A heavily cratered region of the Moon // Georges
Read below the cut for an annotated image and some naming history!
Nasireddin crater is named after Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201-1274), a Persian polymath who recorded the most accurate observations of the planets of his time.
Baco crater is named after Roger Bacon (c. 1219 - c. 1292), an English philosopher who put heavy emphasis on studying nature through scientific methods.
Walther crater is named after Bernhard Walther (1430-1504), a German astronomer who made precise measurements of the position of Venus.
Stöfler crater is named after Johannes Stöffler (1452-1531), a German astronomer who published a book on how to make and use astrolabes.
Maurolycus crater is named after Francesco Maurolico (1494-1575), a Sicilian astronomer who described a method to measure the size of the Earth.
Fernelius crater is named after Jean Fernal (1497-1558), a French physician who coined the term "physiology" and was the first person to describe the spinal canal.
Nonius crater is named after Pedro Nunes (1502-1578), a Portuguese mathematician who made improvements to the geocentric model of the universe.
Gemma Frisius crater is named after Gemma Frisius (1508-1555), a Dutch mathematician who constructed very accurate globes of the Earth and night sky.
Aliacensis crater is named after Pierre d'Ailly (1351-1420), a French astrologer who wrote about the size of the Earth.
Barocius crater is named after Francesco Barozzi (1537-1604), an Italian mathematician who studied the cosmology of Ptolemy.
Licetus crater is named after Fortunio Liceti (1577-1657), an Italian physician who wrote books defending the Aristotelian universe from the new heliocentric universe.
Clairaut crater is named after Alexis Claude Clairaut (1713-1765), a French mathematician who used Newton's calculus to work on the three-body problem.
Büsching crater is named after Anton Friedrich Büsching (1724-1793), a German geographer who published several books on the geography of Europe.
Breislak crater is named after Scipione Breislak (1748-1826), an Italian geologist who studied the geology of Rome.
Ideler crater is named after Christian Ludwig Ideler (1766-1846), a German astronomer who studied ancient cultures and their time-keeping methods.
Cuvier crater is named after Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), a French zoologist, sometimes called the "father of paleontology."
Faraday crater is named after Michael Faraday (1791-1867), an English physicist who established the concept of electromagnetic fields.
Kaiser crater is named after Frederik Kaiser (1808-1872), a Dutch astronomer who popularized astronomy in the Netherlands and directed the Leiden Observatory.
Miller crater is named after William Allen Miller (1817-1870), a British scientist who studied the composition of the stars and wrote textbooks on chemistry.
Huggins crater is named after William Huggins (1824-1910), British astronomer who studied the spectra of several objects, including the first to take the spectrum of a planetary nebula.