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Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. [1] [2] As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the heavenly bodies, rather than their positions or motions in space—what they are, rather than where they are", [3] which is studied ...
The history of astronomy focuses on the contributions civilizations have made to further their understanding of the universe beyond earth's atmosphere. [1] Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences , achieving a high level of success in the second half of the first millennium.
The following is a list of astronomers, astrophysicists and other notable people who have made contributions to the field of astronomy.They may have won major prizes or awards, developed or invented widely used techniques or technologies within astronomy, or are directors of major observatories or heads of space-based telescope projects.
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that employs the principles of physics and chemistry "to ascertain the nature of the astronomical objects, rather than their positions or motions in space". [73] [74] Among the objects studied are the Sun, other stars, galaxies, extrasolar planets, the interstellar medium and the cosmic microwave background.
The subdisciplines of theoretical astrophysics are: Compact objects – this subdiscipline studies very dense matter in white dwarfs and neutron stars and their effects on environments including accretion. Physical cosmology – origin and evolution of the universe as a whole. The study of cosmology is theoretical astrophysics at its largest scale.
The following is a list of people who are considered a "father" or "mother" (or "founding father" or "founding mother") of a scientific field.Such people are generally regarded to have made the first significant contributions to and/or delineation of that field; they may also be seen as "a" rather than "the" father or mother of the field.
In 1951, in a paper in Astrophysics: A Topical Symposium, Kuiper speculated that a large disc of small astronomical bodies formed early in the Solar System's evolution. He suggested that the disc consisted of "remnants of original clusterings which have lost many members that became stray asteroids, much as has occurred with open galactic ...
Physics was transformed by the discoveries of quantum mechanics, relativity, and atomic theory at the beginning of the 20th century. Physics today may be divided loosely into classical physics and modern physics. Detailed articles on specific topics are available through the Outline of the history of physics.