Just started reading a book that answers all of that -- it's a coupla years outdated (1997) but eminently readable --

The Whole Shebang, A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report
by Timothy Ferris (author of Coming of Age In the Milky Way

By the way, I also just found out (from the book) that Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe died of a burst bladder suffered in a bout of beer drinking. (I wonder if folk music was involved . . . nah, folk musicians know enough to "drain the brine off the pickle" occasionally.)

Linn