People in Astronomy

This table includes astronomers and other scientists and philosophers who have had an impact on how astronomy has taken shape. It does not include the many astronauts who have made contributions to the field. If you would like to see someone added to this list, please submit your suggestion to our comments system.

Person
Region where they lived
and worked...
Lifetime
'Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi Persia 10th century A.D.
Aristotle Greece 384-322 B.C.
Tycho Brahe Denmark 1546-1601 A.D.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell England 1943-- A.D.
Giovanni Cassini Italy 1625-1712 A.D.
Nicolas Copernicus Poland 1473-1543 A.D.
Leonardo Da Vinci Italian 1452-1519 A.D.
Democritus Greece 470-380 B.C.
Christian Doppler Austria 1803-1853 A.D.
Albert Einstein Germany 1879-1955 A.D.
En Hedu' Anna Babylonia ~2354 B.C.
Eratosthenes Cyrene (now Shahhat, Libya) 276-197 B.C.
Williamina Fleming U.S.A. 1857-1911 A.D.
Galileo Galilei Italy 1564-1642 A.D.
Robert Goddard U.S.A. 1882-1945 A.D.
Evelyn Granville U.S.A. 1924-- A.D.
George Hale U.S.A. 1868-1938 A.D.
Edmond Halley England 1656-1742
Stephen Hawking England 1942-- A.D.
Caroline Herschel Germany, England 1750-1848 A.D.
William Herschel Germany, England 1738-1822 A.D.
Hipparchus Greece 190-120 B.C.
Edwin Hubble U.S.A. 1889-1953 A.D.
Christian Huygens Netherlands 1629-1695 A.D.
Hypatia Egypt 370-415 A.D.
Johan Kepler Germany 1571-1630 A.D.
Maria Kirch Germany 1670-1720 A.D.
Gerard Kuiper U.S.A. 1905-1973 A.D.
Henrietta Swan Leavitt U.S.A. 1868-1921 A.D.
Nicole-Reine Lepaute France 1723-1788 A.D.
Simon Marius Germany 1573-1624 A.D.
James Clerk Maxwell Scotland 1831-1879 A.D.
Maria Mitchell U.S.A. 1818-1889 A.D.
Isaac Newton England 1642-1727 A.D.
Hermann Oberth Germany 1894-1989 A.D.
Max Planck Germany 1858-1947 A.D.
Plato Greece 427-327 B.C.
Ptolemy Greece 85-165 A.D.
Pythagoras Greece 580-520 B.C.
Carl Sagan U.S.A. 1934-1996 A.D.
Giovanni Schiaparelli Italy 1835-1910 A.D.
Abe Silverstein U.S.A. 1908-- A.D.
Socrates Greece 470-399 B.C.
Thales Greece 624-546 B.C.
Immanuel Velikovsky Russia, U.S.A. 1895-1979 A.D.
Wernher von Braun Germany, U.S.A. 1912-1977 A.D.

Last modified September 4, 2000 by Jennifer Bergman.

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