Kepler and the Universe

Kepler and the Universe PDF Author: David K. Love
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1633881075
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
A contemporary of Galileo and a forerunner of Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a pioneering German scientist and a pivotal figure in the history of astronomy. This colorful, well-researched biography brings the man and his scientific discoveries to life, showing how his contributions were every bit as important as those of Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton. It was Kepler who first advocated the completely new concept of a physical force emanating from the sun that controls the motion of the planets--today we call this gravity and take it for granted. He also established that the orbits of the planets were elliptical in shape and not circular. And his three laws of planetary motion are still used by contemporary astronomers and space scientists. The author focuses not just on these and other momentous breakthroughs but also on Kepler's arduous life, punctuated by frequent tragedy and hardships. His first wife died young, and eight of the twelve children he fathered succumbed to disease in infancy or childhood. He was frequently caught up in the religious persecutions of the day. His mother narrowly escaped death when she was accused of being a witch. Intermingling historical and personal details of Kepler's life with lucid explanations of his scientific research, this book presents a sympathetic portrait of the man and underscores the critical importance of Kepler's discoveries in the history of astronomy.

Kepler and the Universe

Kepler and the Universe PDF Author: David K. Love
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1633881075
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
A contemporary of Galileo and a forerunner of Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a pioneering German scientist and a pivotal figure in the history of astronomy. This colorful, well-researched biography brings the man and his scientific discoveries to life, showing how his contributions were every bit as important as those of Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton. It was Kepler who first advocated the completely new concept of a physical force emanating from the sun that controls the motion of the planets--today we call this gravity and take it for granted. He also established that the orbits of the planets were elliptical in shape and not circular. And his three laws of planetary motion are still used by contemporary astronomers and space scientists. The author focuses not just on these and other momentous breakthroughs but also on Kepler's arduous life, punctuated by frequent tragedy and hardships. His first wife died young, and eight of the twelve children he fathered succumbed to disease in infancy or childhood. He was frequently caught up in the religious persecutions of the day. His mother narrowly escaped death when she was accused of being a witch. Intermingling historical and personal details of Kepler's life with lucid explanations of his scientific research, this book presents a sympathetic portrait of the man and underscores the critical importance of Kepler's discoveries in the history of astronomy.

Recentering the Universe

Recentering the Universe PDF Author: Ron Miller
Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books
ISBN: 1467716626
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description
In the sixth century B.C.E., the Greek philosopher Anaximander theorized that Earth was at the center of the cosmos. That idea became ingrained in scientific thinking and Christian religious beliefs for more than one thousand years. Defiance of church doctrine could mean death, so no one dared dispute this long-accepted idea. No one except a handful of courageous scientists. In the 1500s and 1600s, men like Nicolaus Copernicus, Johanned Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton began to ask questions. What if Earth actually orbited the sun, instead of the other way around? What if the universe was much bigger than anyone imagined? These scientists risked their reputations—even their lives—to challenge the very heart of Catholic dogma and scientific tradition. Yet, in less than 200 years, their radical thinking overturned theories that had lasted more than a millennium. Join these bold thinkers on the journey of discovery that forever changed our understanding of the cosmos.

Kepler and the Universe

Kepler and the Universe PDF Author: David Love
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1633881067
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
A contemporary of Galileo and a forerunner of Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a pioneering German scientist and a pivotal figure in the history of astronomy. This colorful, well-researched biography brings the man and his scientific discoveries to life, showing how his contributions were every bit as important as those of Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton. It was Kepler who first advocated the completely new concept of a physical force emanating from the sun that controls the motion of the planets--today we call this gravity and take it for granted. He also established that the orbits of the planets were elliptical in shape and not circular. And his three laws of planetary motion are still used by contemporary astronomers and space scientists. The author focuses not just on these and other momentous breakthroughs but also on Kepler's arduous life, punctuated by frequent tragedy and hardships. His first wife died young, and eight of the twelve children he fathered succumbed to disease in infancy or childhood. He was frequently caught up in the religious persecutions of the day. His mother narrowly escaped death when she was accused of being a witch.Intermingling historical and personal details of Kepler's life with lucid explanations of his scientific research, this book presents a sympathetic portrait of the man and underscores the critical importance of Kepler's discoveries in the history of astronomy.

Tycho and Kepler

Tycho and Kepler PDF Author: Kitty Ferguson
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 144816723X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
The extraordinary, unlikely tale of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler and their enormous contribution to astronomy and understanding of the cosmos is one of the strangest stories in the history of science. Kepler was a poor, devoutly religious teacher with a genius for mathematics. Brahe was an arrogant, extravagant aristocrat who possessed the finest astronomical instruments and observations of the time, before the telescope. Both espoused theories that seem off-the-wall to modern minds, but their fateful meeting in Prague in 1600 was to change the future of science. Set in one of the most turbulent and colourful eras in European history, when medieval was giving way to modern, Tycho and Kepler is a double biography of these two remarkable men.

Epitome of Copernican Astronomy and Harmonies of the World

Epitome of Copernican Astronomy and Harmonies of the World PDF Author: Johannes Kepler
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1615921974
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
The brilliant German mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), one of the founders of modern astronomy, revolutionized the Copernican heliocentric theory of the universe with his three laws of motion: that the planets move not in circular but elliptical orbits, that their speed is greatest when nearest the sun, and that the sun and planets form an integrated system. This volume contains two of his most important works: The Epitome of Copernican Astronomy (books 4 and 5 of which are translated here) is a textbook of Copernican science, remarkable for the prominence given to physical astronomy and for the extension to the Jovian system of the laws recently discovered to regulate the motions of the Planets. Harmonies of the World (book 5 of which is translated here) expounds an elaborate system of celestial harmonies depending on the varying velocities of the planets.

The Harmony of the World

The Harmony of the World PDF Author: Johannes Kepler
Publisher: American Philosophical Society
ISBN: 9780871692092
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 618

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Book Description
The authors have presented and interpreted Johannes Kepler's Latin text to English readers by putting it into the kind of clear but earnest language they suppose Kepler would have used if he had been writing today.

The NASA Kepler Mission

The NASA Kepler Mission PDF Author: Steve B.. Howell
Publisher: IOP Publishing Limited
ISBN: 9780750322942
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
This book covers the numerous, paradigm changing scientific discoveries in exoplanets and other areas of astrophysics made possible by the NASA Kepler and K2 Missions. It is suitable for the interested layperson, pupils of science and space missions, and advanced science students and researchers.

The Astronomer & the Witch

The Astronomer & the Witch PDF Author: Ulinka Rublack
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198736770
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
In The Astronomer and the Witch, Ulinka Rublack pieces together the tale of this extraordinary episode in Kepler's life, one that takes us to the heart of his changing world.

Johannes Kepler

Johannes Kepler PDF Author: William J. Boerst
Publisher: Morgan Reynolds Publishing
ISBN: 9781883846985
Category : Astronomers
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
As a student in Germany in the sixteenth century, Johannes Kepler became convinced the Sun was at the center of the planets and the universe operated on the same mathematical principles that govern musical harmony. He devoted his life to understanding this system of celestial harmony. In the process, he discovered the first three laws of planetary motion and founded the science of physical astronomy. Book jacket.

Kepler's Philosophy and the New Astronomy

Kepler's Philosophy and the New Astronomy PDF Author: Rhonda Martens
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400831091
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Johannes Kepler contributed importantly to every field he addressed. He changed the face of astronomy by abandoning principles that had been in place for two millennia, made important discoveries in optics and mathematics, and was an uncommonly good philosopher. Generally, however, Kepler's philosophical ideas have been dismissed as irrelevant and even detrimental to his legacy of scientific accomplishment. Here, Rhonda Martens offers the first extended study of Kepler's philosophical views and shows how those views helped him construct and justify the new astronomy. Martens notes that since Kepler became a Copernican before any empirical evidence supported Copernicus over the entrenched Ptolemaic system, his initial reasons for preferring Copernicanism were not telescope observations but rather methodological and metaphysical commitments. Further, she shows that Kepler's metaphysics supported the strikingly modern view of astronomical method that led him to discover the three laws of planetary motion and to wed physics and astronomy--a key development in the scientific revolution. By tracing the evolution of Kepler's thought in his astronomical, metaphysical, and epistemological works, Martens explores the complex interplay between changes in his philosophical views and the status of his astronomical discoveries. She shows how Kepler's philosophy paved the way for the discovery of elliptical orbits and provided a defense of physical astronomy's methodological soundness. In doing so, Martens demonstrates how an empirical discipline was inspired and profoundly shaped by philosophical assumptions.