Special Sub-Topic: Early Astronomers Three Click Here To Play: Early Astronomers Three

Who identified the first white dwarf star?

Walter Sydney Adams. He identified Sirius B as the first white dwarf. Minor Planet 3145 Walter Adams is named after him as is a Lunar crater.

Who first proposed a large telescope in space?

Lyman Spitzer, Jr.. Lyman Spitzer, Jr. was born on June 26, 1914. He proposed the large telescope in 1946. He was annalyzing data from the Hubble Space Telescope the day he died, on March 31, 1997. Minor Planet 2160 Spitzer is named after him.

Who discovered the first Trojan asteroid, 588 Achilles?

Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf. The first Trojan asteroid is 588 Achilles. Max Wolf founded and directed the Königstuhl Observatory in Heidelberg. Max Wolf has a lunar crater named after him as well as an asteroid.

Whose early photographs of Mars, help to disprove that canals existed on Mars?

William Henry Pickering. William Henry Pickering also discovered Phoebe, a small satellite of Saturn in 1898. He was born on July 19, 1846 and died on February 3, 1919. Minor Planet 784 Pickeringia, is named after him.

Who is the father of U.S. rocketry?

Robert Goddard. Robert Goddard invented the liquid propulsion system. Although his first rocket only flew for 2.5 seconds, he believed space flight to the Moon was possible.

Who discovered cepheid variables?

Henrietta Swan Leavitt. Henrietta Swan Leavitt reported the period luminosity relationship of cepheid variable stars in 1912. She was born in 1868 and died in 1921.

Who was the first person to show that some nebulae have pure emission spectra?

William Huggins. He corrected identified the Orion nebula (M42) as being gaseous. He has a minor planet, 2635 Huggins, named after him as well as Lunar and Martain craters. He was born on February 7, 1824 and died on May 12, 1910.

Who found the first optical couterpart to a radio source, known as a Quasar?

Allen Sandage. Sandage found plenty more in his career. He has minor planet 9963 Sandage named after him. He has also helped to revise the Hubble Constant. He was born on June 18, 1926 and is still alive as of today (2002).

What female Astronomer discovered eight comets?

Caroline Herschel. Caroline Herschel was born on March 16, 1750 in Hannover, Hanover (Germany) and she died on January 9, 1848 also in Hannover. She lived for quite a while with her brother William in England. Caroline discovered the eight comets between the years 1786 through 1797. Caroline Lucretia Herschel has a Minor Planet named after her "281 Lucretia".

Who first proposed a Sun-centered Solar System?

Aristarchus. It is interesting to note that the only reason we know this is because Archimedes made mention of it in an article. The only work of Aristarchus to survive is his writings "On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon". Aristarchus was born around 310 BC in Greece and died around 230 BC in Greece.