Astronomer
An astronomer or astrophysicist is a scientist whose area of research is astronomy or astrophysics.
Historians often argue that ancient astronomers were priests and that this duality led to the rise of astrology. It is important to recognize that basically all astronomers before about 1750 were astrologers as well, there having been no distinction between the two.
Unlike most scientists, astronomers cannot directly interact with the celestial bodies, and so instead must resort to detailed observation in order to make discoveries. Generally, astronomers use telescopes or other imaging equipment to make such observations.
Astronomer
Education
Only about sixty colleges and universities give courses in astronomy at the graduate level and only one hundred and seventy five give them on the undergraduate level. These courses are in an astronomy, a physics, or a combined astronomy and physics department. Strong skills in computer science, physics, and math are necessary to do well in the graduate-level courses. There are less than seventy colleges and universities that award degrees, so the competition is very fierce.
Necessary skills
According to http://www.bls.gov, “Mathematical ability, problem-solving and analytical skills, an inquisitive mind, imagination, and initiative are import traits.” Other favorable characteristics are having lots of curiosity, good communication with others, being knowledgeable with computers, being able to take charge, and being able to work as part of a team.
Job Outlook and Employment
Astronomers held about 3,500 jobs in 2004 in the United States. (http://www.bls.gov) About one third worked for private research firms, twenty-nine percent worked for the government (in either the Department of Defense, NASA, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, or the Department of Energy), and the rest taught at colleges and universities. The average job will have more openings than the number of openings in astronomy through 2012. (www.bls.gov) Though funding for astronomers is expected to be increased, the amount is not enough, and competition will be fierce for those competing for the declining number of positions in R&D.
Path of career
Two years into their career, most astronomers are still working to earn their degrees and are usually helping their professors with research. Five years into their career, most successful astronomers have published many articles and have received many grants. Around this time, about thirty percent of astronomers have changed jobs, such as to managers or teachers. The few astronomers who have managed to hold onto their careers for ten years are usually famous professors who have published books or workers with a fabulous reputation for doing a good job. The astronomers may also serve in the government, attend international conferences, or work for NASA.
Majors
Most astronomers will major in applied physics, astronomy, astrophysics, mathematics, physics, or planetary sciences.
Famous Astronomers
| Astronomer | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Hipparchus and Ptolemy | Determined the positions of about 1,000 bright stars, tried to explain the puzzles of astronomy without refuting the commonly believed geocentric model of universe and classified stars by magnitude. |
| Aristarchus | First known person to propound the heliocentric model of universe |
| Nicolaus Copernicus | Reitererated the heliocentric model of universe. |
| Galileo Galilei | Was the first to use the telescope to observe the sky. Condemned to house arrest for his discoveries by Inquisitional edict... which was lifted 359 years later by Pope John Paul II. |
| Johannes Kepler | Suggested the elliptical orbits of planets, and propounded his Laws of Planetary Motion. |
| Isaac Newton | Published Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), containing the "Newton's laws of motion", which are fundamental to mechanical physics, and which explained Kepler's laws of planetary motion. Predicted the orbits of the planets. |
| Henrietta Swan Leavitt | Catalogued Cepheid variable stars in the Magellanic Clouds, in 1912 discovered the relationship between luminosty and periodicity in Cepheids -- leading to Hertzprung's later work. |
| Ejnar Hertzsprung | determined the distance to several Cepheids, when Cepheids were detected in other galaxies such as the Andromeda galaxy, the distance to those galaxies could then be determined. |
| Edwin Hubble | Discovered the expansion of the universe. (Hubble's Law) The Hubble Orbiting Space Telescope was named in his honor. |
See also
There is also a well-known painting by Johannes Vermeer titled The Astronomer, which is often linked to Vermeer's The Geographer. These paintings are both thought to represent the growing influence and rise in prominence of scientific enquiry in Europe at the time of their painting, 1668-69.