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Final

Science: a way of asking and answering questions about the natural and physical universe we live in – includes physics, chemistry, earth sciences, and astronomy

Types of Scientific Participation
- basic research: curious interest in something new
- applied research: has a purpose/direction/goal (mostly supported by an industry)
- technology: used everyday, what we get from research

The First Scientists
- first observations were made about surroundings (astronomy)
- studied the sun, moon, etc. and collected data
- created a seasonal calendar based on earth’s rotational axis (earth is titled 23 degrees)
- 28 days = lunar month (1 week is ¼ of the cycle)

Early Astronomers
1. Claudius Ptolemy (Greek)
a. Geocentric model: earth is the center of the universe and everything revolves around it
b. Circular orbits
2. Nicholaus Copernicus (Polish)
a. Heliocentric model: earth and planets revolve around the sun (considered heresy)
b. Epicircles (Mars)
3. Tyco Brahe
a. Collected 25 years of data accurate to 2 minutes of arc without a telescope
b. Passed information he collected on to Kepler
4. Johannes Kepler (German)
a. Spent eight years calculating the orbit of Mars
b. Laws of Planetary Motion
i. Sun is located at one of the foci (when planet is closer to sun, orbit is faster)
ii. Law of equal areas: at any given time, planets sweep out equal areas for equal amounts of time
iii. (Period)^2 is proportional to (Radius in A.U.)^2 – number of years it takes to make one orbit is proportional to the average distance from Earth to the sun
5. Galileo Galilei (Italian)
a. First to gather data using a telescope, saw craters on the moon, the four moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, and the rings of Saturn
b. Supported the Heliocentric theory – considered heresy and put on house arrest til death
6. Isaac Newton (English)
a. Greatest scientific mind
b. Founded the science of physics, as well as algebra/calculus
c. Conducted experiments with prism –...