Summary

Astronomy can be considered the oldest scientific study. Since the beginning of time, people have looked to the stars to explain the world around them. Encompassing disciplines as diverse as astrophysics, celestial mechanics, extragalactic astrophysics, and planetary astronomy, the study of space and astronomy has come a long way. From the invention of the telescope to the development of the Copernican theory, from Kepler’s laws of planetary motion to space exploration, the 10 people profiled in this volume all made major improvements in the study of space and astronomy. Each chapter contains relevant information on the scientist's childhood, research, discoveries, and lasting contributions to the field and concludes with a chronology and a list of print and Internet references specific to that individual.

Entries include:

• Benjamin Banneker
• Tycho Brahe
• Nicholas Copernicus
• Galileo Galilei
• Robert H. Goddard
• Stephen Hawking
• Sir William Herschel
• Johannes Kepler
• Carl Sagan
• Wernher von Braun.

Specifications

Black-and-white photographs and line illustrations. Appendixes. Glossary. Further reading. Chapter-specific chronologies. Web sites.

About the Author(s)

Scott McCutcheon earned a B.S. in physics from Boise State University and completed graduate work in astrophysics and planetary astronomy at the University of Nebraska. He is currently an information technology manager for the state of Alaska at Juneau.

Bobbi McCutcheon is a published fiction and nonfiction author and has worked as a writer, designer, and freelance graphic artist. The McCutcheons authored The Facts On File Marine Science Handbook.