The History of Cosmic Ray Studies

c. 1600

Galileo determined the approximate density of low-level air.

1600

William Gilbert publishes "De Magnete", stating that the Earth is magnetic

1600

Giordano Bruno, after eight years of imprisonment, was charged with blasphemy, immoral conduct, and heresy for challenging the official church doctrine on the origin and structure of the universe and was burned at the stake in Campo dei Fiori, Italy.

1606

Johannes Kepler published De Stella Nova ("Concerning the New Star") on the new "star" that had appeared in 1604, a supernova in Ophiuchus.

1611

Galileo Galilei, Thomas Harriot, Christoph Scheiner, and father-and-son David and Johannes Fabricius observed sunspots. Image of the Sun with sunspots is courtesy of NASA.

1632

Galileo Galilei stated his support for Copernicus' heliocentric theory. He was later brought before the Inquisition, and officially withdrew his heliocentric model of the universe.

1676

Olaus Roemer measured the speed of light by observing Jupiter's moons. Image of Jupiter is courtesy of NASA.

1687

Sir Isaac Newton published his revolutionary Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica establishing the theory of universal gravitation, considered to be a turning point in the history of science.

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