In this book the story is told of adventures and discoveries in astronomy from the star-gazing astrologers of Babylon and China to the astrophysicists of today. Until about 1500 A.D. the Greeks were foremost in the field of cosmic speculation. Then came Copernicus, who set out to correct Ptolemy’s erring calendar; next Tycho Brahe, the Danish astronomer, who perfected new instruments and mapped the skies with new refinements; then the
Jesuit astronomer-missionaries to China, and Bruno, the philosopher-astrologer; then Kepler, a neurotic who plotted the orbits of the planets with astonishing accuracy, but still believed in astrology; and then Galileo, whose revolutionary theories involved him in troubles,, with the Church. Later still came Newton and the revolution of modern astrophysics. Download the free PDF e-book here: