Author: Martin Connors, Professor of Astronomy, Mathematics, and Physics, Athabasca University

Since ancient times, the sun has been known as a giver of light and heat, a source of life. Plants are coaxed from the Earth by its rays, bringing spring, followed by bountiful harvests. The Earth itself was found to have mystical properties when lore from China spread the use of compass magnets to find the north direction. In 1600, after centuries of western compass use, William Gilbert, Queen Elizabeth I’s personal physician, produced a book about magnets that also described the whole Earth as one. American astrophysicist George Ellery Hale gained fame by building the largest telescope in the…