Author:  Johann Müller Regiomontanus (1436-1476)
Title/Imprint: Epytoma Ioannis de Monte Regio in Almagestum Ptolemei
[216] p. : ill., port. ; 30 cm. in box 32 cm. (fol.); Johannes Hamman: Venice , 31 Aug. 1496

This abridgement of Ptolemy's Almagest provided astronomers with the basic information they needed to understand the standard model of planetary motion

Author:  Georg Joachim Rhäticus (1514-1576)
Title/Imprint: Ad Clarissum Virum D. Ioannem Schonerum, de Libris Revolutionum… Doctoris Nicolai Copernici… Narratio Prima
Franciscum Rhodum: Gdansk , 1540

Known generally as the Narratio prima, this was the first appearance in print of Copernicus's revolutionary idea of placing the Earth at the center of the solar system. Only some two dozen copies are known to exist and only five of them are in America.

Author:  Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
Title/Imprint: Astronomia Nova Aitiologetos : Seu Physica Coelestis, Tradita Commentariis de Motibvs Stellæ Martis ex Observationibus G. V. Tychonis Brahe
G. Voegelinus: Heidelberg , 1609

Kepler's work on the observations of Mars by Tycho enabled him to reach the conclusions he published here, namely that planets travel around the Sun in elliptical orbits and that their speed increases as they are nearer the Sun.

Author:  Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Title/Imprint: Sidereus Nuncius Magna, Longeque Admirabilia Spectacula Pandens, Suspiciendaque Proponens Unicuique (The great starry messenger)
T. Baglionum: Venice , 1610

Galileo first turned the newly invented telescope to the heavens and this is his first printed account of his new discoveries.

Author:  John Couch Adams (1819-1892)
Title/Imprint: An Explanation of the Observed Irregularities in the Motion of Uranus : on the Hypothesis of Disturbances Caused by a More Distant Planet
W. Clowes & Sons: London , 1846

The discovery of the planet Neptune was occassioned by its prediction in this pamphlet by Adams. The French astronomer, Leverrier, independently predicted the planet as well.

Author:  Pierre Simon, Marquis de Laplace (1749-1827)
Title/Imprint: Traité de Mécanique Céleste
6 vols.; J.B.M. Duprat: Paris , 1798-1827

Laplace's work was a major step in the development of celestial mechanics.

Author:  William Herschel (1738-1822)
Title/Imprint: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol. 71
pp.492-501; London , 1781

Herschel describes his observations of what he thought was a comet, but it turned out to be a new planet, Uranus, the first to be discovered in modern times.

Author:  Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
Title/Imprint: Harmonices Mundi Libri V
4 p. l., 66, 255 p., 5 pl. diagrs. 28 cm.`; G. Tampacchii: Linz , 1619

In this work, Kepler was able to announce his third law of planetary motion, that the square of the orbital period of a planet is equal to the cube of its mean distance from the Sun

Author:  Edmond Halley (1656-1742)
Title/Imprint: A Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets
John Senex: London , 1705

This is the English translation of Halley's discovery that the comets of 1531, 1607, and 1682 were one and the same. He predicted its return in 1758 and it became known as Halley's Comet

Author:  Sir Issac Newton (1642-1727)
Title/Imprint: Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
Joseph Streater: London , 1687

Perhaps the most significant book in the history of science, it describes Newton's threory of universal gravitation which put the new discoveries of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo on sold physical grounds.

Author:  Léon Foucault (1819-1868)
Title/Imprint: Sur Divers Signes Sensibles du Mouvement Diurne de la Terre
Mallet-Bachelier: Paris , 1852

Foucault demonstrated the rotation of the earth through the use of the now-famous Foucault pendulum experiment. This copy is one of a few specially printed for presentation by the author.