Image 1 Caption: Portrait of Johannes Kepler (1571--1630), detail from the frontispiece of the Rudolphine Tables (1627). This is Kepler in relative old age (he was 56), hoping for more gold coins from the Reichsadler (i.e, Imperial Eagle), and looking like Santa Claus.
Features:
- Kepler is often cited as the
second most representative figure of the
Scientific Revolution (c.1543--c.1687).
First, is
Galileo Galilei (1564--1642).
- Kepler's greatest claim to
fame is his
discovery of
Kepler's 3 laws of planetary motion.
He also wrote an account of SN 1604 (AKA Kepler) which is the last supernova observed in the Milky Way.
- Kepler
was born in Weil der Stadt
in
Duchy of Wuerttemburg
in Germany.
The city was a
free imperial city, but a very small
one.
- In
1600--1612,
Kepler lived in
Prague, then in the
Kingdom of Bohemia
now in the Czech Republic.
Prague was then the
capital
of the
Holy Roman Empire (800--1806)
and Kepler
served the
Holy Roman Emperor
Rudolf II (1552--1612, reigned 1576--1612)
as
Imperial Mathematician
(which was
essentially court
astronomer
and
court astrologer).
- Image Caption 2:
The frontispiece
and title page of
the Rudolphine Tables (1627),
written by Johannes Kepler (1571--1630) and
named in honor of the
Holy Roman Emperor
Rudolf II (1552--1612, reigned 1576--1612),
Kepler's
patron
The Rudolphine Tables (1627) consist of a star catalogue and emphemeris tables (i.e., tables for calculating emphemerides). The Rudolphine Tables (1627) were based on Tycho Brahe's (1546--1601) observations (see Wikipedia: Tycho Brahe: Career: observing the heavens) and Kepler's 3 laws of planetary motion for heliocentric Solar System, and were by far the most accurate/precise star catalogue and emphemeris tables (i.e., tables or calculating emphemerides) ever published to 1627. But of course, were surpassed within a century since the telescopic era (1608--) of astronomy had begun. The Rudolphine Tables (1627) because they were based on the heliocentric Solar System added significant evidence for heliocentrism. The growth of such evidence from many sources convinced most astronomically interested persons in Europe that heliocentrism was probably true by circa 1660 (see Wikipedia: Heliocentrism: Age of Reason (c.1600--c.1800)).
- Kepler died of
natural causes in
1630
in Regensburg
on the Danube in
Bavaria.
In 1630, Germany was in the midst of the Thirty Years' War. Kepler did notice the war. It had a tendency to interfere with travel plans---and then when under bombardment ...
-
Images
- Credit/Permission:
Anonymous
engraver,
1627
(uploaded to Wikipedia by
User:Jacques_Mrtzsn,
2022) /
Public domain.
Image link: Wikipedia: File:Johannes Kepler 1610.jpg.
- Credit/Permission:
Johannes Kepler (1571--1630),
Anonymous
engraver
1627;
photographer Steve Nicklas,
before or circa 2005
(uploaded to Wikipedia by
User:Mattes,
2005) /
Public domain.
Image link: Wikimedia Commons: File:Libr0309.jpg.
File: Kepler file: kepler_portrait.html.