchronize radio telescopes at remote locations worldwide, leading to a 1000-fold improvement in angular resolution for radio telescopes; conducted first measurements of intercontinental and transcontinental VLBI implemented novel radio or radar techniques for various astrophysical research activities including solarsystem tests of general relativity and studies of gravitational lenses and supernovae seeking to determine an accurate value

Alan H. Guth

Paul F. Goldsmith

1948America n

Bernard F. Burke

America n

Irwin I. Shapiro

for the Hubble constant discovered with his team many trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) including Eris, the first TNO discovered that is larger than Pluto, which eventually led to the demotion of Pluto to a dwarf planet

Mike Brown

1965America n