* Nicolaus Copernicus: He is often credited as the "father" of the heliocentric model. His book "De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium" (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) published in 1543, laid out the heliocentric theory in detail.
* Galileo Galilei: Although Copernicus proposed the model, Galileo's observations with his telescope provided strong evidence to support it. His observations of the phases of Venus and the moons of Jupiter contradicted the geocentric model and provided compelling support for the heliocentric one.
While these two are the most famous, it's important to note that others, like Aristarchus of Samos, proposed heliocentric ideas centuries before Copernicus. However, it was Copernicus' and Galileo's work that significantly shifted scientific understanding of the solar system.
