Johannes Kepler: Contributions to Science

871 Words2 Pages

Early life
Kepler was born on December 27, 1571 (Bellis, March 5, 2014). He was a very sickly child and his parents were very poor. At a young age Johannes suffered from smallpox, crippled hands, and eyesight permanently weakened (famousscientist.org). There was no information found on the severity of his eyesight. His illnesses and eyesight deficiency does propose a question of what if he was living today with our new and advanced technology with eyeglasses, medication, and surgery. What more, he also suffered from the lost his father at the age of four and his mother being accused of witchcraft. He was able to attend school even with these circumstances. He was from the Protestant state of Vertenburg , southern Germany, which provided three years of free education (Johannes Kepler's law of Planetary Motion). It was then found out by his professors that he was a bright student. He was sent to Tuebingen on scholarships where he studied philosophy under Vitus Muller and theology with Jacob Heerbrand (Famous Scientist).
German astronomer Johannes Kepler used mathematics to calculate the path of the planets, finding that they traveled not in circles, as long expected, but in ellipses. In 1596, Kepler wrote his first public statement on his reasons that the Copernican system is correct. This was a dangerous stance, given that in 1539, Martin Luther, founder of the Lutheran church, derided the theory when he first heard it (Famous Scientist).
Kepler would have not been as successful without Brahe’s data. There is a rumor that Kepler poisoned Brahe in order to get his data, however, this theory is not proven. While Copernicus and Galileo often receive the credit in the popular imagination, it was J...

... middle of paper ...

...out.com Inventors. Retrieved May 18, 2014, from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventor

Famous Scientists. (n.d.). Science Blog RSS. Retrieved May 18, 2014, from http://www.famousscientists.org/johannes-kepler/

Hudon, D. (2009). How Johannes Kepler revolutionized astronomy. Astronomy, 37(1), 56-59.

Johannes Kepler Facts, Quotes, Laws of Planetary Motion, Astronomy, Information. (n.d.). Johannes Kepler Facts, Quotes, Laws of Planetary Motion, Astronomy, Information. Retrieved May

Johannes Kepler's law of Planetary Motion - Greatest moments in Science. (n.d.). YouTube. Retrieved May 19, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p3Np6eivZ8

“Kepler’s Discovery.” Kepler’s Discovery.N.p., n.d. Web 17 May 2014. http://www.keplersdiscovery.com/

"Kepler's Three Laws." Kepler's Three Laws. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2014.

Open Document