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Jocelyn Bell was born in 1943 in Northern Ireland. Her father was an architect who loved to read. Jocelyn would often borrow her father's books. Through her reading, Jocelyn became interested in astronomy. Jocelyn Bell went to a boarding school in England from 1956 until 1961.

StarChild Question of the Month for November 2001 Question: How do we measure the distances to things in space? ...

After Galileo began publishing papers about his astronomy discoveries and his belief in a heliocentric, or Sun-centered, Universe, he was called to Rome to answer charges brought against him by the Inquisition (the legal body of the Catholic Church). Early in 1616, Galileo was accused of being a heretic, a person who opposed Church teachings.

StarChild Question of the Month for July 2001 Question: What is the shape of the universe? Answer: One of the most profound insights of General Relativity was the conclusion that mass caused space to curve, and objects travelling in that curved space have their paths deflected, exactly as if a force had acted on them.

Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Thorn, Poland on February 19, 1473. He was the son of a wealthy merchant. After his father's death, he was raised by his mother's brother, a bishop in the Catholic Church. Copernicus studied mathematics and astronomy at the University of Krakow.

Albert Einstein was born in 1879 in Ulm, Germany. He was the first child born to Hermann and Pauline Einstein.

In 1929, Edwin Hubble announced that almost all galaxies appeared to be moving away from us. In fact, he found that the universe was expanding - with all of the galaxies moving away from each other.

Its unusual name comes from radio astronomy; Centaurus A was the first source of radio waves found in the constellation Centaurus. This visible light picture shows a dark band running around the perimeter of Cen A. Astronomers believe this is a belt of dust around the galaxy which blocks light from the portions of Cen A behind it.

In addition to mathematics, physics and astronomy, Newton also had an interest in alchemy, mysticism and theology. Isaac Newton was born in 1643 in Woolsthorpe, England. His father was a wealthy, uneducated farmer who died three months before Newton was born.