ASP History of Astronomy

Question 1

Who published the heliocentric model of the solar system in his work 'De revolutionibus orbium coelestium' in 1543?

Accepted Answer

Nicolaus Copernicus

Answer

Claudius Ptolemy

Answer

Galileo Galilei

Answer

Johannes Kepler

Question 2

Which ancient Greek astronomer developed the geocentric model with epicycles that dominated Western astronomy for over 1,400 years?

Accepted Answer

Claudius Ptolemy

Answer

Aristotle

Answer

Hipparchus

Answer

Eratosthenes

Question 3

Tycho Brahe's meticulous naked-eye observations of planetary positions were inherited and used by which astronomer to derive the three laws of planetary motion?

Accepted Answer

Johannes Kepler

Answer

Galileo Galilei

Answer

Isaac Newton

Answer

Christiaan Huygens

Question 4

Which astronomer first used a telescope for systematic astronomical observations in 1609, discovering mountains on the Moon and moons orbiting Jupiter?

Accepted Answer

Galileo Galilei

Answer

Hans Lippershey

Answer

Johannes Kepler

Answer

Tycho Brahe

Question 5

Who first measured the speed of light in 1676 using timing discrepancies in the eclipses of Jupiter's moon Io?

Accepted Answer

Ole Rømer

Answer

James Bradley

Answer

Giovanni Cassini

Answer

Christiaan Huygens

Question 6

Isaac Newton's 'Principia Mathematica,' published in 1687, introduced which concept that unified terrestrial and celestial mechanics?

Accepted Answer

Universal gravitation

Answer

The wave theory of light

Answer

The heliocentric model

Answer

The laws of thermodynamics

Question 7

Which ancient Greek scholar first estimated Earth's circumference with remarkable accuracy around 240 BCE by comparing shadow angles in Syene and Alexandria?

Accepted Answer

Eratosthenes

Answer

Hipparchus

Answer

Aristarchus

Answer

Thales