circa 384-322 B.C.
Aristotle developes the geocentric theory.
circa 408-355 B.C.
Eudoxus of Cnidus became the first mathematician to give a theoretical explanation of celestial movement. He supported Aristotle's heliocentric views.
129 B.C.
Hipparchus records solar eclipse. He later used the information he gained from this experience to determine the distance between the Earth and moon.
773
Numerical tables from India introduced to western culture. They were used for calendar and astrological purposes and were important because they introduced the Indian system of numerals (with place-value and zero for open place). These numerals were later called arabic numerals.
1543
Copernicus developes the heliocentric theory.
1610
Galileo and Johann Goldsmid discover sunspots.
1604
Zacharias Janssen, optician, constructed more advanced telescope.
1609
Johannes Kepler - Laws 1 & 2
1610
Galileo publishes Sidereus Nuncius (Messenger of the Stars), his first published work supporting the Copernicus theory.
1618
Johannes Kepler - Law 3
1676
Olaf Romer calculates speed of light.
1687
Issac Newton - Principia
1690
Christian Huygenus discovers polarized light
1752
Benjamin Franklin does lightning experiments.
1782
William Herschel publishes his first star catalog and his discoveries on the motion of the Sun.
1795
William Herschel publishes his views on the nature of the Sun.
1800
William Herschel discovers infrared rays in the solar spectrum.
1814
Joseph Fraunhofer develops Fraunhofer lines.
1816
Photography invented.
1843
Schwabe discovers the frequency of appearance of sunspots and how they appear in cycles.
1845
First photograph of the Sun taken.
1852
Rudolph Wolf discovers that the sunspot cycle is 11 years long.
1860
Bunsen and Kirchhoff discover spectral analysis.
1864
James Maxwell develops Maxwell's equations.
1868
Helium is discovered in the spectrum of the solar chromosphere.
1870
Lane publishes his theory on the Sun's temperature.
1897
Joseph Thomson discovers electrons.
1898
Swedish scientist Svante Ahrrenius warns that Industrial Revolution's carbon dioxide emissions, could accumulate in atmosphere and lead to global warming.
1905
Einstein published his paper "On the electrodynamics of moving bodies", The Theory of Special Relativity.
1908
Hale discovers the magnetic fields of sunspots.
1917
Einstein develops a static universe model.
1918
Shapley discovers the galactic hallow.
1926
Eddington publishes "The Internal Constitution of the Stars"
1947
The transistor is invented.
1959
Sputnik launched.
1961
New observatory atop Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano detects rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
1969
Apollo moon landing.
1972
Skylab launched into orbit.
1980s
Computer models of world climate project temperature rises.
1985
Skylab II launched into orbit.
U.N. establishes authoritative network of climate scientists, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
1990
IPCC certifies scientific basis for "greenhouse effect" and global warming predictions.
1991
Yohkoh launched into orbit.
1992
Climate change treaty signed, setting voluntary goals for industrial nations to lower greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2000.
©Copyright 1998 Elizabeth Beckett, Holly Bernitt, and Vishwa Chandra.