Biographies of Astronomers

Articles Index

Ptolemy Biography
Ptolemy (aka Claudius Ptolemaeus, Ptolomaeus, Klaudios Ptolemaios, Ptolemeus) lived in Alexandria, Egypt. We know very little of Ptolemy's life, including his birth and death dates. He was an astronomer, mathematician and geographer. Ptolemy created the Ptolemaic System - Earth Centered Universe.

Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler - Defender of Copernicus - Planetary Lawmaker - Science Fiction Writer. Read about the life and work of Tycho Brahe's successor, Johannes Kepler, who built on previous data to create a legacy of his own, his Three Laws of Planetary Motion.

Georges-Henri Lemaitre Biography
Georges-Henri Lemaitre was born in Charleroi, Belgium on 17 July 1894. Lemaitre studied humanities at a Jesuit school before entering the civil engineering school of the Catholic University of Leuven at the age of 17. Georges-Henri Lemaître is credited with proposing the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe, although he called it his hypothesis of the primeval atom. He died on the 20th of June 1966.

Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei - Astronomer. Read about the life and work of Galileo Galilei, perhaps the greatest scientist of all time, who went from genius to heretic and back again. Galileo Galilei, first used telescopes for scientific purposes, refined telescopes beyond being toys, demonstrated key points of gravity, and modernized science. Read the biography of Galileo Galilei.

Edmund Halley
Edmund Halley - More Than Just A Comet. Edmund Halley was born October 29, 1656 in Haggerston, Shoreditch, England. Thanks to a later change in the calendar system, his birth date is now considered to be November 8. His father, also Edmund, was a wealthy soap-maker in London. Besides his soap business, the elder Halley owned a number of properties in London.

Maria Mitchell
Maria Mitchell - First Woman Astronomer in the US. Maria Mitchell discovered a comet in 1847. First US astronomer to belong to American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Association for the Advancement of Science. Maria Mitchell, astronomer, women's rights proponent, and antislavery activist.

Eratosthenes of Cyrene
Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Eratosthenes of Cyrene lived approximately 275-195 BC. He was born in Cyrene which is now in Libya in North Africa. Another area in which Eratosthenes is remembered is his work with prime numbers. Although his original writings are lost, he is remembered for his Sieve of Eratosthenes which, in modified form, is still an important tool in number theory research. Eratosthenes is probably best known for the surprisingly accurate measurement of the circumference of the Earth.

Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe - Danish Father of Modern Astronomy. Biography of Tycho Brahe, the astronomer who collected data during his lifetime that was far superior to any others made prior to the invention of the telescope. Read more about astronomer, Tycho Brahe, and his tremendous work to bring astronomy into the new millenium.