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| Johannes Kepler(1571-1630) was a German astronomy and natrual philosophere who was known for his ability in formulating and verifying the three laws of planetary motion, which are now known as Keplers's Laws. He studed theology and classics at the University of Tubingen. While he was there he studied the Copernican theory, which he accepted. When Kepler left Tubingen to go to Graz, Austria, he began to work on a complex geometric hypothesis to explain the distance of planetary orbits, which he mistakingly took as circular. During this he also proposed that the sun emitted a force that inversely diminishes the distance and pushes the planets around their orbits. Using all of this information he wrote a book called Mysterium Comosgraphicum(Cosmographic Mystery) in 1596. From 1594 to 1600 Kepler was the chair of astronomy and mathematics the University of Graz, until he became Tycho Brahe's assistant at the observatory near Prague. When Tycho passed away, Kepler took over his position and spent most of the rest of his life writing treatises and books. While in Prague he wrote Astronomia Nova(New Astronomy), which was a detailed culmination of efforts to calculate Mars' orbit. Later, Kepler moved to Linz where he became mathematician to the states of Oberosterreich(Upper Austria). While living there, he wrote a book called Harmonice Mundi(Harmony of the World). This book was about the discovery of planetary motion using the theory that the ratio of the cube of a planet's distance from the sun and square of the planet's orbital period is a constand and is the same for all of the planets. He also wrote Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae(Epitome of Copernican Astronomy), and Tabulae Rudolfinae(Rudolfine Tables). Epitome was one of the more important of all his books because it held all of his theories and discoveries in one book. |