* Ancient Greeks: Philosophers like Pythagoras and Aristotle theorized about a spherical Earth, but thought it was stationary.
* Aristarchus of Samos (3rd century BC): He proposed that the Earth revolved around the Sun, a heliocentric model. However, this idea was largely rejected at the time.
* Medieval Islamic Scholars: Scholars like Al-Biruni in the 11th century provided strong evidence for the Earth's spherical shape and rotation based on observations of star movements.
* Nicolaus Copernicus (16th century): He revived the heliocentric model, arguing that the Earth revolves around the Sun and rotates on its axis.
* Galileo Galilei (16th/17th century): Galileo's telescopic observations of the phases of Venus and Jupiter's moons provided further evidence for a heliocentric system and the Earth's motion.
* Isaac Newton (17th century): His laws of motion and gravity provided a scientific explanation for the Earth's rotation and revolution.
So, it's not about a single "discovery" but rather a gradual progression of ideas and scientific observations that led to our understanding of the Earth's rotation.
