Johannes Kepler

Johannes Kepler

        Johannes Kepler was the native of a Swabian town known as Weil der Stadt. He was

born on December 27, 1571. Kepler was the oldest son of Heinrich Kepler and Katharina

Guldenmann. His grandfather was Sebald Kepler. His grandmother mostly raised him as a child

because he was a very sick child. When Kepler was 3 years old his father joined a group of hired

soldiers to fight for a catholic army. By the age of 17 Kepler’s father had completely abandoned

the family. In 1597 Kepler married Barbara Muller, the oldest daughter of a wealthy Mill owner.

The couple had 5 Children, 2 of them died very young. Johannes died in Linz on November 15,

1630 in Regensburg Germany form a fever.

        Kepler attended a church school in Leonberg in 1576 when he was a young child. When

he was 13 he entered the Adelberg Monastery school to further a career in religion. At the age

of 15 he attended a college prep school where he would soon go on to the University of

Tubingen on a scholarship in 1587. In 1591 Kepler received his degree in religion but soon after

that his life would change. After a math teacher passed away Kepler was asked to be his

replacement. In April of 1594, 22 year old Kepler arrived in Austria to teach mathematics and

mathematical astronomy. While teaching there he was asked to do horoscopes. He never

believed in that but he soon started to do more research on planets and the way they work.

        In 1596 Kepler wrote a book called Mysterium cosmographicum. His book was very

incorrect but his book made it to other European scientists that invited him to come to Prague

and work with him. Kepler decided to move to Aprague with his wife leaving all her fortune

behind. Kepler joined Brahe at the Benatky Castle observatory in February of 1600. He started

studying the orbit of Mars until Brahe died in October of 1601 Kepler inherited all his notes and

data on the stars and planets. He soon realized Brahe’s research didn’t work.

        Kepler is known for his three basic laws underlying the motion of the planets. In 1609 he

published his first two laws of planetary motion. The first law stated that a planet orbit the