The Story of Astronomy

Dr. Mitrović's Lecture Clips (audio + video, mp4) and (audio only, mp3)
  • Introduction to the history of astronomy, (1:29): mp4, mp3
  • Stonehenge, (3:41): mp4, mp3
  • How ancient Greek astronomers knew that Earth is spherical, (1:08): mp4, mp3
  • How Aristarchus deduced that the Sun is much larger and more distant than the Moon, Part 1 (8:52): mp4, mp3; and Part 2, (5:01): mp4, mp3
  • Stellar parallax and objections to the heliocentric model, (10:01): mp4, mp3
  • How Eratosthenes deduced the size of the Earth, (9:38): mp4, mp3
  • Motions of the planets (prograde and retrograde), (6:43): mp4, mp3
  • Epicycles; explaining retrograde planetary motions in the geocentric and helicentric models, (8:00): mp4, mp3
  • The Aristotelian view of the Universe, (8:43): mp4, mp3
  • Nicolaus Copernicus and the Renaissance heliocentric hypothesis, (9:10): mp4, mp3
  • Measuring relative distances of planets to the Sun, (5:06): mp4, mp3
  • Tycho Brahe, the greatest naked-eye astronomer, (8:44): mp4, mp3
  • Johannes Kepler, (4:40): mp4, mp3
  • Ellipses and Kepler's first law of planetary motion, (8:31): mp4, mp3
  • Kepler's second law of planetary motion, (4:58): mp4, mp3
  • Kepler's third law of planetary motion, (4:17): mp4, mp3
  • Galileo's observations of the phases of Venus, (7:30): mp4, mp3
  • Galileo's observations of the Moon and Jupiter's moons, (5:32): mp4, mp3
  • Galileo's observations of the "Galilean" satellites of Jupiter, (1:16): mp4, mp3
  • Galileo's observations of sunspots, (3:05): mp4, mp3
  • More on sunspots, (2:33): mp4, mp3
  • Galileo's observations of the Milky Way, (0:51): mp4, mp3
  • Galileo Galilei, founder of modern science, (6:57): mp4, mp3
  • Isaac Newton, (4:15): mp4, mp3
Dr. Mitrović's Lecture Notes (pdf)
Animations
Additional Sources of Information