Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, best known for his laws of planetary motion.
Carl Sagan described him as the last great astrologer and the first great astronomer.
Kepler was a professor of mathematics at the University of Graz, court mathematician to Emperor Rudolf II, and court astrologer to General Wallenstein. He was an assistant to Tycho Brahe, early in his early career.
Kepler's career coincided with that of Galilei.
Like the astronomers before him, Kepler believed in the "perfection" of the universe and that celestial bodies moved in perfect circles conforming the the Platonic idea of the "perfection" of the circle.
Early in his career, Kepler had been the assistant of Tycho Brahe and, after performing calculations on Brahe's data for twenty years, he concluded that the traditional model of the universe where planets moved in perfect circles was erroneous and that heavenly bodies moved in ellipses.
In 1596, Kepler published The Cosmic Mystery explaining, among other things, the relation between the planets and the platonic solids.
Kepler observed the supernova in the Milky Way, in the constellation of Ophiuchus, which now bears his name on October 17th, 1604 (it had appeared suddenly eight days previously on October 9th). He described the appearance of the new star, which provided more evidence that the universe was changeable and did not conform to the classical ideas of perfection, in his De Stella nova in pede Serpentarii (which also influenced the argument of Galileo).
Kepler's Star is the last known occurence of a supernova in the Milky Way although others have since occured in other galaxies.
1571.Dec.27 | | Birth of German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (-1630) | | | 1577 | | Johannes Kepler, aged 6, taken to see a comet | | BAAAGBKN | 1580 | | Johannes Kepler, aged 9, taken to see an eclipse of the Moon | | | 1591 | | Johannes Kepler graduates from the University of T�bingen to persue graduate studies in theology | | | 1594.Apr | | Johannes Kepler takes Mathematics faculty position at Gratz, Austria | | | 1597.Apr | | Johannes Kepler marries Barbara Muehleck (-1611) | | | 1599.Dec | | Tycho Brahe writes inviting Johannes Kepler to assist him at Benatek nr. Prague
| | | 1601.Nov | | Johannes Kepler appointed imperial mathematician to the Hapsburg Emperor, after the death of Tycho Brahe | | | 1604 | | Supernova 1604 is observed (the last supernova to be observed in the Milky Way) The supernova convinces Johannes Kepler that the cosmos is changeable and not fixed | | | 1612.Jan | | Johannes Kepler takes the post of provincial mathematian at Linz
| | | 1618.Mar.08 | | Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of panetary motion He doesnt accept its vaalidity until May 15 | | | 1618.May.15 | | Johannes Kepler accepts the third law of panetary motion he discovered in March | | | 1620.Aug | | Arrest of Katherine, mother of the mathematician, astronomer and astrologer Johannes Kepler for
witchcraft | | BAAAGCQN | 1621.Oct | | Release Katherine, mother of the mathematician, astronomer and astrologer Johannes Kepler, arrested for witchcraft in August 1620 | | BAAAGCQN | 1630.Sep.15 | | Death of German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer Johannes Kepler (1571-) of fever at Ratisbon | | | 1631.Dec.06 | | Observation of the first predicted (Johannes Kepler) transit of the planet Venus | | | 1661 | | Death of Barbara, wife of Johannes Kepler, leaving two surviving children | | |
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De Stella nova in pede Serpentarii by Johannes Kepler The book describes the appearance of the supernova of October 1604 which shattered the idea of a perfect and therefore changeless universe.
The Cosmic Mystery by Johannes Kepler, 1596
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