Giovanni Domenico Cassini
According to Alexander von Humboldt's "Kosmos", Mesoamericans were aware of the zodiacal light before 1500. It was perhaps first reported in print by Joshua Childrey in 1661. The phenomenon was investigated by the astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini in 1683. According to some sources, he explained it by dust particles around the Sun. Other sources state that it was first explained this way by Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, in 1684, whom Cassini advised to study the zodiacal light.