Johannes Kepler

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Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630). He is an important figure during the scientific revolution of the 17th century. He is most famous for his laws of planetary motion. These laws also help lead to Newton's theory of gravity.

Johannes Kepler in a 1610 painting

Background

Johannes Kepler was born in 1571 in Weil der Stadt a town in southwest Germany. Throughout his early years he attended schools and his mathematics teacher was Michael Maestlin who believed in Copernicus's heliocentric theory and taught this to Kepler. He took a appointment as a mathematics professor in Graz in 1594.

Laws of Planetary Motion

1st and 2nd laws. The sun is located at f1 and is thus a foci of both planets orbits which is the 1st law. The equal areas of A1 and A2 demonstrates the 2nd law.

1. Law of Orbits

All planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one of the two foci

2. Law of Areas

A line that connects a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times.

3. Law of Periods

The square of the period of any planet is proportional to the cube of the semi major axis of its orbit.

Further reading

Books, Articles or other print media on this topic

External links

Johannes Kepler [1] Kepler's laws of planetary motion

Youtube Video explaining Kepler's three laws [2]

References

[3] [4]