Talk:List of astronomers

Women astronomers
This page is lacking many women astronomers. If anyone wants to start work on them, lists a good number, along with book and web resources with more information on them. -- zandperl 03:00, 28 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Be bold in updating pages. RickK 03:03, 28 Oct 2003 (UTC)

I'm doing what I can. :) Just figuring out how people are listed (last name only? with or without middle name?) is confusing! I pointed it out in case anyone else's interested.  -- zandperl 04:00, 28 Oct 2003 (UTC)


 * A number of woman astronomers are now in the list. AstroU (talk) 00:01, 24 April 2014 (UTC)

I think this page would be easier to read if we did last names ALL CAPS. I don't think this is the convention with other name lists though, so I'd like to know if others agree/disagree before I do it. --zandperl 17:22, 23 Nov 2003 (UTC)


 * Last names in all caps is a convention in French and perhaps some other languages, but not in English. So this should not be done.

As zandperl pointed out the lack of women, I have added stubs for two Margaret Burbidge and Heather Couper, someone more skilled please improve them. -Wikibob 00:28, 2004 Mar 9 (UTC)


 * Some have been added: Maria Mitchell, Liisi Oterma, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Eleanor Helin, Janet Mattei. Probably Jane Luu will be added soon.

just some suggestions: good idea to merge astronomers and astrophysicists lists Women astronomers: look for Elizabeth Roemer (Flagstaff??) (check Christian Name)


 * added to the list a while ago, no page yet.

missing in the list Charles Fehrenbach, famous french astronomer (on 29th of April 2004 will be his 90th birthday)
 * 1) information by Hans-Emil Schuster


 * added a while ago

Not Merged
Should this list and list of astrophysicists be merged? If not, there are names here that should be moved to the other list. --zandperl 14:12, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * They should be merged, because astronomers are often also astrophysicists. Now as some are theorists only and some are obversors only, I think the name should be List of astronomers and astrophysicists.Wikibob 00:28, 2004 Mar 9 (UTC)

It is ten years later and Astronomers and Astrophysicists are still valuable separate WP articles, and rightly so. -- AstroU (talk) 18:56, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

Objectivity, completeness, and comprehensiveness.
This list is rather objective, incomplete and in-comprehensive as there are many many astronomers/astrophysicists not listed and no real criteria either. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lithium6 (talk • contribs)
 * I think you mean "subjective" or "unobjective". :) And you're probably right. It could do with some cleaning up.  By the way, please sign you comments. --  Etacar11   12:47, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

As a starting point, here's the current criteria that is used by WP:ASTRO to rate an astronomer article as at least mid:
 * Generally people who made important contributions to their fields who are recognized by their peers. All astronomers who won major prizes or awards besides the Nobel Prize . All astronomers who developed or invented widely used techniques or technologies within astronomy. Directors of major observatories or heads of space-based telescope projects.

With a little tweaking, that may serve.&mdash;RJH (talk) 18:34, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Abdul Ahad
In my opinion, this entry has to go, since: So this is not a famous astronomer, the subject of this list. --Crowsnest (talk) 01:39, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
 * He is not notable enough to justify his own article: see Articles for deletion/Abdul Ahad. He is very far from satisfying the notability criteria for academics.
 * He has not even published (a substantial amount of) peer-reviewed scientific articles.
 * ✅ — You do not have to look because a 'Find' within this article will not find Abdul Ahad. — FYI, Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 09:51, 28 February 2014 (UTC) As requested, Abdul was removed in 2009. Has he since become notable and famous?  Just asking.

Non-astronomers on the list
Nether Grote Reber or Karl Guthe Jansky are "astronomers". The former is an amateur astronomer and the latter is a radio engineer. Looks like they should be deleted, or the list-def can be re-written per: "The following list of astronomers, astrophysicists and other notable people that have made important contributions to the field of astronomy,"

Also "famous astronomers" is redundant, if you are in Wikipedia your "famous" (notable). Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 00:54, 23 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Did some cleanup. rm'ed redundant astronomical instrument makers, they have their own list. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 16:23, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Being listed in Wikipedia does not guarantee that you are a notable contributor to astronomy. IMO, Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 09:47, 28 February 2014 (UTC)
 * There are about one thousand on the list and so I browsed around in the list on about a dozen entries and they all looked very notable to me, with the exception of Al-Fadl ibn Naubakht (under 'N') who wrote in astrology. Does this count as a notable astronomer? -- AstroU (talk) 00:18, 24 April 2014 (UTC)

Duplicate listings
We appear to have two lists, one a sortable list and one an alphabetical list but the two lists are different and unsynchronised. Anybody willing to clear up this mess ?  Velella  Velella Talk 21:20, 13 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Sorts unfortunately by first name or however the name-field was originally entered. When sorted, the surname order becomes random except for single names like Eratosthenes or Chinese style entries where family name comes first. Nice to sort by year for the historical perspective, but many entries are missing those data whether lost in antiquity or just not edited yet into this article. Chronological sorting throws all the blank dates together, and is further confused by non-numeric years like circa whatever or BC, AD, BCE, CE modifiers. I've added a few born/died dates where provided in the individual astronomer articles, entered twice because of the two lists. Unsure whether von Struve should be under V or under S. Two of the five Struves show up under both. Also a couple van de this and van den that showing up under two different letters. The Table column "Notable for" is mostly blank and awaits some ambitious editor with more time than I have. Rairden (talk) 08:55, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

Cornelis de Jager
Should Cornelis de Jager not be in this list? 193.190.231.130 (talk) 15:38, 14 June 2024 (UTC)