The Inventor

Johannes Kepler

Known as the person who made a valuable contribution to the advancement of astronomy at that time, he is known as one of the best astronomers, Here Biography and profile. Johannes Kepler was born in 1571 in the German city of Weil der Stadt, the discoverer of the laws of planetary motion.

Kepler's discovery came only twenty-eight years after the publication of the book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, the ledger of which contained Copernicus' theory that planites revolved around the sun rather than around the earth. Kepler studied at Tubingen University, earning a baccalaureate degree in 1588 and a full undergraduate degree three years later. Generally the scientists of the time rejected Copernicus' “heliocentric” theory; but, when Kepler in Tubingen he heard the heliocentric hypothesis and detailed it with high intelligence, he finally believed it.

After leaving Tubingen, Kepler became a master teacher for several years at the academy in Graz. While teaching he wrote his first book on astronomy (1596). Although Kepler's theory in the book turned out to be completely missed, the book clearly demonstrates Kepler's mathematical ability and purity of mind, the great astronomer Tycho Brahe invited him to be his assistant in his stargazer near Prague.

Kepler accepted this invitation and joined Tycho in January 1600. Tycho died the following year, but Kepler had already made a good impression in the previous months so that the Holy Roman Emperor –Rudolph II– immediately appointed him to replace Tycho as the royal mathematician. Kepler occupied that position for the rest of his life.

In lieu of Tycho Brahe, Kepler inherited a large stack of carefully observed planite-planite notes that Tycho had worked on for years. Because Tycho –the last great astronomer before Telescope– was also a careful and meticulous observer the world has ever known, the records are enormous in price.

Kepler believed that Tycho's careful record of mathematical analysis allowed him to determine the conclusion that the planite theory of motion was correct: copernicus' heliocentric theory; ptolemy's older geocentric theory; and; or even the third theory that Tycho formulated himself. But after years of careful calculations, Kepler anxiously discovered that Tycho's observations were inconsistent with any of his theories.

Eventually Kepler realized that the problem was this: he, as did Copernicus and Tycho Brahe and all classical astronomers had suspected that the orbits of the planets were made up of circles or a combination of circles. However, the fact shows that the orbit of the planter is not circular, but rather oval, ellipses.

Even after finding the ultimate solution, Kepler still had to spend months immersing himself in the complicated and laborious work of calculating to ensure that his theory satisfied Tycho's observations. His major book Astronomia Nova, published in 1609, suggested he had the first of two laws of planite motion.

The first law asserts that each planite moves around the sun in an oval orbit or ellipses with the sun at one focus. The second law asserts that planite moves faster when it is closer to the sun; the speed of planite differs so much that the line connecting the planite and the sun during rotation, respectively, cover the same area in the same time frame.

Ten years later Kepler issued his third law: the farther away a planet is from the sun, it takes longer to complete the rotation or quadrate when the rotation of planite-planite is directly proportional to the power of three average distances with the sun.

KEPLER'S LAW AND ASTRONOMY

However, Kepler's law was a vital precursor to Newton's great synthesis. (“If I look first from others,” so ever Newton said, “ini as a result of me standing on the shoulders of the giants.” No doubt, Kepler is one of those giants that Newton meant).

Kepler's contributions to astronomy could almost be aligned with Copernicus's. And in fact, in some ways Kepler's work is even more impressive. He was more original, and the mathematical difficulties he faced were mountaineering. Mathematical techniques at that time were not as perfect as they are today, and at that time there was no calculator engine that helped Kepler in his calculation tasks.

Judging from the point of importance of Kepler's work, it is surprising when at first almost no one is interested, even by a great scientist like Galileo. (Galileo did not take Kepler's law into account is astounding because the two men corresponded with each other, and also because Kepler's work could help test Ptolemy's theory). But if others are rather slow to appreciate the height of Kepler's work, this can be understood by Kepler himself.

In a burst of excitement Kepler wrote “.. Book I've written! I have offered you a sacred gift of pleasure. He will be read either by my contemporaries or by the generations after me. I don't give a shit. It could be that the book had to wait 100 years to meet a reader, just as God waited 6000 years for someone who could understand the greatness of his work.”

THE LAW OF PLANETARY MOVEMENT

Although gradually, after going beyond a few decades, the significance of Kepler's laws became clear to the world of science. In the next century opinions in favor of Newton's theory said that Kepler's law was deduced from those theories. Newton's law of motion, Newton's law of heavy force, was deduced from Kepler's law. But to do so requires that technique, Kepler, quite easily captures the problem and proposes that the movement of planite is controlled by the energy coming from the sun.

In addition to the laws of planite-planite motion, Kepler contributed a variety of minor matters in astronomy. He also made important contributions to the theory of optics. In his late life –sayang once– he was plagued by personal problems. Germany slumped into chaos because of “War thirty years” and rarely people who can escape serious difficulties.

One of the problems is about living. The Holy Roman Empire was slow in paying its wages, albeit in poor circumstances. In a chaotic state of war, Kepler's salary was overdue. Because Kepler married twice and had twelve children, the difficulty of the money was very heavy. Another problem concerns his mother who in 1620 was arrested on charges so “dukun magic.” Kepler wasted a lot of time until finally the mother could be released without experiencing torture.

Kepler died in 1630 in Regensburg, Bavaria. In the time of “Thirty-year-old war” that terrorized, his grave torn apart. However, the laws of his planite movement proved to be more of a lasting memory than just a piece of tombstone.