You are here: Home › Post Tagged with: "astronomy"

astronomy

astronomy
James Challis and his failure to discover the planet Neptune

James Challis and his failure to discover the planet Neptune

Harald Sack
On December 12, 1803, English clergyman, physicist and astronomer James Challis was born. Challis investigated a wide range of physical phenomena though made few lasting contributions outside astronomy. He is best remembered for his missed opportunity to discover the planet Neptune in 1846. Early Years James Challis was born in Braintree, Essex, UK, where his father, John Challis, was a stonemason. After attending Braintree School, the Revd Daniel Copsey’s school, Braintree, and…
Read more
astronomy
Benjamin Gould and the Stars of the Southern Hemisphere

Benjamin Gould and the Stars of the Southern Hemisphere

Tabea Tietz
On September 27, 1824, American astronomer Benjamin Apthorp Gould was born. Gould is noted for creating the Astronomical Journal, discovering the Gould Belt, and for founding of the Argentine National Observatory and the Argentine National Weather Service. His star catalogs helped fix the list of constellations of the Southern Hemisphere. Benjamin Apthorp Gould – Youth and Education Benjamin Apthorp Gould was born in Boston. Massachussetts, USA, the on of Benjamin Apthorp Gould, the principal…
Read more
astronomy
Jean Bailly and the Orbit of Halley’s Comet

Jean Bailly and the Orbit of Halley’s Comet

Tabea Tietz
On September 15, 1736, French astronomer, mathematician, freemason, and political leader of the early part of the French Revolution Jean Sylvain Bailly was born. Bailly computed an orbit for Halley’s Comet (1759) and studied the four satellites of Jupiter then known. He was the first Mayor of Paris and presided over the Tennis Court Oath. “The motion of the stars calculated by the Hindus some 4500 years before vary not even a single…
Read more
astronomy
James Jeans and the Theory of Continuous Creation

James Jeans and the Theory of Continuous Creation

Tabea Tietz
On September 11, 1877, English physicist, astronomer and mathematician James Hopwood Jeans was born. Jeans was the first to propose that matter is continuously created throughout the universe. He made other innovations in astronomical theory but is perhaps best known as a writer of popular books about astronomy. “The stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality; the Universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine.…
Read more
astronomy
Victor Ambartsumian and Theoretical Astrophysics

Victor Ambartsumian and Theoretical Astrophysics

Tabea Tietz
On September 5, 1908, Soviet astronomer and astrophysicist Viktor Amazaspovich Ambartsumian was born. Ambartsumian is well known as one of the founders of theoretical astrophysics. He worked in the field of physics of stars and nebulae, stellar astronomy, dynamics of stellar systems and cosmogony of stars and galaxies, and contributed to mathematical physics. Early Years Victor Ambartsumian was the son of the prominent philologist and writer Hamazasp Asaturovich Ambartsumian, the translator of Homer’s Iliad…
Read more
astronomy
Abu Ma’shar – the Greatest Astronomer of Baghdad

Abu Ma’shar – the Greatest Astronomer of Baghdad

Tabea Tietz
Dear reader, we’ve realized that our daily blog on History of Science somehow is focussed on the Western view of history and the World. Of course it’s because we ourselves are part of this Western world of science. Nevertheless, we have also to include scientists and other people important for the history of science, who are not part of this Western canon of science. Today, we begin with the famous Persian astrologer, astronomer, and philosopher Abu Ma’shar al-Balkhi. Probably on August 10, 787, Persian astrologer Abu Ma’shar, Latinized as Albumasar,…
Read more
astronomy
Iosif Shklovsky and the Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe

Iosif Shklovsky and the Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe

Tabea Tietz
On July 1, 1916, Soviet astronomer and astrophysicist Iosif Shklovsky was born. Shklovsky identified the continuum radiation of the Crab Nebula as synchrotron radiation, and he linked x-ray stars to binary systems containing a neutron star. He is also remembered for his 1962 book on extraterrestrial life, the revised and expanded version of which was co-authored by American astronomer Carl Sagan in 1966 as ‘Intelligent Life in the Universe‘. Iosif Shklovsky – The…
Read more
astronomy
Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn and the Rotation of the Milky Way

Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn and the Rotation of the Milky Way

Harald Sack
On June 18, 1922, Dutch astronomer Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn passed away. Kapteyn carried out extensive studies of the Milky Way and was the discoverer of evidence for galactic rotation. He used photography and statistical methods in determining the motions and spatial distribution of stars, the first major step after the works of William and John Herschel.[6,7] Jacobus C. Kapteyn – Early Year Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn was born on 19 January 1851 in…
Read more
mathematics
Aryabhata and Early Indian Mathematics

Aryabhata and Early Indian Mathematics

Harald Sack
In 476 CE, Indian mathematician and astronomer Aryabhata was born. Aryabhata is the earliest Indian mathematician whose work and history are available to modern scholars. In his work “Ganita” Aryabhata names the first 10 decimal places and gives algorithms for obtaining square and cubic roots, using the decimal number system. He also came up with an approximation of pi and the area of a triangle. “Aryabhata is the master who, after reaching…
Read more
astronomy
Donald Howard Menzel and the UFOs

Donald Howard Menzel and the UFOs

Tabea Tietz
On April 11, 1901, theoretical astronomer and astrophysicist Donald Howard Menzel was born. Menzel discovered the physical properties of the solar chromosphere, the chemistry of stars, the atmosphere of Mars, and the nature of gaseous nebulae. Moreover, he was best known for his arguments against the existence of extraterrestrial UFOs. Early Years Donald Howard Menzel already collected rocks as a child and built a chemistry laboratory in the cellar of his family’s…
Read more
Relation Browser
Timeline
0 Recommended Articles:
0 Recommended Articles: