Since the sixth century B.C. greeks studied the movement of the stars, as heaven and Earth, and their discoveries and history still lingers today,within the names of stars and constellations, of which the most famous are: Orion (named after the great hunter of Greek mythology), Canis Major (with the brightest star, Sirius), Canis Minor, Lepus and Taurus, Perseus, Andromeda and Cassiopeia.
The Greeks were the first who tried to explain in a logical and systematic manner, how the universe works, using models and observations. Since the seventh century B.C. greeks believed that the universe is a rational place governed by natural laws and that the universe’s laws may be learned and understanded by man. In this area, science was not able to give reliable answers, absolute, yet.
Later, the mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras of Samos (582-507 BC) appoints the sky – “space” and declares that the Earth is spherical. Philosopher Parmenides of Elea (515-440 BC) claims the Earth’s sphericity theory is true, and asserts that “the moon moving around Earth illuminates the night with a borrowed light.” Pythagoras‘s name is remembered in the history of astronomy for the first mathematician who was helped by his theorems, began development of astronomy as a science. Pythagorean theorem has been extremely useful in calculating astronomical distances.
But first important cosmological theory belongs to the Greek scientist and philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC), disciple of Plato, who believed that Earth was the center of the universe.
