Sir William Huggins born on February 1824, was an English amateur astronomer. An amateur astronomer is someone who basically enjoys watching the night sky, enjoys backyard stargazing and observing the plethora of celestial bodies found on the vast atmosphere. Though this certain title does not focus on achieving scientific goals, they also make significant contributions in astronomy by tracking transient objects like comets and asteroids. Sir William Huggins contributed richly in the field of astronomical spectroscopy. He married Margaret Lindsay, [...]

Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer, a known member of the Fellow of the Royal Society was born on May 17, 1836. He was an English scientist and astronomer, with works of Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff on spectroscopic work inspired him so much that he decided to venture into spectral studies as well as his traditional astronomy studies.

Archimedes was the greatest scientist, mathematician, and astronomer of Ancient Greece. Among the credits under his name were the identification of the value of the pi and the creation of a system that provided the foundations of the mathematical branch that is now called integral calculus. Archimedes also pioneered the concept called the Archimedes’ Principle. This concept states that the force that buoys a submerged object in water is equal to the weight of the fluid that is displaced by [...]

If there’s one photographer to be acknowledged as one of the best in the realm of astronomy, one of the strongest contenders would be Henry Draper. Like other brilliant astronomers in history, Draper delved into various scientific disciplines at a very early age. He grew up being trained by his scientist-father in taking pictures of microscope slides, an activity that inspired him to pursue medicine as a career. Medicine, however, was not enough to satisfy Draper’s hunger for intellectual and [...]

Born in the Netherlands at the end of the 19th century, Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn is one of the most celebrated figures in the field of astronomy. He is primarily credited for devoting his career to the study of the Milky Way galaxy and paving the way to the discovery of the rotation of galaxies. As a student, Kapteyn was interested in the physical sciences, and this made him earn degrees in mathematics and physics from the University of Utrecht. After [...]

Edward Charles Pickering made significant contributions to the field of astronomy. His legacy is quite valuable that heavenly bodies have been named after him, among them a minor planet called Pickeringia. Pickering was born in Boston and educated at Harvard University’s Lawrence Scientific School. His scientific endeavor included physics, and this made him a brilliant faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for ten years. It also was in this school where he was able to spearhead the construction [...]

Hypatia is unique among many ancient scholars and philosophers, she was a woman. But her gender is not her sole claim to fame. She was a great teacher, scholar, mathematician, philosopher, scientist, and compiler and preserver of important scientific writings. Hypatia was born in 370 AD in the center of learning that was Alexandria, Egypt. Her father was Theon, a famous mathematician-philosopher. Undoubtedly, her learned father trained and taught her, and together, they later collaborated in writing certain commentaries to [...]

Aristotle is often touted as one of the founding fathers of science. Trained by the great philosopher Plato, Aristotle built a school he called the Lyceum at Athens. He delved into almost all dimensions of knowledge, including philosophy, science, art, literature, and of course astronomy. Based on his writings, Aristotle believed that the cosmos is round and finite. He believed that the cosmos is round in as much as it has a center, which is the earth. He also believed [...]

Photo by: Creative Commons Hipparchus, a famous Greek mathematician and astronomer, was born in 190 BC in what is now Turkey. He may not be as famous today as Euclid, Pythagoras and other Greek luminaries, but during his time, he was greatly renowned. His mathematical achievements were considered exceptional by his contemporaries and many future generations. Simply put, he was a legend, and his face adorned coins that were in circulation for many decades in that period.