Johannes kepler full biography

German astronomer and mathematician (1571–1630)

"Kepler" redirects here. For other uses, see Kepler (disambiguation).

Johannes Kepler (;German:[joˈhanəsˈkɛplɐ,-nɛs-]; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws of planetary motion, and his books Astronomia nova, Harmonice Mundi, and Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae, influencing among others Isaac Newton, providing one of the foundations for his theory of universal gravitation. The variety and impact of his work made Kepler one of the founders and fathers of modern astronomy, the scientific method, natural and modern science. He has been described as the "father of science fiction" for his novel Somnium.

Kepler was a mathematics teacher at a seminary school in Graz, where he became an associate of Prince Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg. Later he became an assistant to the astronomer Tycho Brahe in Prague, and eventually the imperial mathematician to Emperor Rudolf II and his two successors Matthias and Ferdinand II. He also taught mathematics in Linz, and was an adviser to General Wallenstein. Additionally, he did fundamental work in the field of optics, being named

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Searching for the divine harmony of the universe

Christians all over the world celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth at Christmas. Exactly when this took place has been the subject of debate among researchers for centuries. However, Johannes Kepler's date of birth is undisputed: 27 December 1571. The great astronomer was one of the first to try to determine the year of Christ's birth using scientific methods. According to Kepler, Jesus must have been born before the year 4 BC. Later researchers have confirmed this: Today it is assumed that Jesus was born between 7 and 4 BC.

The evangelist Matthew reports that King Herod had all the male infants in Bethlehem killed in order to eliminate the "King of the Jews" who, according to a prophecy, had recently been born. Kepler found in the Roman-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus the information that a lunar eclipse took place when Herod was dying. Kepler believed he could date this eclipse and concluded that Herod must have died between 13 March and 11 April 4 BC and that Jesus must have been born before then.

Johannes Kepler's deduction of the dating of Jesus' birth is disputed today, but his enormous scientific life achievement is not. He is considered the (co-)founder of modern astronomy and natural sciences, on a par with Galileo and Newton.

Hard times for researchers

Kepler, who was born 450 years ago in Weil der Stadt, contracted smallpox as a child (now eradicated - thanks to vaccination!). He barely survived, but with disfiguring scars on his hands and damaged eyes. His mother, who ran the "Sonne" inn in Ellmendingen, showed him a comet in 1577 and a lunar eclipse in 1580 - his enthusiasm for astronomy was aroused. Scholarships enabled the mathematically gifted boy to attend higher schools (such as Maulbronn Monastery

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

Johannes Kepler was born in Weil der Stadt in Swabia, in southwest Germany. His paternal grandfather, Sebald Kepler, was a respected craftsman who served as mayor of the city; his maternal grandfather, Melchior Guldenmann, was an innkeeper and mayor of the nearby village of Eltingen. His father, Heinrich Kepler, was "an immoral, rough and quarrelsome soldier," according to Kepler, and he described his mother in similar unflattering terms. From 1574 to 1576 Johannes lived with his grandparents; in 1576 his parents moved to nearby Leonberg, where Johannes entered the Latin school. In 1584 he entered the Protestant seminary at Adelberg, and in 1589 he began his university education at the Protestant university of Tübingen. Here he studied theology and read widely. He passed the M.A. examination in 1591 and continued his studies as a graduate student.

Kepler's teacher in the mathematical subjects was Michael Maestlin (1550-1635). Maestlin was one of the earliest astronomers to subscribe to Copernicus's heliocentric theory, although in his university lectures he taught only the Ptolemaic system. Only in what we might call graduate seminars did he acquaint his students, among whom was Kepler, with the technical details of the Copernican system. Kepler stated later that at this time he became a Copernican for "physical or, if you prefer, metaphysical reasons."

In 1594 Kepler accepted an appointment as professor of mathematics at the Protestant seminary in Graz (in the Austrian province of Styria). He was also appointed district mathematician and calendar maker. Kepler remained in Graz until 1600, when all Protestants were forced to convert to Catholicism or leave the province, as part of Counter Reformation measures. For six years, Kepler taught arithmetic, geometry (when there were interested students), Virgil, and rhetoric. In his spare time he pursued his private studies in astronomy an

Biography