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Seven things everyone wants to know about the universe
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What would you like to know about your universe?

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Andy Green is gearing up to break the land speed record in his rocket powered car Bloodhound SSC

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September 2009
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It's International Year of Astronomy and all eyes are on Galileo Galilei, whose astronomical observations 400 years ago revolutionised our understanding of the Universe. But few people know that Galileo wasn't the first to build a telescope and turn it on the stars. That honour falls to a little-known mathematician called Thomas Harriot, who excelled in many other ways too. Anna Faherty takes us on a tour of his work.

Tags: refraction : astronomy : algebra : snell's law : Kepler's conjecture : binary number