Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler
By Ethan Bui
Johannes Kepler was born on December 27, 1571 in Germany. He was a mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer. He was most famous for his eponymous laws of planetary motion. Based on his work on Astronomia nova, Harmonicies Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican Astronomy it provided a foundation for Issac Newton’s theory of universal gravitation.
Early Life Johannes Kepler was born on December 27, 1571 which was also the same day as feast day of St. John the Evangelist. Sebald Kepler his grandfather had been mayor of the town but, when Johannes was born the family fortune was in a steep incline. Kepler had two brothers and one sister. His father who was Heinrich Kepler was a mercenary who left Johannes when he was only five years old. He was said that he died in the Eighty Years’ War in the Netherlands. His mother Katharina Guldenmann was a healer and herbalist who tried for witchcraft. At six years old Kepler witnessed the Great Comet of 1577. In 1589 he went to the University of Tübingen where he studied mathematics. Johannes Kepler was forced to leave his teaching post at Graz due to the Counter Reformation because he was Lutheran and moved to Prague to work with the renowned Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe. He learned Tycho's post as Imperial Mathematician when Tycho died in 1601. Using the precise data that Tycho had collected, Kepler discovered that the orbit of Mars was an ellipse. In 1609 he published "Astronomia Nova", showing his discoveries, which are now called Kepler's first two laws of planetary motion. And what is just as important about this work, "it is the first published account where a scientist documents how he has coped with the multitude of imperfect data to forge a theory of surpassing accuracy" , a fundamental law of nature. Today we call this the scientific method.
Later life In 1612 Lutherans were forced out of Prague, so Kepler moved on to Linz. His wife and two sons had recently died. He
By Ethan Bui
Johannes Kepler was born on December 27, 1571 in Germany. He was a mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer. He was most famous for his eponymous laws of planetary motion. Based on his work on Astronomia nova, Harmonicies Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican Astronomy it provided a foundation for Issac Newton’s theory of universal gravitation.
Early Life Johannes Kepler was born on December 27, 1571 which was also the same day as feast day of St. John the Evangelist. Sebald Kepler his grandfather had been mayor of the town but, when Johannes was born the family fortune was in a steep incline. Kepler had two brothers and one sister. His father who was Heinrich Kepler was a mercenary who left Johannes when he was only five years old. He was said that he died in the Eighty Years’ War in the Netherlands. His mother Katharina Guldenmann was a healer and herbalist who tried for witchcraft. At six years old Kepler witnessed the Great Comet of 1577. In 1589 he went to the University of Tübingen where he studied mathematics. Johannes Kepler was forced to leave his teaching post at Graz due to the Counter Reformation because he was Lutheran and moved to Prague to work with the renowned Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe. He learned Tycho's post as Imperial Mathematician when Tycho died in 1601. Using the precise data that Tycho had collected, Kepler discovered that the orbit of Mars was an ellipse. In 1609 he published "Astronomia Nova", showing his discoveries, which are now called Kepler's first two laws of planetary motion. And what is just as important about this work, "it is the first published account where a scientist documents how he has coped with the multitude of imperfect data to forge a theory of surpassing accuracy" , a fundamental law of nature. Today we call this the scientific method.
Later life In 1612 Lutherans were forced out of Prague, so Kepler moved on to Linz. His wife and two sons had recently died. He