Happy Birthday to the great astronomer Johannes Kepler

The great astronomer, Johannes Kepler, was so moved by the beauty and ingenuity of what he saw in nature that he broke into a spontaneous prayer of gratitude to God in one of his scientific essays.

He was born on 27 December 1571 in Weil der Stadt (Germany). He directed his interest later to mathematics, physics, and astronomy. After decades of thoroughly observing planetary motion, and utilizing the rich data material of Tycho Brahe in Prague, he formulated what are called Kepler’s laws regarding the planets’ orbits around the sun. While Tycho Brahe supported a geocentric approach, Kepler was convinced of Copernicus’ heliocentric appoach. In the turbulent times of the Thirty Years’ War in the first half of the 16th century, he suffered significant hardship and had to move several times, from Graz to Prague, Linz, Ulm and Regensburg. And despite all hardship and sufferings (he lost his first wife and several of his children), he remained convinced: “I think that an understanding of the cause of most things in the world can be derived from God’s love for humanity.”

– Science Meets Faith

(The portrait might be a fake, I’m told)

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