Astronomers, Astrophysicists, Astronauts, “T...-Z...-”
for the social studies and science classrooms, theme decor.

Taqi al-Din
Clyde Tombaugh
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

James A. Van Allen
Urbain le Verrier
Wernher von Braun

Taqi al-Din
(c.1526 - 1585)

Taqi al-Din (Takiyuddin) and other astronomers at the Galata observatory founded in 1557 by Sultan Suleyman.

• Middle East posters

Clyde Tombaugh
b. 2-4-1906; Streator, Illinois (raised in Burdett, KS)
d. 1-17-1997; Las Cruces, NM

Clyde Tombaugh is best known for discovering the dwarf planet Pluto in 1930, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper Belt. At the time Tombaugh was working at the Lowell Observatory.

Tombaugh also discovered many asteroids and called for serious scientific research of unidentified flying objects.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
b. 9-17-1857; Russian Empire
d. 9-19-1935; Kaluga, USSR

Because of a childhood illness Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, Russian scientist and pioneer of space travel, was nearly deaf. His thesis,"The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices", was published in 1903; he also wrote extensively on space and related subjects, including science fiction novels, earning a living as a math teacher.

FYI ~ The television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation honored him by naming a fictional space ship the K. E. Tsiolkovsky.

James Van Allen
b. 9-7-1914; Mt Pleasant, IA
d. 8-9-2006; Iowa City

The torus of energetic charged particles (plasma) held in place by Earth's magnetic field were confirmed by the Explorer missions directed by Van Allen, a space scientist at the University of Iowa.

• Van Allen Radiation Belt

Urbain le Verrier
b. 3-11-1811; Saint-Lô, France
d. 9-23-1877; Paris

Urbain le Verrier, whose mathematical work was in celestial mechanics, is best known for his participation in the discovery of Neptune and as head of the Paris Observatory. Celestial mechanics deals with the motion and gravitational effects of celestial objects.

Wernher von Braun
b. 3-23-1912; Wirsitz, German Empire
d. 6-16-1977; Alexandria, VA

Wernher von Braun, one of the most notable rocket scientist of the 20th century, developed the V-2 rocket for the German military during World War II.

He was brought to the United States after the war to work on the intercontinental ballistic missile program (ICBM), then joined NASA as the director the the Marshall Space Flight Center developing the Saturn V launch vehicle.

Wernher von Braun quote ~
• “The best computer is a man, and it’s the only one that can be mass-produced by unskilled labor.”

Edward White II
b. 11-14-1930; San Antonio, TX
d. 1-27-1967; Cape Kennedy, FL

Ed White, a US Air Force pilot, was selected in the Gemini astronaut program. He was the first Americant to walk in space, on June 3, 1965. White died with fellow astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission.

Alfred Worden
b. 2-7-1932; Jackson, Michigan

Al Worden was the command module pilot of the Apollo 15 Moon mission in 1971.

In addition to being one of only 24 people who have flown to the Moon, he is also deemed by the Guinnes Book of World Records as the "Most isolated human being" during his time alone in the command module “Endeavour”.

Boris Yegorov
b. 11-26-1937; Moscow, USSR
d. 9-12-1994; heart attack

Soviet cosmonaut Boris Yegorov was the first physician in space on Voskhod I in October of 1964. Yegorov, whose parents were physicians, earned a doctorate in medicine, specializing in disorders of the sense of balance.

John W. Young
b. 9-24-1930; San Francisco, CA (raised in FL)

John Young was the ninth person to walk on the Moon (Apollo 16, 1972) and only one of three people to twice journey to the Moon (Lovell & Cernan). Young also had the longest astronaut career, 42 years with NASA, and the only person to have piloted four different classes of spacecraft: Gemini, the Apollo Command/Service Module, the Apollo Lunar Module, and the Space Shuttle.

• Forever Young