© Wikimedia CommonsNicolaus Reimers Baer ("Ursus") (1551-1600) Ursus incited a bitter controversy in 1588, when he published a geocentric model of the solar system (pictured) that looked quite similar to Tycho Brahe's. In both models, the planets orbited the Sun, while the Sun orbited the Earth.
History is littered with astronomers who doggedly pursued fame at the expense of the scientific method.
While researching a biographical encyclopaedia, Thomas Hockey of the University of Northern Iowa compiled a list of "really bad" astronomers. Some were combative, while others seem to have stolen ideas or manufactured data, infiltrating the astronomical community "like wolves among the sheep". Hockey discussed them last month at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
Read about some of the offenders here.
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