The astronomer is ... Great astronomers in history

An astronomer is a person who is interested in cosmic processes and phenomena. What does it mean to be an astronomer? Who was the first to ask questions about the riddles of the sky? About the first and great astronomers learn in our article.

The astronomer is ...

People have always wondered what is hiding behind the clouds and how everything is arranged there, in interstellar space. An astronomer is a person who is called not only to ask these questions, but also to answer them. He is a specialist in astronomy - the science of the universe, all the processes and interrelationships that occur in it. And for this it is necessary to have patience, observation, and, most importantly, considerable knowledge in various fields of science. Therefore, the astronomer is primarily a scientist.

Professional astronomers must have knowledge in physics, mathematics, and sometimes chemistry. They work in research centers and observatories, analyzing information about the cosmic bodies, their movements and other phenomena that are obtained from their own observations, given satellites, while using various instruments. This profession includes more narrow specializations, for example, a planetologist, an astrophysicist, an astrochemist, a cosmologist.

The first astronomers

Watching the night sky, people noticed that the pattern on it varies depending on the seasons. Then they realized that the terrestrial and celestial processes are interrelated, and they began to unravel their secret. The first known astronomers were Sumerians and Babylonians. They learned how to predict lunar eclipses and measure the trajectories of planetary motion, recording observations on clay tablets.

The Egyptians back in the IV century BC. E. Began to divide the sky into constellations and to wonder at the heavenly bodies. In ancient China, diligently noted all the amazing phenomena, such as comets, eclipses, meteors, new stars. The comet was first mentioned in 631 BC. In ancient India, there were few successes, although in the V century the Indian astronomer established that the planets rotate around their axis.

Observations of the stars and planets involved Incas, Maya, Celtic druids, ancient Greeks. The latter were filled with both correct and ridiculous theories and assumptions. For example, the Pole of the Earth was far from the North Star, and the morning and evening Venus were considered different stars. Although some were quite accurate, for example, Aristarchus of Samos believed that the Sun was larger than the Earth, and believed in heliocentrism. Eratosthenes measured the earth's circumference and the inclination of the ecliptic to the equator.

The Copernican Revolution

Nikolai Copernicus is an astronomer who is considered one of the pioneers of the scientific revolution. Before it, in the Middle Ages, astronomers basically adjusted their observations to the geocentric Ptolemy system adopted by the church and society. Although some individuals, like Nikolai Kuzansky or Georg Purbach, nevertheless put forward worthy hypotheses and calculations, scientific reasoning was quite abstract.

In the work "On the rotation of the heavenly spheres," published in 1543, Copernicus offers a heliocentric model. According to this, the Sun is a star, around which the Earth and other planets move. This hypothesis was supported even in Ancient Greece, but all these were only assumptions.

Copernicus in his work provided clear arguments and logical conclusions. His idea was continued to develop by many great astronomers, such as Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galilei, Kepler, Newton. Not all his thoughts were true. Thus, Copernicus believed that the orbits of the planets are circular, the Universe is confined to the solar system, but his work has turned the former scientific view of the world.

Galileo Galilei

An invaluable contribution to astronomical science was made by Galileo Galilei - an Italian astronomer, physicist, mathematician and philosopher. One of the most famous of his merits is the invention of a telescope. The scientist created the world's first optical device with lenses to observe the sky.

Thanks to the telescope, the physicist-astronomer determined that the surface of the moon is not smooth, as was thought before. He found that there are spots on the sun, the clouds of the Milky Way are numerous dim stars, and several planets revolve around Jupiter.

Galileo was an ardent supporter of Copernicus' theories. He was convinced that the Earth rotates not only around the Sun, but also around its axis, which causes the ebb and flow of the ocean. This was the reason for the long struggle with the church.

The telescope was found faulty, and blasphemous ideas were wrong. Before the Inquisition, Galileo was forced to renounce his arguments. It is he who is credited with the famous phrase, which he allegedly said later: "And yet it spins!"

Johannes Kepler

The astronomer Johannes Kepler believed that astronomy is the answer to the riddles of the secret connection between the cosmos and man. He used his knowledge to predict weather and yield. He also supported the ideas of Copernicus, thanks to which he was able to advance even further in scientific achievements.

Kepler managed to explain the apparent uneven motion of the planets, based on the three laws he derived. He introduced the concept of orbits, the shape of which was defined as an ellipse. The scientist also derived an equation that allows us to calculate the position of celestial bodies.

All scientific views of Kepler were combined with mysticism. Like the Pythagoreans, he held the view that there was a special harmony in the motion of cosmic bodies and tried to find its numerical value. Keen on the secret meaning, he somewhat compromised his scientific achievements, which in the end were very accurate.