Astronomers & Astrophysicists Posters & Prints, pg 2/2
for the social studies and science classrooms.

Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre
b. 9-19-1749; Amiens, France
d. 8-19-1822; Paris

Jean Baptiste Joseph, chevalier Delambre was a French mathematician and astronomer responsible for the northern expedition of measuring the meridian line from Dunkirk to Rodez in meters. Delambre was also head of the Paris Observatory and a professor of astronomy at the University of Paris.

Frank Watson Dyson
b. 1-8-1868; Leicestershire, England
d. 5-25-1939; buried at sea enroute from Australia to England

Frank Watson Dyson, British astronomer noted for his study of solar eclipses, organized the expeditions to Principe and Brazil to observe the 1919 eclipse, confirming Einstein's theory of the effect of gravity on light. He also established the “pips” heard in many BBC broadcasts that marked the exact time at the Greenwich Observatory.

Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington
b. 12-28-1882; Kendal, England
d. 11-22-1944

Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, an astrophysicist, mathematician and director of the Cambridge Observatory, introducted Einstein's Theory of Relativity to the English speaking world with his Space, Time and Gravitation: An Outline of the General Relativity Theory when WWI interfered lines of scientific communication.

He also conducted an expedition to observe the Solar eclipse of May 29, 1919 that provided one of the earliest confirmations of relativity.

The natural limit to the luminosity of stars, or the radiation generated by accretion onto a compact object, called the Eddington limit, is named in his honour. Eddington was also a devote Quaker.

• Practical Mystic: Religion, Science, and A. S. Eddington

Camille Flammarion
b. 2-26-1842; Montigny-le-Roi, Haute-Marne, France
d. 6-3-1925

Camille Flammarion was a French scientist, astronomer, and author. His work, the Flammarion Book of Astronomy- was one Carl Jung enjoyed looking at as a child. (D. Bair)

• Book Cover for 'Les Terres du Ciel' Written by Camille Flammarion, 1877, Giclee Print

John Flamsteed
b. 8-19-1646; Denby, Derbyshire, England
d. 12-31-1719; Burstow, Surrey

John Flamsteed was an English clergyman and the first British Astronomer Royal, laying the foundation stone for the Greenwich Observatory in 1675. He and Sir Isaac Newton were adversaries - read about it in Newton's Tyranny: The Suppressed Scientific Discoveries of Stephen Gray and John Flamsteed.

Galileo Galilei
b. 2-15-1564; Pisa, Italy
d. 1-8-1642; Italy
“The laws of Nature are written in the language of mathematics...the symbols are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures, without whose help it is impossible to comprehend a single word.” -Galileo Galilei - Quoted in M. Kline, Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times

• more Galileo posters
• more Heroes of Science & Technology posters

Geber
b. c. 721; Iran
d. c. 815

Geber was the Latinized name of Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan, an Islamic alchemist and philosopher and astronomer.

While best known for his “scientific” approach to alchemy, Gerber made important contributions to astronomy / astrology which were not separate disciplines.

Sir Edmond Halley
b. 11-8-1656; London, England
d. 1-14-1742

Sir Edmond Halley was an astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist. He is most noted for his prediction of the return of a comet in 1758, officially known as 1P/Halley, the most famous of the periodic comets (due to brightness and 75-76 year periodicity which was within the range of a human life span). Halley's mathematical work also contributed to actuarial science and history of demography.

Edmund Halley quotes ~
• “In the year 1456 ... a Comet was seen passing Retrograde between the Earth and the sun... Hence I dare venture to foretell, that it will return again in the year 1758.”
• “This sight... is by far the noblest astronomy affords.”
• “Aristotle's opinion... that comets were nothing else than sublunary vapors or airy meteors... prevailed so far amongst the Greeks, that this sublimest part of astronomy lay altogether neglected; since none could think it worthwhile to observe, and to give an account of the wandering and uncertain paths of vapours floating in the Ether.”
• “I earnestly wish them all imaginable success; in the first place that they may not, by the unseasonable obscurity of a cloudy sky, be deprived of this most desirable sight; and then, that having ascertained with more exactness the magnitudes of the planetary orbits, it may redound to their eternal fame and glory.”
• “Scarce any problem will appear more hard and difficult, than that of determining the distance of the Sun from the Earth very near the truth: but even this... will without much labour be effected.”

• Edmond Halley: Charting the Heavens and the Seas

Caroline Herschel
b. 3-16-1750; Hanover, Germany
d. 1-9-1848

Caroline Herschel, the sister and full time assistant of William Herschel, lived most of her 98 years in England. She was the first woman to discover a comet; the recognition earned her an annual salary from King George III.

• women scientists

William Herschel
b. 11-15-1738; Hanover, Germany
d. 8-25-1822; Slough, Berkshire, England
(Notice who's standing behind her brother; at least she was acknowledged!)

William Herschel was a German born musician and composer who was also a noted astronomer for his discovery of the Planet Uranus in 1781, and infrared radiation.

William Herschel's son, Sir William Herschel, is credited with coining the word “photography” c. 1839.

Johannes Hevelius
b. 1-28-1611; Danzig (Gdansk), Poland
d. 1-28-1687

Johannes Hevelius, a political official in Danzig (Gdansk), Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was also an astonomer and is known as the “Founder of Lunar Topography”.

Hevelius is thought to be the last astonomer to do major work using only the quadrant and alidade in his own private observatory. “Prodomus Astronomiae” was published in 1690.

• Johannes Hevelius and His Catalog of Stars

Hipparchus, the first Greek astronomer whose models of the Sun and Moon survive, is considered the greatest observer of the skies in antiquity (8th century BC to AD 300-600), and the inventor of the astrolabe. Hipparchus most likely made use of the observations and mathematical techniques of the Chaldeans from Babylonia and, in turn, the work of Claudius Ptolemaeus relied on the work of Hipparchus. He was also a geographer, and a mathematician.

Jeremiah Horrocks
b. 1618, Liverpool, England
d. 1-3-1641

Jeremiah Horrocks, an English astronomer, observed the transit of Venus in 1639, at the age of 21.

A lunar crater was named for Horrocks (coordinates 4º0'00"S 5º54'0"E).

Edwin Hubble
b. 11-20-1889; Marshfield, MO
d. 9-28-1953; California

Edwin Hubble, an American astronomer, was head of the Mount Wilson Observatory from 1919 until his death. Hubble was the first astronomer to prove the Universe is expanding. The orbiting Hubble Telescope is named for him.

Edwin Hubble quote ~
• “Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.”

Christiaan Huygens
b. 4-14-1629; The Hague, The Netherlands
d. 7-8-1695

Christiaan Huygens was a Dutch astronomer, physicist and mathematician. Noted as instrumental in the "scientific revolution", Huygens discovered Saturn's moon Titan, observed Saturn's rings were made up of rocks, wrote a book on probability theory encouraged by Pascal and made significant contributions to timekeeping. Huygen's contributions to space exploration is commemorated in the Cassini-Huygens Saturn & Titan probe.

A crater on Mars and a mountain on Earth's Moon is named after Huygens.

Hypatia of Alexandria
b. c. 360 AD; Alexandria
d. c. 415; Alexandria- mob violence

Hypatia, a Neo-Platonic Greek philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, astrologist and teacher, may have been murdered by a mob because she was a pagan. Her death occured in the conflicts that erupted during the time Christianity was imposed as the state religion.

• Hypatia in Women of Science composite poster