Big History Timeline

Eratosthenes (276 BC- 194 BC)

240 BCE

He calculates the Earth's circumference.

Ptolemy (85 CE- 165 CE)

140

Ptolemy proposed his refined geocentric model.

Copernicus (1473-1543)

1532

Copernicus finished the first manuscript of his book in which he established that the planets orbited the sun.

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)

1583

Published the Tychonic system, scheme for the structure of the solar system. Essentially a diagram where it shows that the Sun was the center.

Galileo (1564-1642)

1609

Improved the telescope.

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

1609

Kepler published Astronomia Nova, which talked about his discoveries, which are now called Kepler's two laws of planetary motion.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

1620

Discovered the Baconian method, also known as the scientific method.

Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

1630

Discovered analytic geometry. Descartes also introduced the Cartesian Doubt, along with the idea of skepticism.

Newton (1643-1727)

1687

Published the theory of gravity.

John Locke (1632-1704)

1689

Wrote his Second Treatise of Government at the time of England's Glorious Revolution, which overthrew the rule of James II.

Dmitri Mendeleev (1834-1907)

1869

Published the Periodic Table.

Marie Curie (1867-1934)

1898

The Curies discover the existence of the elements radium and polonium.

Leavitt (1868-1921)

1907

Discovered about 2,400 variable stars.

Alfred Wegener (1880-1930)

1912

Proposed his theory of continental drift.

Edwin Hubble (1889-1953)

1920

Discovered that countless galaxies exist beyond our galaxy.

Harry Hess (1906-1969)

1960

Proposed the seafloor spreading hypothesis.