The 20th Century

Albert Einstein developed the theory of general relativity in the early 20th century, revolutionizing our understanding of gravity and the universe.

Sputnik 1, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, was the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth, marking a significant milestone in space exploration.

Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz discovered the first extrasolar planet, 51 Pegasi b, in 1995, opening up a new era in the study of planetary systems beyond our own.

The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990, revolutionized our understanding of the universe by providing stunning images and data in visible and ultraviolet light.

Stephen Hawking made significant contributions to the study of black holes and cosmology, including the prediction of Hawking radiation.

Viking 1 was the first space probe to successfully land on Mars and return detailed images and data about the Martian surface and atmosphere.

Georges Lemaître first proposed the Big Bang theory in the 1920s, suggesting that the universe began from a single point and has been expanding ever since.

The Chandra X-ray Observatory, launched in 1999, has provided valuable insights into the high-energy phenomena in the universe, such as black holes, neutron stars, and supernova remnants.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell, then a graduate student, discovered the first pulsars in 1967, which are rapidly rotating neutron stars that emit pulses of radio waves.

Venera 7 was the first space probe to successfully land on Venus and transmit images from its surface, providing valuable insights into the harsh conditions on the planet.

Ejnar Hertzsprung developed the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, which is a graphical representation of the relationship between the luminosity and temperature of stars, and made significant contributions to the study of stellar evolution.

Galileo was a space probe that explored Jupiter and its moons, including Europa, and provided valuable data about the Jovian system.

Roger Penrose, along with Stephen Hawking, developed the Penrose-Hawking singularity theorems, which provide insights into the nature of black holes and the behavior of matter and spacetime near singularities.

The Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003, has provided valuable insights into the universe by studying celestial objects in infrared light, revealing hidden details and structures.

Fred Hoyle made significant contributions to the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis, including the discovery of the triple-alpha process, which explains how helium is formed in stars.