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Discoveries in astronomy

• Copernicus (1473-1543) : Mathematician, astronomer, physician, classical scholar, artist, catholic cleric, jurist, governor, and economist. First to formulate a comprehensive and scientifically-based heliocentric cosmology ^[1] .
• Galilei (1564-1642): Physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher. ‘Father of modern observational astronomy' and 'father of modern physics' ^[2] . First to discover that planets have moons.
• Kepler (1571-1630): Mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer. Formulated Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. Discovered that planetary orbits are ellipses.
• Newton (1643-1727): Physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian. Formulated Newton’s laws of universal gravitation and motion .
• Herschel (1738-1822): Astronomer and composer. First to discover the disk structure of the Milky Way with attempt to position the Sun within it. Also first to discover infrared radiation.
• Bessel (1784-1846): Mathematician and astronomer. First to use parallax in calculating the distance to a star.
• Fraunhofer (1787-1826): Optician. ‘Father of spectroscopy’. Invented the spectroscope and mapped the Fraunhofer lines.
• Hubble (1889-1953): Astronomer. Demonstrated the existence of other galaxies besides the Milky Way. Developed Hubble's law based on redshift measurements .
• Jansky (1905-1950): Physicist and radio engineer. First discovered radio waves emanating from the center of the Milky Way, starting radio astronomy.
• Penzias / Wilson (1933- ) ^[3] : Physicists/astronomers. Discovered the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. Shared 1/2 Nobel Prize in Physics.

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