Johannes Kepler - Nathalie Van de Wiele

Going to Graz

Thanks to Maestlin, Kepler became an early and very public convert to Copernican ideas, although he still intended to become a Lutheran clergyman. But the whole direction of his life changed suddenly, by chance, in 1594. A maths teacher at an obscure Lutheran school in Graz died, and the school authorities turned to Tubingen University for advice o

Into Print

The eager young Kepler rushed to publish a book setting out his discovery. Mysterium Cosmographicum was published in 1597, when he was 25. It was a beautiful theory, and totally incorrect. Kepler circulated the book widely and gained a reputation as a bright theoretical astronomer. It is also noteworthy that, 54 years after the publication of De Re

to Prague and Tycho Brahe

In January 1600, at the age of 28, Kepler set off for Prague to see if Brahe would offer him employment. The two met in February. It was a meeting of opposites who needed each other. Brahe was a rich nobleman, whereas Kepler had come from a much humbler background. Brahe was primarily an observer, Kepler a theoretician. Brahe wanted Kepler to demon

Good Years

At this point in the story we can say goodbye to Kepler the mystical speculator, and instead concentrate on Kepler the scientific genius — although it has to be said that Kepler's mystical side never left him. The years from the time he started working for Brahe to the publication of his first two laws, in 1609, were highly productive. He showed hi

Bad Years

The year 1611 was a disastrous one for the 39-year old Kepler. Rudolph II, his patron, was far from secure on his throne. And early in the year, Kepler's favourite child, Friedrich, died of smallpox at the age of six. Kepler decided that it was time to leave Prague, partly for the sake of his homesick wife, and accepted a job as maths teacher in Li

Kepler's Legacy

1634 Kepler's Somnium, the story of a journey to the Moon, is published posthumously. 1638Kepler's second wife, Susanna, dies in poverty at the age of 49. 1687 Newton publishes Principia, which includes his gravitational inverse square law, from which he derives Kepler's three laws. 2009The Kepler mission is launched, to search for Earth-like plane

A Fitting Conclusion

Arguably, the culmination of all Kepler's work was the publication in 1627 of the Rudolphine Tables, dedicated to the late Rudolph II. Based on his laws of planetary motion, these enabled the prediction of planetary positions well into the future. It was the fact that they were more accurate than any other tables that led to the gradual and no doub