In this article, we will explore the achievements of various astronomers and scientists who have contributed to the advancement of the field. For instance, where would our understanding of the Solar System be if it weren’t for Copernicus? Who is Tycho Brahe? Throughout the 20th century, an assortment of Americans also made their mark in science and astronomy, including Bahcall, and Christy.
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 , 1543): Copernicus was a Pole who is known for developing an uncomplicated heliocentric model of the solar system that explained planetary retrograde motion and dispelled some of the previous thinking headed by Greek astronomy. He would pen the epochal book titled, “De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), which became a rather important publication, as it was seen as a platform for modern astronomy.
Tycho Brahe (1546 , 1601): This Danish contributor to astronomy is seen in his observation of a supernova that gained the name of “Tycho’s supernova.” He is also known as making the most exact observations of stellar and planetary positions of his time. Brahe was a nobleman who gained a reputation for his exact and comprehensive astronomical observations. He came from Scania (which was part of what we now know as Sweden), and spent his time as an astrologer and alchemist.
Johannes Kepler (1571 , 1630): Germany should be proud of Kepler, who constructed what is known as the most accurate astronomical tables of his time. He also established the three laws of planetary motion.
Antony Hewish (1924 – ) This British man is the leader of a research group that discovered the first pulsar , highly magnetized rotating neutron stars that emit a beam of detectable electromagnetic radiation that comes in the form of radio waves. As a British radio astronomer, Hewish (along with Marion Ryle also a radio-astronomer) won the Nobel Prize in physics for his work with pulsars, as well as the development of radio aperture synthesis.
Arno A. Penzias (1933 – ) This German-born American is known for co-discovering the cosmic microwave background radiation. Penzias is a physicist who also became the co-winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, which was awarded in 1978.
John N. Bahcall (1934 – ): Bahcall has contributed to astronomical advancements by making a rather significant theoretical difference regarding the understanding of quasars and solar neutrinos, which is a product of nuclear fusion that comes from the sun (also referred to as a proton-proton chain reaction. In case you didn’t know, a quasar is a rather bright and distant “active galactic nucleus,” which was first seen as sources of electromagnetic energy (like radio waves). Bahcall also played an important role in the construction of the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as his leadership position pertaining to the Institute of Advanced study located in Princeton.
James W. Christy (1938 – ) Not only did Christy work at the United States Naval Observatory, but he discovered Charon (a satellite of Pluto) in 1978. This find took place after he carefully investigating an enlargement that appeared in a photographic plate of Pluto, where a slight bulge emerged on one side.