Astronomers, Astrophysicists, Astronauts, “N...-O...-P...-Q...-R...-”
for the social studies and science classrooms, theme decor.

Isaac Newton
Major Nikolayev
Ellen Ochoa
Ellsion Onizuka

William Henry Pickering
Henri Poincare
Ptolemy

Sir Isaac Newton
b. 12-25-1642; Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth
Lincolnshire, England
d. 3-20-1727; London

• more Isaac Newton posters

Andrian Nikolayev and Valentina Tereshkova, Giclee Print

Major Nikolayev, Valentina Tereshkova

(first instance of two simultaneous manned spacecraft, Vostok 3 & 4)

Ellen Ochoa
b. 5-10-1958; California

Ellen Ochoa, an electrical engineer, was an astronaut and is currently the Deputy Director of the Johnson Space Center. Ochoa is the first Hispanic woman in space (Discovery in 1993) and has made four flights, logging nearly 1000 hours.

• Women in Science posters

Ellison Onizuka, Great Asian Americans, Wall Poster poster no longer available

Ellison Onizuka
b. 6-24-1946; Kealakekua, HI
d. 1-28-1986, Challenger Space Shuttle

Poster Text: Ellison Onizuka's fascination with rocket began at a very early age. His parents recall how one New Year's Eve they felt strange vibrations and heard loud noises that seemed to be coming from beneath the floor of their home. Frightened, they ran outside to discover clouds of smoke pouring from underneath the house. After a few panic-stricken minutes, they discoverd the source of the noise and smoke, young Ellison had set off a roman candle firework in order to see how it worked! ... While working as a test pilot in California in the 1970s Ellison was chosen by NASA to be one of 220 astronauts for the space agency's new shuttle. The next year, he was chosen as one of seven people to take part in a mission aboard the shuttle “Challenger.”

Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, USA, Photographic Print

Tragically, a malfunction of the shuttle's booster rocket caused an explosion that claimed the lives of the entire “Challenger” crew. At a memorial service, former astronaut Neil Armstrong said of Ellison Onizuka, “[He] had his life cut short for many reasons he could not control. Yet during his years he accomplished much more than most. Our world is a better place for his being here. He will always be remembered.”

Challenger Crew: Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik.

William Henry Pickering
b. 2-15-1858; Boston, Massachusetts
d. 1-17-1938; Jamaica

Brothers William Henry Pickering and Edward Charles Pickering were astronomers.

Henri Poincaré
b. 3-29-1854; Nancy, France
d. 7-17-1912; Paris

Mathematician, theoretical physicist, and philosopher of science Henri Poincare is often described as a polymath, excelling in all fields of the discipline as it existed during his lifetime.

The Poincaré group used in physics and mathematics was named after him. He was also a professor at the Sorbonne holding the chairs of Physical and Experimental Mechanics, Mathematical Physics and Theory of Probability, and Celestial Mechanics and Astronomy.

Henru Poincaré quotes ~
“It is certain that the combinations which present themselves to the mind in a kind of sudden illumination after a somewhat prolonged period of unconscious work are generally useful and fruitful combinations... all the combinations are formed as a result of the automatic action of the subliminal ego, but those only which are interesting find their way into the field of consciousness... A few only are harmonious, and consequently at once useful and beautiful, and they will be capable of affecting the geometrician's special sensibility I have been speaking of; which, once aroused, will direct our attention upon them, and will thus give them the opportunity of becoming conscious... In the subliminal ego, on the contrary, there reigns what I would call liberty, if one could give this name to the mere absence of discipline and to disorder born of chance.”

• Poincare's Prize: The Hundred-Year Quest to Solve One of Math's Greatest Puzzles

Claudius Ptolemy
(fl. 90-168 AD)

Claudius Ptolemy was a Greek or Hellenized Egyptian mathematician, geographer, astronomer, and astrologer in Alexandria, Roman Egypt.

Claudius Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos (Greek tetra=four + biblos=books) was the most popular astrological work of antiquity.

Judith Resnik
b. 4-5-1949; Akron, OH
d. 1-28-1986; Space Shuttle Challenger explosion

Electrical engineer Judith Resnik was the second US female astronaut with her first mission aboard the maiden voyage of Discovery. She was one of the seven person crew that died in the launch of the Challenger.

• Judith Resnik at Amazon

Sally Ride
b. 5-26-1951; Encino, CA
d. 7-23-2012; La Jolla (pancreatic cancer)

Sally Ride, a physicist and NASA astronaut, was the first American woman to enter outerspace in 1983, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger II.

• To Space and Back, Sally Ride

Stuart Roosa
b. 8-16-1933; Durango, CO, raised in Claremore, OK
d. 12-12-1994; Falls Church, VA (pancreatitis)

Stu Roosa was the command module pilot on the Apollo 14 (1971) mission which landed Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell on the Moon.