1519: Magellan started to sail around the world and proved that Earth was a circle. He travelled west across Atlantic, and he made the first expedition from Europe to cross Pacific Ocean and circumnavigate the world.
Columbus was important because he was the first European contacted with the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. He started the European exploration and colonization of the Americas.
Brief Reflection
From the late fifteenth century to the early sixteenth century (the time when Copernicus lived), Europe was experiencing a huge transition from a feudal society to a capitalist society. In this turbulent period, the church dominated the society, and any theory country to the Bible would be treated as heresy, including infinite significant astronomical work. For example, Cecco d’Ascoli, an astrologer who claimed that Earth is a sphere, was burned at Florence by the inquisition. Recognizing such context, I can understand the abominate research environment during Copernicus’s lifetime. Therefore, I appreciate the courage and determination of Copernicus to challenge the predominant geocentric model, acknowledged by Catholics. Learning the contemporary events facilitated me not only to know what was happening around the world but also to gain deeper insights into astronomical theories.
Another historical event that happened in the time period that Newton was alive was the Thirty Years war. Well the war was a couple years from ending at about the time Newton was born. The Thirty Years War lasted from 1618-1648 (Newton would have been about 5 years old) and it was a battle among the catholic and protestant states that formed the Holy Roman Empire.
Another very famous historical figure that lived at the same time period as Newton was Peter the Great. He lived from 1682-1725 and in his time he was best known for bringing Russia into the modern age, from his time as a czar. He did lots of reforms and projects involving the church, calendars and even the alphabet in order to westernize Russia.
Honestly I never knew that Copernicus was that old, or that Tycho, Kepler or Galileo all lived at the same time. Also I was very shocked to find out how old Galileo lived to be, because that age is considered old even now. The thing that this assignment helped me realize about the past is that it’s all connected (that sounds cheesy), but I mean that some of these amazing well known astronomers could never have done what they did without the influence or information of another. It was really interesting in how that this HUGE advancement in astronomy happened in a little over a century when the world had been believing something entirely different just years before Copernicus/ during his time.
Question 1: Nicholas Copernicus: 1473–1543 (Bennett 311) Johannes Kepler: 1571–1630 (Bennett 315) Tycho Brahe: 1546–1601 (Bennett 313) Galileo Galilei: 1564–1642 (Bennett 326) Isaac Newton: 1642-1726 (Thony) Copernicus and Newton didn’t live the same time with others. Copernicus died before everyone (in 1543) and Newton was born after Galileo’s death. Tycho and Kepler lived the same time from 1571 (Kepler’s birth) to 1601 (Tycho’s death). Galileo and Tycho lived the same time from 1564 (Galileo’s birth) to 1601 (Tycho’s death). Kepler lived his whole life the same time with Galileo from 1571 (Kepler’s birth) to 1630 (Kepler’s death).
Timeline of Historical Astronomers by Me
Question 2: My chosen astronomer is Kepler. (1571–1630)
(Click on Kepler to check his Wikipedia page) Kepler was important to astronomy because he was a second-generation Copernicus whose worship of data and numbers surpassed the ideas of geometric models of previous philosophers like Aristotle. Kepler succeeded in formulating a finely balanced and finely constructed 3D model centered on the sun. He worked tirelessly to match his geometry to measurements (Weintraub 6) and derived three beautiful, concise, and precise laws. His three laws showed the beauty of the motion of celestial bodies and predicts reality accurately, laying a milestone for astronomy.
Question 3:
Kepler’s lifetime was 1571–1630. In 1603 Queen Elizabeth died after a reign of 456 years. During her reign, Elizabeth I established Protestantism in England and strived for peace in her previously divided country. In 1616, MacBeth by William Shakespeare was first performed. William Shakespeare was widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s greatest dramatist (Chambers). (Click on Chamber to check the website page for Queen Elizabeth)
William Shakespeare (Click on his name to check his Wikipedia page), a contemporary of Kepler, lived during 1564-1616. Shakespeare is a very important figure in world literature whose plays have been translated to other languages and are performed more than any other play. He also has significant influence on succeeding artists. Salvador Dalí and Sir John Everett Millais had artwork depicting Shakespeare’s works such as Hamlet.
Question 4:
It is astonishing how scientists (or to say natural philosophers) managed to deduce equations, models, and laws that were able to marbly represent reality almost five hundred years ago. To me previously, the names of Copernicus, Ptolemy, Kepler, and Galileo were just names. They found these “truths” because they were remarkable scientists, and revealing the scientific truth was what they should do. I didn’t have much appreciation for their scientific accomplishment. Nonetheless, after learning about their process of discovering the truth, I suddenly realized that all these marvelous scientific ideas didn’t just appear in their brilliant minds out of nowhere. These ideas were all reasoned out by breathtakingly remarkable logical thinking abilities. It is mind-blowing to know that human intelligence could do this 500 years ago.
However, even though Copernicus and Kepler attained accurate predictions of heavenly movement, their models weren’t correct in today’s view (In their models, the center of the Universe is near the sun, and all the celestial spheres encircle the sun). These ancient models show correct results but do not present reality. So what about modern models? Could current models which successfully predict reality be wrong? Is it possible that DNA molecules, quantum physics, and dark matter are not real at all? Could dark matter be another Ether? There is a line in my favorite science fiction novel, The Three-Body Problem, which claims that: “Backwardness is not the biggest obstacle to the development of civilization, but arrogance is.” Even though human beings have accomplished magnificent scientific results and understood the Universe just from a tiny plant in Milky Way, we have to stay humble. Science will continue to progress and improve, and what is true today may be false tomorrow. Henceforth, as long as we never cease our never-ending exploration and curiosity about the truth, our quest will gain us eternal brilliance.
Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer who lived from February 15, 1564, to January 8, 1642. He made significant contributions to the field through his telescopic observations. Galileo learned of telescopes, a newly invented device at the time, and built his own that were powerful enough to see details previously unobservable with the naked eye. […]
The astronomer that I am choosing to write about is Sir Isaac Newton. Newton was an important astronomer, mathematician, and physicist and perhaps one of the most important contributors to our current understanding of the solar system and universe today who lived from January 4, 1643 to March 31, 1727. Most notably, his discovery of gravity dictates the motions of everything in the Universe and is able to help us make complex mathematical calculations about the solar system, such as movement, speed, orbits, and more. Secondly, he also created Newton’s 3 laws of motion, which are that an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force, acceleration depends on mass and force, and for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. These all heavily impact the movement of celestial bodies and give us good perspective into the framework in which all manner operates in the Universe.
Two important events that occurred during Newton’s life that are not astronomy related are the Great Fire of London, which occurred in 1666 and burnt down most of the city. Secondly, the historic document the Bill of Rights, which details important political frameworks in Britain about freedom of speech, royal succession, and the limitations of royal power was passed in 1689.
Another important historical figure who lived alongside Newton was John Locke, English philosopher who lived from August, 29 1632 to October 27, 1704. Locke was important for his thoughts about human nature and the self, ideas which influenced the Founding Fathers of the United States and are firmly chiseled into the Constitution as the right to “life, liberty, and property.”
I think it was interesting to learn more about the context of Newton’s life because it highlighted to me how many important figures existed in the 17th century and also how important their work is. Names like Newton and Locke are still heard today, almost four hundred years later, so they must have discovered something very important that society has been able to build off of and put to good use today.
Nicholas Copernicus was incredibly important to astronomy because he first proposed a model of the universe in which the Sun was at the center and that Earth orbited it (heliocentric model). This was incredibly controversial during his time because most people believed the Earth was at the center of the universe and everything else orbited around it. Another part of his proposal was that the movements we observe in the sky are mainly a result of the movement and rotation of Earth and not the movement of those celestial bodies themselves. Although the Sun is not actually the center of the universe, the idea that Earth was not the center provided an essential push that allowed us to make more accurate analyses and conclusions about what we observed in the sky.
During the lifetime of Nicholas Copernicus, many historically significant events occurred. In 1492, the New World was discovered. Christopher Columbus was given credit for this discovery. The exploration and colonization of the New World led to significant changes in economy and trade/commerce. Additionally, it gave many European nations like Britain, Spain, and France more worldly power and resources than they had before. Additionally, in 1519, Martin Luther’s 95 theses were published. The main ideas taken from these theses were that the Bible is the main religious authority and that humans cannot reach salvation through their actions (only faith can save them). These ideas ultimately acted as an impetus for the Protestant Reformation.
As stated above, a historically significant figure that lived during Copernicus’s lifetime was Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546). His 95 theses sparked the Protestant Reformation.
Overall, learning about the impact of Copernicus’s controversial ideas made me realize how important it was for people to challenge the current way of thinking. If Copernicus had just accepted the socially accepted theory and didn’t question things that were currently seen as fact, we might have been set back years of astronomical progress. Even though the majority of people didn’t accept Copernicus’s heliocentric model and rejected his ideas, the fact that he published it anyway ultimately led to an astronomical revolution. It makes me wonder if there are things we currently consider factual that should be challenged in order to craft a more accurate model of the world we live in.
Johannes Kepler (December 27th, 1571 – November 15th, 1630) was a German-born astronomer who carried out much of his scientific research in Prague. Inarguably, Kepler’s most important contributions to astronomy were his three laws of planetary motion, the first two of which he published in 1609, and the third a decade later. The first law states that planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun stationary; the second, that the radius vector (sun to planet) covers equal areas in equal time; and the third, that the ratio of the square of orbital periods and the cube of elliptic semi-major axises are the same for all planets. He is also recognized for creating the Keplerian telescope, which provided the basis for the modern refractive telescope.
Just before Kepler publicized his first discoveries, Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote de la Mancha and published it in 1605. Don Quixote was the first modern novel—its publication marked a literary revolution and the start of a new social writing tradition. Around the time of his second major publication (the third law of planetary motion), the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock, delivering the first pilgrims to America in late 1620.
During the same period, other parts of the world were experiencing equally significant political, religious, artistic, and cultural events. In India, Shah Jahan (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666) claimed the title of the fifth Mughal emperor and reigned from 1628 to 1658. Under Jahan, the empire reached its peak prosperity in terms of territorial expansion, trading, wealth, art, architecture, and education. The commission of the Taj Mahal is regarded as Jahan’s most influential act, and was a testament of the love he had for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. In 1648, seventeen years after construction first started, builders completed what is now regarded as one of the world’s masterpieces.
Contextualizing historical figures relative to other famous discoveries, events, people, etc. provides a useful framework for understanding the timeline and evolution of science. I didn’t realize how closely linked a lot of these astronomical discoveries actually were; like how Brahe and Kepler not only lived during the same time, but actively worked together as colleagues. History is incredibly interrelated, and I think it’s easy to forget or overlook that sometimes. To frame these individuals and their contributions against a bigger backdrop provides a really important context through which we can better understand their lives and scientific discoveries.
The Cosmic Calendar is a mechanism to help us understand the history of the universe relative to something we can comprehend more easily. This method puts the history of the universe into one calendar year proportionately. Through this it can help us understand in a more conceptual way how long, for example, humans have existed relatively to the rest of the universe or to, say, the dinosaurs. We as humans cannot fathom what billions of years truly is as even a century ago seems like forever. Beyond that it is almost unfathomable to think that in the span of the universe Neanderthals and the very first civilizations were not too far in the past. It is a past that of course to us signifies a beginning but human history is just a blip, about one and a half minutes, on the cosmic calendar as each moth represents over one billion years. While all our lives we learn about human history, the history that surrounds us and that exists beyond our species is far more vast and the universe existed for nearly the entire cosmic calendar before we appeared. This helps to understand and compare periods of time while also acknowledging our own species position in history beyond ourselves.
The solar eclipse of May 20, 2012 is the most spectacular astronomical event I have ever personally experienced. The event was an annular eclipse with the moon only blocking out the center of the sun, resulting in a ring of light around the dark moon. The eclipse occurred less than 48 hours after apogee, so the moon’s diameter looked smaller than typical. Nevertheless, the view from Palo Alto, California was fantastic. My classmates father worked at NASA, and thus wanted to make sure our class was able to properly celebrate the event. He brought it protective goggles for our class to wear, allowing us to in a safe manner observe the eclipse as it formed. The annular phase lasted 4.5 minutes in Northern California, and they will surely be a few minutes I will never forget.
People often confuse a light-year for a measure of time instead of a measure of distance. This is understandable since it has “year” in the name. A light-year is NOT a measure of time. The true definition of a light-year can be easily understood with a few simple facts and calculations. First, light travels at a speed of around 300,000,000 meters per second. This immense speed is usually insignificant at small distances, as seen in the diagram. Even though the Moon is 384,000 km away from the Earth, it only takes light 1.3 seconds for light to travel that distance. This can be calculated by dividing the distance by the speed of light, which equals about 1.3. A light-year is the distance that light can travel during one Earth year, or 3.15×10^7 seconds. Since the distance formula is distance = speed x time, if we multiply the speed of light by the seconds in a year, we get the distance of a light-year. This is equivalent to around 9.5×10^19 km or 63,241 AU.
The light-year unit is only applicable for large distances to objects outside of our solar system. Even though an object may only be 4.4 light-years away, like Alpha Centauri, this does not mean that it would only take a little less than 5 years for humans, or even a space telescope to reach this star. The fastest that any humans have traveled was around 40,000 kph, and this speed was achieved by the crew of Apollo 10 as they returned to Earth. This is still not comparable to the speed of light, so humans will not be traveling outside of our solar system in a timely manner anytime soon.
