Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler was born on December 27, 1571 in Weil der Stadt, Germany. Kepler's grandfather was supposedly from a noble background, and once Mayor of Weil. However, Kepler's father became a mercenary who narrowly avoided the gallows. Kepler's mother, Katherine, was raised by an aunt who was eventually burned as a witch. In later years, Katherine herself was accused of Devil worship, and barely escaped from being burned at the stake. Kepler had six brothers and sisters, three of which, died in infancy. In his youth, Johannes was described as:
"...a sickly child, with thin limbs and a large, pasty face surrounded by dark curly hair. He was born with defective eyesight-myopia plus anocular polyopy (multiple vision). His stomach and gall bladder gave constant trouble; he suffered from boils, rashes, and possibly from piles, for he tells us that he could never sit still for any length of time..." (Koestler, p 24)From this inauspicious start, Johannes Kepler began his fascinating journey as a pioneer in astronomy.
Johannes Kepler graduated from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Tuebingen at the age of twenty, intending to matriculate into the Theological Faculty. It was here that Kepler learned and became an adherent of the heliocentric theory of planetary motion, first developed by the Dutch astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.
In 1594, Kepler left Tuebingen for the University of Graz to become a professor of astronomy. It was here that Kepler realized that figures of the type shown here determine a definite fixed ratio between the sizes of the two circles, provided the triangle has all sides equal, and a different ratio of sizes will occur for a square between the two circles, another for a regular pen...
... middle of paper ...
...ay, remains one of the greatest figures in astronomy. However, his endeavors were not just limited to this field. He is often called the founder of modern optics for his first use of eyeglasses designed for nearsightedness and farsightedness, his explanations of vision by refraction within the eyes, and his explanation of the use of both eyes for depth perception. Furthermore, he explained the principles of the telescope.
His book Stereometrica Doliorum formed the basis of integral calculus. First to explain that the tides are caused by the Moon (Galileo rebuked him for this). First to use stellar parallax caused by the Earth's orbit to try to measure the distance to the stars; the same principle as depth perception. First to suggest that the Sun rotates about its axis in Astronomia Nova First to derive the birth year of Christ, that is now universally accepted.
Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473 in Thorn, Poland. He was the youngest son of four children and the son of a prosperous merchant. Following his father's death, his Uncle Lukas Watzelrode, bishop of Ermland, adopted him. Copernicus began his studies in Thorn and then at the University of Cracow where he studied mathematics and became very interested in humanistic studies.1 Copernicus left Cracow for Italy where he went to the Universities of Bologna and later Padua. He studied many different subjects including mathematics, canon law, and astronomy. Copernicus received a degree in medicine at the University of Padua, and went on to receive his doctorate from the University of Ferrara in canon law.
Edwin Powell Hubble was born on the 20th of November in 1889. He lived in Marshfield, Missouri along with his family. He was said to be a very tall, elegant, and athletic young man. Edwin had a mom, dad, three sisters, and two brothers. His mom and dad were named John Powell and Virginia James Hubble. His sisters were Virginia, Helen, and Lucy Lee. Edwin's two brothers were named Henry and William. William died as a student at a college in Wisconsin and Virginia died when she was a very young girl.
Tycho Brahe is remembered for many things: his golden nose, his ignominious death, and his famous last words. All of these things have gone down in history. However, Tycho Brahe was well-known in his time as a respected and well-paid astronomer. His observations were second to none. He was unsatisfiable and meticulous in his profession, building two of the finest observatories of his time, the second because the first was not up to his own high standards. He is still regarded as one of the best naked-eye observationalists of all time (Burke-Gaffney, 153).
The first record of the movement of the planets was produced by Nicolaus Copernicus. He proposed that the earth was the center of everything, which the term is called geocentric. Kepler challenged the theory that the sun was the center of the earth and proposed that the sun was the center of everything; this term is referred to as heliocentric. Kepler’s heliocentric theory was accepted by most people and is accepted in today’s society. One of Kepler’s friends was a famous person named Galileo. Galileo is known for improving the design and the magnification of the telescope. With improvement of the telescope Galileo could describe the craters of the moon and the moons of Jupiter. Galileo also created the number for acceleration of all free falling objects as 9.8 meters per second. Galileo’s and Kepler’s theories were not approved by all people. Their theories contradicted verses in the bible, so the protestant church was extremely skeptical of both Galileo and Kepler’s
Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19th 1473 in Thorn, Poland (now known as Torun) to a merchant father who was also a local official. At the age of ten, Copernicus’ father died and he was sent to live with his uncle who at the time was a priest. In 1491, at the age of 18, Copernicus went to Krakow Academy as a pupil. In 1496, Copernicus then travelled to Italy and studied law at the University of Bologna. During his time at the University of Bologna, Copernicus lived with Domenico Maria de Novara, a mathematics professor who encouraged him to study geography and astronomy. Furthermore, throughout his time in Italy, Copernicus travelled to Rome and studied at the universities of Padua and Ferrara. Than in 1503, Copernicus moved back to Poland and worked for his uncle now the bishop of Ermland as a secretary. When his uncle died in 1512, Copernicus moved to Frauenberg and worked for the church. During his time working at the church, Copernicus studied astronomy and in 1514, when the catholic church was looking to improve the calendar, Copernicus was asked to help. Copernicus’ upbringing helped shape his interests in the sciences, especially astronomy. Copernicus is known to have established the heliocentric theory, which replaced the previously accepted geocentric model. However, prior to Copernicus other thinkers such as Aristarchus as well as thinkers after such as Galileo developed a similar theory. Even though it is unclear who established the heliocentric model, Copernicus has had a major impact on our modern sciences.
The team of Tycho Brahe and John Keppler were the next to study Copernicus’ theory. Brahe tried to disprove Copernicus’ theory and tried to prove the idea of the earth-centered universe. Although Keppler was Brahe’s assistant, he argued for Copernicus and analyzed Brahe’s data to conclude that the sun was the center of the universe. Keppler also used Brahe’s data to discover the movement of the planet Mars. This was the key to explaining all planetary motion. ii He also discovered the planets move in elliptical orbits, which also went against the beliefs of the church. Kepp...
The life of Galileo Galilei began in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564. His family was of lower nobility, which did not hinder the greatness he was to later achieve. Galileo began his early education at the Pisan School of Jacopo Borghini, where he showed an interest in mechanics. In 1574, he and his family moved to the town of Florence where he attended monastery school. Galileo was later withdrawn from monastery school by his father in 1579, presumably because of too much religious influence.
...ibutions to analytic geometry, algebra, and calculus. In particular, he discovered the binomial theorem, original methods for expansion of never-ending series, and his “direct and inverse method of fluxions.”
Sir Isaac Newton was born in Woolsthorpe, England on January 4, 1643. He was underdeveloped and very small as a baby, being born a couple months premature to his mother, Hannah Newton. From the time he was a toddler, Newton lived with his grandmother (his father died three months prior to his birth and his mother moved away to get remarried to prosperous minister). Newton would fill his need for parents with God. As a boy, he studied the Bible for days on end, finding inspiration and developing his spiritual character. In fact, his grandmother decided she would enroll him in a school for the mentoring of future ministers. These events would cause Newton to develop a relentless work ethic.
In his book, Repcheck recounts how a Catholic Church cleric invented a highly complicated theory of the heavens’ architecture. Copernicus made a breakthrough by solving a significant astronomical problem. Everybody except the astronomers had earlier accepted Aristotle’s concept that heavenly objects revolved around the earth in perfectly circular orbits. The astronomers were opposed to this notion since their calculations could not work according to it. Repcheck introduces Ptolemy who described a cosmos in which the earth positioned itself somewhat off-center and other heavenly bodies revolved in one circular orbit inside a second ideal circle at changeable speeds. Even though Ptolemy’s model was rather complicated, astronomers found it to be reasonable in their calculations. Astronomers were still using this new concept even 1500 years later. In this regard, the author starts to bring Copernicus into the picture.
Galileo was born in February of 1564 to a poor family that resided in Pisa, Italy. Galileo’s father was a composer and musical therapist, but he also supported his family through working in the wool trade. Galileo and his family moved to Florence, Italy in the 1570s, and here Galileo began to attend
He was one of the first who created the "looker" (now called telescope) by placing two pieces of lenses together. The discovery that placing lenses together can magnify images was made by children who took Lippershey's spectacles and looked at a distant church tower. One of the most influential scientists associated with the telescope has to be Galileo. He took the design and reinvented the telescope into one of the first refractive telescopes we use to this day. Galileo used this great invention to report astronomical facts such as the moon is covered with craters instead of being smooth, the Milky Way is composed of millions of stars, and Jupiter has four moons.
Galileo was probably the greatest astronomer, mathematician and scientist of his time. In fact his work has been very important in many scientific advances even to this day.
Nicholaus Copernicus is one of the most well known astronomers of all time. He is even labeled as the founder of modern astronomy for the proposition of his heliocentric theory (“Nicolaus Copernicus”, Scientists: Their Lives and Works). The heliocentric theory was revolutionary for Copernicus’ time. Copernicus lived during the Renaissance. “The era of the Renaissance (roughly 1400-1600) is usually known for the “rebirth” of an appreciation of ancient Greek and Roman art forms, along with other aspects of classical teachings that tended to diminish the virtually exclusive concentration on religious teachings during the preceding centuries of the “Dark Ages.” New thinking in science was also evident in this time…” This time period became known as the scientific revolution (“Copernicus: On The Revolutions Of Heavenly Bodies). In other words, old ideas were revived in the arts and other means and less emphasis was placed o...