Aristarchus of Samothrace

Aristarchus of Samothrace was an ancient Greek astronomer who, around the 270 BCE, proposed a revolutionary idea: that the Earth and other planets orbit the Sun, not the Earth being the universe's center. His model challenged the prevailing geocentric view and was one of the earliest recorded heliocentric theories. Though his ideas weren’t widely accepted at the time, Aristarchus’s work laid important groundwork for future astronomy, influencing thinkers like Copernicus centuries later. He also studied the sizes and distances of the Sun and Moon, making him a pioneering figure in scientific thought.