when was the sun discovered

The Sun was not “discovered” in the usual sense, because people have always seen it in the sky. What was discovered over time was our scientific understanding of the Sun: ancient thinkers like Anaxagoras suggested it was a fiery body around 450 BC, and scientists did not fully understand its energy source until the early 20th century, with fusion becoming clear in the 1930s.

Quick Scoop

If you mean “when did humans first realize what the Sun is?” , the answer is gradually, over centuries rather than on one exact date. If you mean “when did we discover the Sun’s energy source?” , that was in the 1930s.

Short version

• Everyone has known the Sun exists since prehistory.
• Anaxagoras (~450 BC) was among the first known thinkers to argue the Sun was a physical object, not a god-like chariot.

• Copernicus (1543) helped reshape the solar-system model around the Sun.

• Modern solar physics really took off in the 20th century , when scientists worked out how the Sun produces energy.

Bottom line

So the best answer is: the Sun was never “discovered,” but our scientific understanding of it developed from ancient times and was mostly explained by the 1930s.