Solar-Stellar Scientists specialize in the study of the Sun and stars. These scientists are devoted to understanding star and planet formation and the physical processes in the Sun, stars, and stellar systems. Solar-Stellar physics includes many disciplines of pure physics, astrophysics, and computer science, including fluid dynamics, plasma physics including magnetohydrodynamics, seismology, particle physics, atomic physics, nuclear physics, stellar evolution, space physics, spectroscopy, radiative transfer, applied optics, signal processing, computer vision, computational physics, stellar physics and solar astronomy. It is believed that changes in the solar atmosphere and solar activity can have a major impact on Earth's climate. The Sun also provides a "physical laboratory" for the study of plasma physics.
Solar physics has its roots in ancient China where Chinese astronomers tracked lunar and solar cycles and observed solar phenomena such as solar eclipses and visible sunspots. Historical record keeping was scarce prior to 720 BC, but during the next 240 year period, 37 solar eclipses were noted. Babylonians (modern day Syria) were keeping records from about 1300 BC of solar eclipses as well. According to Greek manuscripts the Egyptians also had the knowledge to predict solar eclipses.
Astronomical knowledge flourished in the Islamic world during medieval times. Many observatories were built in cities from Damascus to Baghdad, where detailed astronomical observations were taken. Further astronomical advancements, during the renaissance period, lead to the significant proposition that planets revolve around the Sun and not around the Earth, as it was believed at the time.
 Aristotle (ca 384–322 BC) |  Aristarchus of Samos (310–230 BC) |  Ibn al-Haytham Alhazen (ca 965–1040) |  Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) |  Richard Christopher Carrington (1826–1875) |  Jean Dominique Cassini (1625–1712) |
 Christoph Clavius (1537–1612) |  Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) |  René Descartes (1596–1650) |  Johannes Fabricius (1587–1616) |  Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787–1826) |  Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) |
 George Ellery Hale (1868–1938) |  Thomas Harriot (ca 1560-1621 BC) |  John Herschel (1792–1871) |  Frederick William Herschel (1738–1822) |  Johannes Hevelius (1611–1687) |  Hypatia of Alexandria (370–415 CE) |
 Jules Janssen (1824–1907) |  Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) |  Gustav Kirchhoff (1824-1887) |  Samuel P. Langley (1834–1906) |  Pierre Simon de Laplace (1749–1827) |  J. Norman Lockyer (1836–1920) |
 Bernard Lyot (1897–1952) |  Annie Maunder (1868–1947) |  Edward Maunder (1851–1928) |  Maria Mitchell (1818–1889) |  Isaac Newton (1642–1727) |  Cecila Payne (1900–1979) |
 Claudius Ptolemy (100–170) |  Johann Wilhelm Ritter (1776–1810) |  Christoph Scheiner (1575–1650) |  Johann Schroeter (1745–1816) |  S. Heinrich Schwabe (1789–1875) |  Angelo Secchi (1818–1878) |
 Carolyn Jean Spellmann Shoemaker (1929–2021) |
 Charlotte Moore Sitterly (1898–1990) |
 Gustav Spörer (1822–1895) |  Natalia N. Stepanian (1931–2018) |  Hermann Carl Vogel (1841–1907) |  Rudolf Wolf (1816–1893) |
 William Hyde Wollaston (1766–1828) |  Charles A. Young (1834–1908) |
