astronomy, uranology - the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole

astrophysicist - an astronomer who studies the physical properties of celestial bodies

cosmologist - an astronomer who studies the evolution and space-time relations of the universe

physicist - a scientist trained in physics

Al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham, al-Haytham, Alhazen, Ibn al-Haytham - an Egyptian polymath (born in Iraq) whose research in geometry and optics was influential into the 17th century; established experiments as the norm of proof in physics (died in 1040)

Anaximander - a presocratic Greek philosopher and student of Thales who believed the universal substance to be infinity rather than something resembling ordinary objects (611-547 BC)

Aristarchus of Samos - an ancient Greek astronomer who was one of the first to propose a heliocentric theory of the universe (circa 270 BC)

Bessel, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel - German mathematician and astronomer who made accurate measurements of stellar distances and who predicted the existence on an 8th planet (1784-1846)

Bowditch, Nathaniel Bowditch - United States mathematician and astronomer noted for his works on navigation (1773-1838)

Anders Celsius, Celsius - Swedish astronomer who devised the centigrade thermometer (1701-1744)

Copernicus, Mikolaj Kopernik, Nicolaus Copernicus - Polish astronomer who produced a workable model of the solar system with the sun in the center (1473-1543)

Eddington, Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington - English astronomer remembered for his popular elucidation of relativity theory (1882-1944)

Eratosthenes - Greek mathematician and astronomer who estimated the circumference of the earth and the distances to the moon and sun (276-194 BC)

Galileo, Galileo Galilei - Italian astronomer and mathematician who was the first to use a telescope to study the stars; demonstrated that different weights descend at the same rate; perfected the refracting telescope that enabled him to make many discoveries (1564-1642)

George Ellery Hale, Hale - United States astronomer who discovered that sunspots are associated with strong magnetic fields (1868-1938)

Asaph Hall, Hall - United States astronomer who discovered Phobos and Deimos (the two satellites of Mars) (1829-1907)

Edmond Halley, Edmund Halley, Halley - English astronomer who used Newton's laws of motion to predict the period of a comet (1656-1742)

Sir Frederick William Herschel, Sir William Herschel, William Herschel, Herschel - English astronomer (born in Germany) who discovered infrared light and who catalogued the stars and discovered the planet Uranus (1738-1822)

Herschel, John Herschel, Sir John Frederick William Herschel, Sir John Herschel - English astronomer (son of William Herschel) who extended the catalogue of stars to the southern hemisphere and did pioneering work in photography (1792-1871)

Hipparchus - Greek astronomer and mathematician who discovered the precession of the equinoxes and made the first known star chart and is said to have invented trigonometry (second century BC)

Huggins, Sir William Huggins - English astronomer who pioneered spectroscopic analysis in astronomy and who discovered the red shift (1824-1910)

Hypatia - Greek philosopher and astronomer; she invented the astrolabe (370-415)

Johan Kepler, Johannes Kepler, Kepler - German astronomer who first stated laws of planetary motion (1571-1630)

Samuel Pierpoint Langley, Langley - United States astronomer and aviation pioneer who invented the bolometer and contributed to the design of early aircraft (1834-1906)

Laplace, Marquis de Laplace, Pierre Simon de Laplace - French mathematician and astronomer who formulated the nebular hypothesis concerning the origins of the solar system and who developed the theory of probability (1749-1827)

Lovell, Sir Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell, Sir Bernard Lovell - English astronomer who pioneered radio astronomy (born in 1913)

Percival Lowell, Lowell - United States astronomer whose studies of Mars led him to conclude that Mars was inhabited (1855-1916)

Maria Mitchell, Mitchell - United States astronomer who studied sunspots and nebulae (1818-1889)