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coking Up During the past 500 years , scientists have tried to explain the mysteries of the skies . The work of these people has changed our ideas about the universe . Read the following encyclopedia entries about famous scientists and find out about their contributions to our knowledge of space . Science & Scientists Astronomy Nicolaus Copernicus ( 1473-1543 ) Nicolaus Copernicus was a famous Polish astronomer who contributed to our understanding of the solar system . Before Copernicus , most people believed that the Earth was the center of the universe . Copernicus claimed that the Sun was the center of the universe and that the planets , including Earth , move around it . For many years , astronomers and scientists argued about his theory , until it was accepted as fact in the 17 "' century . Galileo Galilei ( 1564- 1642 ) Galileo Galilei , an Italian physicist and the father of modern astronomy , made important contributions to both astronomy and physics . He used the telescope to carefully observe and study the nighttime sky . He kept a journal of his observations . For example , he observed that the planet Jupiter had four moons orbiting it ( today we know that there are more than four moons ) . The American spacecraft that orbited Jupiter between 1995 and 2003 was named after Galileo . Sir Isaac Newton ( 1643-1727 ) Sir Isaac Newton was a British astronomer , physicist and mathematician . He is most famous for his laws of gravity and motion * . Newton used these laws to explain the movement of objects on Earth and in space . He also discovered that sunlight is made up of different colors ( the spectrum ) . Stephen Hawking ( 1942- ) Stephen Hawking , a British physicist , is thought to be the greatest cosmologist of our time . He is an expert on the origins of the universe and on black holes . His bestselling book , A Brief History of Time : From the Big Bang to Black Holes , explains space to people who are not scientists . He tries to answer questions such as : How did the universe begin ? Why is the universe the way it is ? How will the universe end ? Hawking suffers from a serious muscle disease and must use a motorized wheelchair and a computer with a voice synthesizer to communicate . * motion — movement .

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