Johannes Kepler was born on December 27, 1951 in Weil der Stadt, present-day Germany. Kepler attended the University of Tubingen, where he was pursuing priesthood. His astronomy teacher, recognizing Kepler's mathematical abilities, talked him into becoming a mathematics teacher. Kepler published Mysterium Cosmographicum in 1596, a work supporting the Copernican theory. Four years later, Kepler went to Prague, to assist Tycho Brahe. When Brahe died the following year, in 1601, Kepler was appointed successor. He discovered the three laws of planetary motion. The first law of planetary motion, published in 1609, stated that the orbits of the planets were not perfect circles, rather, ellipses. The second law governed planetary velocity. Harmonice Mundi, 1619, presented his third law, a relationship between orbital periods and distance from the Sun. This third law was the groundwork for Newton's theory of universal gravitation. Kepler also wrote a lot on telescopes. Kepler helped gain and establish acceptance for heliocentric astronomy. Kepler died in 1630 in Regensburg, Germany.