Science: Astronomers

Caroline Herschel

She was born March 16th 1750 and died on January 9th 1848. She was the first female astronomer in the world. She discovered several comets. She won a Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Prussian Gold Medal for Science.

William Herschel

He was born November 15th 1735 and died on August 25th of 1822. He was known for his discoveries of Uranus, Titania, Oberon, Enceladus, Mimas, and many more. He would often collaborate with his younger sister. He theorized that the universe has a vast dynamic, with stars initially scattered throughout space before gravitating into clusters.

Galileo Galilei

He was born February 15th 1564 and died January 8th 1642. He discovered Europa, Io, Ganymede, Calisto, and the rings of Saturn. He also discovered the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, and the stars of the Milky Way. He helped revolutionize the telescope.

Maria Mitchell

She was born August 1st, 1818 and died June 28th, 1889. She was known for being the first professional women astronomer in the United States, for her discovery of a comet in 1847.

Johannes Kepler

He was born on December 27th, 1571 and died on November 15th 1630. He was known primarily for his 3 laws of planetary motion which describes how planets move around the sun which concludes of the first law: Law of Ellipse, the second law: Law of Equal Areas, and his third law: Law of Periods.

Henrietta Swan Leavitt

She was born July 4th, 1868 and died on December 12th 1921. She is known for discovering Leavitt’s Law: the period-luminosity relationship in Cepheid variable stars, these relationships allowed astronomers to estimate the distances to stars and galaxies, as well as the size and scale of the universe.