Astronomers
This ancient astronomer developed the geocentric model with epicycles that dominated for over 1,000 years.
Who is Ptolemy
Average Earth-Sun distance (≈93 million miles)
What is an Astronomical Unit (AU)?
Earth was stationary at the center of the universe with everything revolving around it.
What is the geocentric model?
This astronomer supposedly got the idea for gravity when he saw an apple fall from a tree.
Who is Isaac Newton?
The best-selling album of all time.
What is Thriller by Michael Jackson?
This Polish astronomer proposed the heliocentric model, placing the Sun at the center.
Who is Copernicus?
Earth’s axial tilt angle that causes our seasons.
What is axial tilt (or obliquity of the ecliptic)?
Planets moved in perfect circles (or combinations of circles called epicycles).
What are circular orbits / epicycles?
This astronomer lost part of his nose in a duel and wore a prosthetic one (gold or silver).
Who is Tycho Brahe?
This gemstone is the hardest natural substance.
What is a diamond?
This Danish nobleman made incredibly precise naked-eye observations of planets, later used by his assistant.
Who is Tycho Brahe
System using right ascension and declination for sky mapping.
What is the celestial coordinate system?
The Sun, Moon, and stars were perfect, unchanging, and made of different “heavenly” matter than Earth.
What is the Aristotelian / perfect celestial spheres view?
This scientist built the first practical reflecting telescope.
Who is Isaac Newton?
This animated movie features a clownfish
What is Finding Nemo?
This mathematician used Tycho's data to discover that planets move in elliptical orbits.
Who is Kepler?
Distance light travels in one year (≈5.88 trillion miles).
What is a light-year?
The Sun revolved around the Earth daily, and the stars were fixed on a giant rotating sphere.
What is the daily motion of the Sun and fixed stars on a celestial sphere?
This physicist’s general relativity theory explained how gravity bends light (confirmed in a solar eclipse).
Who is Albert Einstein?
This popular fruit is technically a berry and grows on trees in bunches.
What is a banana?
This Italian used a telescope to discover Jupiter's moons and sunspots, supporting heliocentrism.
Who is Galileo?
Shorthand like 1.5 × 10⁸ for handling huge astronomy numbers.
What is scientific notation?
The universe was small, eternal, and unchanging — with no concept of other galaxies or an expanding cosmos.
What is the pre-Hubble / static universe view?
This astronomer discovered the universe is expanding by observing distant galaxies, leading to the namesake space telescope.
Who is Edwin Hubble?
The Reformation leader who nailed the 95 Theses to the church door.
Who is Martin Luther?