History

Caroline was born in Hanover, Germany. Her father had been an army musician, but had to retire due to ill health before Caroline was born. Caroline herself had typhus when she was 10 years old. The illness stunted her growth at 4 foot 3 inches and left her with vision loss in one eye.

Caroline's mother thought she should find work as a house servant when she was older. She learned to read and write, but she did not attend school. However, her father sometimes tutored her or included her in the lessons he gave to her brothers.

Edmond was born in London, UK. 

When he was young, he was very interested in maths and astronomy. His wealthy family paid for his education and bought him a 24-foot-long telescope. 

Aged 17, he went to Oxford University to study science.

Cecilia was born in Wendover, England. Her mother was interested in lots of different topics like nature, music and theatre. Cecilia spent lots of time reading in her home's library.

At the age of 19, she won a scholarship to Cambridge University to study science. During that time, Cecilia went to a talk given by Arthur Eddington. Arthur talked about his recent trip to Africa to observe the stars near a solar eclipse. This sparked Cecilia's interest in astronomy.

There is very little known about Gan De’s life and work, but we do know he was one of the first Chinese astronomers.

Gan De wrote at least 2 books: ‘Treatise on Jupiter’ and ‘Astrological Predictions’. His books have since been lost and are no longer available. We know about his work because later astronomers have made reference to it.

Galileo was born in Pisa, in the Duchy of Florence (now a part of Italy). 

He went to university in Pisa to study medicine. However, after a short while he chose to focus on philosophy and maths instead.

Arthur was born in Cumbria, UK before moving to Weston-super-Mare as a child. He was not from a wealthy family. But he did so well at school that he got a scholarship to go to Owen's College, Manchester. 

He graduated with a physics degree in 1902. Arthur was then offered a position at Trinity College, Cambridge where he completed his master’s degree. He worked at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, before returning to Cambridge five years later.

Nicolaus was born in Thorn, Poland. His father, who sold copper, died when Nicolaus was 10. After his father's death, Nicolaus’ uncle looked after him and made sure he had a good education. 

When he was 23, Nicolaus went to Italy to study law. In Italy, he stayed with a maths professor and became interested in astronomy.

Elizabeth was born in Cirencester, UK, in 1830. 

Her father was the one to spark her interest in science. This was rare as very few women were helped to study or work in science at the time.

Sophia was born in Knudsturp, Denmark, in 1556. She was the youngest of 10 children. Her oldest brother was the famous astronomer, Tycho Brahe. 

Tycho and Sophia were part of a noble Danish family. Their family did not approve of Tycho and Sophia's interest in science. That was not the sort of thing noble people did! Tycho's parents thought he should study law or politics. However, Tycho decided to study astronomy instead. 

Annie was born in Strabane, Northern Ireland. She was excellent at maths from a young age. 

Annie went on to study at the University of Cambridge on a scholarship, and passed her exams with honours. Annie was the top student of her year, but she was not given a degree. This is because in 1889 Cambridge would only award degrees to men!