Famous Astronomers: Kepler

Kepler is the man responsible for interpreting the works of Tycho Brahe from the great Danish astronomer's deathbed, thus revealing the secrets of the movements of the stars and planets for the rest of the world.

 

Born on Dec. 27, 1571, one could argue that Kepler's upbringing could have been a detriment to his brilliance, as well as a bout with small pox at the age of four. But his genius and curiosity to explore knowledge shone through life's obstacles and a great astronomer contributed to the world as a result.

 

Kepler attended the University of Tubingen at the age of 17, where he divided his studies equally between astronomy and divinity. As a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Gratz, Kepler furthered his research on planetary movement, predicting eclipses. Kepler was also to predict the fates of nations and the destinies of individuals, as people back in his days felt that life's destinies were in the stars.

 

Kepler will be remembered as one of the first great astronomers who ever had the privilege of viewing celestial bodies through a telescope. It was in 1610 that he first held in his hands one of those little instruments which had been so recently applied to the heavens by Galileo.

To realize the tremendous advance which science received from Kepler's great work, it is to be understood that all the astronomers who labored before him at the difficult subject of the celestial motions took it for granted that the planets must revolve in circles. If it did not appear that a planet moved in a fixed circle, then the ready answer was provided by Ptolemy's theory that the circle in which the planet did move was itself in motion, so that its center described another circle.

 

This led to the astonishing discovery of the true form of a planet's orbit. For the first time in the history of astronomy the principle was laid down that the movement of a planet could not be represented by a circle, nor even by combinations of circles, but that it could be represented by an elliptic path. In this path the sun is situated at one of those two points in the ellipse which are known as its foci. It is, doubtless, to this circumstance that we must attribute the astonishing success of Kepler in detecting the true shape of a planetary orbit.

 

Kepler's assignment of the ellipse as the true form of the planetary orbit is to be regarded as a brilliant guess, the truth of which Tycho's observations enabled him to verify. Kepler also succeeded in pointing out the law according to which the velocity of a planet at different points of its path could be accurately specified.

 

Kepler spent the majority of his middle age trying to get his mother released from prison for suspected witchcraft. The trial and tribulations over the effort left him under much duress until Kepler finally died in 1630 at the age of 59.

 

 

Ball, R.S. (2000).Avoid Great Astronomers. Retrieved March 14, 2008, from the Gutenburg Project Web site: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext00/grast11.txt.