Today is the anniversary of the birth, at Woolsthorpe, near Grantham, Lincolnshire on 25 Dec 1642, of the English physicist, mathematician and astronomer Sir Isaac Newton . Although his achievements were many, he is probably best remembered for his ‘Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica’ (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy). Often referred to as ‘The Principia’ and widely considered as being one of the most important works in the history of science, its contents i ncluded details of Newton's laws of motion (which went on to form the basis of classical mechanics) together with his famous law of universal gravitation. The 79 km diameter lunar crater Newton, located in the south polar region close to the southern limb of the Moon, and seen here with the satellite crater Newton D overlying its north-northeastern rim, is named in his honour. Credit: societyforthehistoryofastronomy.com
Name: Maria Mitchell Birthplace: Nantucket, Massachusetts Birthdate: 1 Aug 1818 Today is the anniversary of the American astronomer Maria Mitchell. The first woman to work as a professional astronomer in the USA, she became interested in the night sky at an early age after having been taught astronomy by her father. Maria gained fame when her prolonged search for a comet came to fruition when she observed a 6th magnitude comet on the evening of 1 Oct 1847 and was the first to report it. Although several other observers spotted the comet over the next few days, Maria Mitchell was credited with the original discovery. Comet 1847 VI (modern designation C/1847 T1) became known as ‘ Miss Mitchell’s Comet ’ and the discovery resulted in her being awarded a medal by King Frederick VI of Denmark who some years previously had established gold medal prizes to be awarded to the first discoverers of ‘telescopic comets’ (comets which were too faint to be seen with the nake...
Today is the anniversary of the birth, at Weil der Stadt in south-west Germany on 27 Dec 1571, of the astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler. He is probably best remembered today for his three fundamental laws of planetary motion, which can be said to have established our modern view of the Solar System and paved the way for Isaac Newton. The 32 km diameter lunar crater Kepler, located between Oceanus Procellarum to the west and Mare Insularum to the east, is named in his honour. Credit: societyforthehistoryofastronomy.com
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