Johannes Kepler | |
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Portrait of Kepler by an unknown artist, 1610
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Born |
Free Imperial City of Weil der Stadt, Holy Roman Empire |
December 27, 1571
Died | November 15, 1630 Regensburg, Electorate of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire |
(aged 58)
Residence | Württemberg; Styria; Bohemia; Upper Austria |
Nationality | German |
Alma mater | Tübinger Stift, University of Tübingen |
Known for |
Kepler's laws of planetary motion Kepler conjecture Rudolphine Tables |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Astronomy, astrology, mathematics and natural philosophy |
Institutions | University of Linz |
Doctoral advisor | Michael Maestlin |
Influences |
Nicolaus Copernicus Tycho Brahe |
Signature | |
Johannes Kepler (/ˈkɛplər/;German: [joˈhanəs ˈkɛplɐ]; December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630) was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer.
Kepler is a key figure in the 17th-century scientific revolution. He is best known for his laws of planetary motion, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican Astronomy. These works also provided one of the foundations for Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravitation.
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, invented an improved version of the refracting telescope (the Keplerian telescope), and was mentioned in the telescopic discoveries of his contemporary Galileo Galilei. He was a corresponding member of the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome.