Astronomers have contributed greatly to our understanding of physics and motion. In this section you can learn all about famous astronomers and what each of them has contributed to our understanding of space.
Young, Charles Augustus (18341908), a United States astronomer noted for his spectroscopic studies of the sun. See more »
Today we're contemplating a verbal battle between two dearly departed authors. In one corner, we have Carl Sagan, the noted astronomer, astrochemist, author, alien hunter and host of TV's "Cosmos." In the other, we have author Michael Crichton.
See more »Abbot, Charles Greeley (1872-1973), a United States astrophysicist and authority on solar radiation.
See more »Adams, John Couch (1819-1892), a British astronomer, one of the discoverers of the planet Neptune.
See more »Airy, Sir George Biddell (1801-1892), a British astronomer. Airy was astronomer royal from 1835 to 1881.
See more »Hewish, Antony (1924-) is a British astronomer and astrophysicist, a scientist who studies the physical nature, origin, and development of the solar system, galaxies, and the universe.
See more »Barnard, Edward Emerson (1857-1923), a United States astronomer. He discovered 16 comets, Jupiter's fifth satellite, and many dark nebulae.
See more »Bond, the family name of two United States astronomers, father and son. They were pioneers in the use of photography in astronomy.
See more »Brahe, Tycho (15461601), a Danish astronomer. Tycho achieved fame by writing a book on the brilliant new star that appeared in 1572.
See more »Burnham, Sherburne Wesley (1838-1921), a United States astronomer. His General Catalogue of Double Stars (1906) contains data on 13,665 double stars, more than a thousand of which he discovered.
See more »Cannon, Annie Jump (18631941), a United States astronomer. She had a long, distinguished career at Harvard Observatory, 18961940, and was one of the foremost women scientists of her time.
See more »Shoemaker, Carolyn (1929-) is an American astronomer. She has discovered more comets than any other living astronomer.
See more »Cassini, Giovanni Domenico (Jean Dominique) (1625-1712), an Italian astronomer. As a skilled observer using the most accurate telescopes available at the time, Cassini made many important discoveries about the planets of the solar system.
See more »Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia Helena (1900-1979) was a British-born astronomer who became an authority on variable stars (stars that change in brightness) and the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy.
See more »Messier, Charles (1730-1817), a French astronomer, discovered or independently codiscovered some 20 comets, earning him the nickname the “ferret of comets” by King Louis XV.
See more »Clark, Alvan (18041887), a United States maker of astronomical lenses. Five times his firm, Alvan Clark & Sons, made the then-largest telescope lens in the world.
See more »Tombaugh, Clyde William (1906-1997) was an American astronomer who discovered the dwarf planet Pluto.
See more »Copernicus, Nicolaus, the Latinized name of Mikolaj Koppernigk (1473--1543), a Polish astronomer.
See more »Levy, David H. (1948) is an amateur astronomer who helped discover the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet.
See more »Davidson, George (1825-1911), a United States geographer and astronomer. He was born in Nottingham, England, and came to the United States in 1832.
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