Astronomy Cast Ep. 183 & 184: History of Astronomy Parts 1 & 2

By Nancy Atkinson - May 12, 2010 06:10 PM UTC | Site News

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="Sumerian Cuneiform Tablet"]

[/caption] We know you love a good series. This time we're going to walk you through the history of astronomy, starting with the ancient astronomers and leading right up to the most recent discoveries. Today we're going to start at the beginning, and in Part 1 we'll talk about the astronomers who first tried to understand the true nature of the Earth, the planets and our place in the cosmos. In part 2 we'll talk about the Greeks, who worked out the size and shape of the Earth, the distance to the Moon and Sun, and even had some accurate ideas about our place in the Universe.

Click here to download Episode 183: Part 1, Ancient Astronomy

Episode 183 Show notes and transcript

Click here to download Episode 184: Part 2, The Greeks

Episode 184 show notes and transcript

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com