Friday Movie Night - Week 20 - Used as Reading Session - Early Astronomers

We shall introduce the astronomers who played major roles in the early advancement of astronomy during this period through children's books. The exception to this is Benjamin Banneker, an American, and we want to look into his life as an example of the important role that citizen astronomers played (and still play) in advancing the field of astronomy. Citizen astronomers do not have to make astounding discoveries in the field of astronomy to contribute to its advancement.

These books are fast reading, so we should be able to get through the entire list.

Each book will be read in order.

"Nicolaus Copernicus" by Sarah Ridley

Super Scientists series

Mathematician

1473 - 1543 - Poland

"Johannes Kepler" by Daniel E. Harmon

Leaders of the Scientific Revolution series

Astronomer

1571 - 1630 - Germany

"Galileo’s Treasure Box" by Catherine Brighton with introduction by Dava Sobel (author of "Galileo's Daughter")

Astronomer

1564 - 1642 - Italy

"Newton’s Rainbow: The Revolutionary Discoveries of a Young Scientist" by Kathryn Lasky

Mathematician

1643 - 1727 - United Kingdom

"Isaac Newton" by Kathleen Krull

Giants of Science series

"What Are You Figuring Now? A Story About Benjamin Banneker" by Jeri Ferris

A Creative Minds Biography

Naturalist

1731 - 1806 - America

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"Nicolaus Copernicus" - 23 pages

Nicolaus Copernicus used his observations of the night sky and his maths skills to come up with a simple, beautiful answer to how the Universe worked. The went against the accepted view of the Universe. His book on the subject influenced other great scientists for hundreds of years.

"Johannes Kepler" - 97 pages

Presents the life of the German scientist, describing his early years, stressful private life, and work to advance the Copernican discoveries about astronomy, and placing him in context within the history of astronomy.

"Galileo's Treasure Box" - 32 pages

Virginia's famous father, Galileo, sleeps during the day and studies the sky at night. While he is sleeping, Virginia discovers a box on his desk with five objects inside - four pieces of glass and a feather - that reveal the world to her in new and wonderful ways.

"Newton's Rainbow" - 44 pages

Famed for his supposed encounter with a falling apple that inspired his theory of gravity, Isaac Newton (1642–1727) grew from a quiet and curious boy into one of the most influential scientists of all time. Newton's Rainbow tells the story of young Isaac―always reading, questioning, observing, and inventing―and how he eventually made his way to Cambridge University, where he studied the work of earlier scientists and began building on their accomplishments. This colorful picture book biography celebrates Newton's discoveries that illuminated the mysteries of gravity, motion, and even rainbows, discoveries that gave mankind a new understanding of the natural world, discoveries that changed science forever.

"Isaac Newton" - 115 pages

Isaac Newton was a man with an imagination so large that just "by thinking on it" he invented a new branch of math - calculus - and figured out the scientific explanation of gravity. Yet Newton was so small-minded that he tried to destroy other scientists who dared question his findings. World famous for his scientific discoveries, he nonetheless spent far more time trying to predict the future from passages in the Bible and unlock the secret of turning base metals into gold in an alchemy lab. Here is a compelling portrait of Newton, contradictions and all, that places him against the backdrop of seventeenth century England, a time of the plague, the Great Fire of London, and two revolutions.

"What Are You Figuring Now?" - 64 pages

In 1791 plans for the new capital city, Washington, D.C., were in the works, but someone was needed to help with the surveying. Thomas Jefferson recommended Benjamin Banneker for the job. Banneker was a free black man who lived at a time when black Americans had few, if any, rights. Yet he was an accomplished farmer, mathematician, astronomer, and surveyor. What Are You Figuring Now? is the story of a man who was never afraid to try something new, no matter how difficult.