Aryabhata was one of the first Indian mathematicians and astronomers belonging to the classical age. He was born in 476 BC in Tarenaga, a town in Bihar, India.
Aryabhata also did a considerable amount of work in astronomy. He knew that the earth is rotating on an axis around the sun and the moon rotated around it. He also discovered the position of nine planets and stated that these also revolved around the sun. He pointed out the eclipses; both lunar and solar. Aryabhata stated the correct number of days in a year that is 365. He was the first person to mention that the earth was not flat but in fact a spherical shape. He also gave the circumference and diameter of the earth and the radius of the orbits of 9 planets.
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543) Birthplace: Thorn, Poland Copernicus busted the classical Greek
theory of astronomy, which said the planets and celestial bodies
orbited around the stationary Earth. His "heliocentric" model moved the
sun to the center of the universe. Because of this, he is often called
the "father of modern astronomy." Interestingly, his skeletal remains
were excavated by archeologists in Poland several years ago, and are set
to be re-buried under the altar of Frombork Cathedral, where Copernicus
was a member, later this year.
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Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642)
Birthplace: Pisa, Italy Galileo has also been given a paternal nickname, "the Father of Modern Science." Galileo ranks with Archimedes,
Newton, and Einstein as one of the greatest scientists of all time. His
discoveries, made with the crudest of equipment, were brilliant examples
of scientific deduction. Galileo's studies of natural laws laid the
groundwork for the experimental scientists who followed him.
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Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
Birthplace: Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, England His three laws of motion -- inertia,
acceleration, and action and reaction -- remain a cornerstone of modern
physics. His law of universal gravitation laid forth the theory that all
particles in the universe exerted some gravitational force. In Newton's
view, gravitational force was everywhere, from an apple falling from a
tree to the moon being kept in orbit by its mutual attraction with
Earth. While imperfect -- his law was later altered significantly by
Einstein's theory of relativity -- Newton's conception of universal
gravitation dominated physics for more than two centuries.
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Stephen Hawking (1942- )
Birthplace: Oxford, England After Albert Einstein, Stephen
Hawking is probably the most famous physicist of all time. He became
known for his study of certain physical characteristics of black holes,
work that led to greater understanding of the origin of the universe.
Hawking's A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes
(1988), which provides an overview of the origin and structure of the
universe, was a best-seller.
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Edmund Halley (1656-1742)
Birthplace: London, England Halley is best known for his studies
of the comet that bears his name. He observed it in 1682, calculated its
orbit, and predicted its reappearance. As he had foretold, the comet
reappeared in 1758; this was the first time that the reappearance of a
comet had been correctly predicted. Halley was a friend of Isaac Newton,
and it was at Halley's urging and expense that Newton's Principia, the
treatise that formulated the laws of gravitation, was published. Halley
was also an inventor; he built a successful diving bell and found a way
to supply divers with compressed air. Diving Halley contributed to other
fields as well, including meteorology, optics, magnetism, and
mathematics.
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Edwin Hubble (1889-1953)
Birthplace: Marshfield, Missouri Hubble revolutionized astronomy by
showing that the universe is much larger than had been previously
believed and by providing observational evidence for the theory of an
expanding universe. One of his most important findings that the more
distant a galaxy, the greater is the speed at which it is moving away
from the Milky Way is now known as Hubble's Law. In addition to the famous Hubble
Space Telescope, Hubble's namesakes include an asteroid, a crater on
Earth's Moon, a Planetarium, a highway, a high school, and an honorary
medal.
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Carl Sagan (1934-1996)
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York Sagan lead the charge to bring
science into popular culture. He appeared frequently on television and
wrote numerous best-selling books. Sagan became best known for his 1980
television series, Cosmos, and a book of the same name adapted from it.
His study of human intelligence, The Dragons of Eden (1977), was awarded
a Pulitzer Prize.
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