Clockwise from top left, Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), and Isaac Newton (1642-1727) led the way to a new understanding of the relationship between the earth and the sun and initiated an age of scientific progress that continues today.

Illustration from the 18th century depicts the Ptolemaic system in the upper left corner and the Copernican system in other corners and center.