BACKGROUND
before the legacy
A Brief Description ​
​
Johannes Kepler was an exceptional mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer who forever changed how people looked at the natural world around them. While further developing optics and geometry, Kepler is best known for his discoveries on planets and their movements around the sun.
​
Name: Johannes Kepler
Birthday: December 27, 1571
Birth Place: Weil der Stadt, Württemberg (Germany)
Parents: Katharina Guldenmann, Heinrich Kepler
Siblings: Margaretha Kepler, Heinrich Kepler, Christoph Kepler.
Death Date: November 15, 1630​
Age of Death: 58
Location of Death: Regensburg, Germany
THE FAMILY
-
Kepler's family was poor and quite unstable, his father leaving home multiple times before his death when Kepler was only five.
-
Katharina Guldenmann, Kepler's mother, was a herbalist and healer.
-
Heinrich Kepler, Kepler's father, was a mercenary who served in the Eighty Years' War in the Netherlands where after never returning, was presumed dead.
-
The Kepler family truly had six children, however, three of Kepler's siblings died in infancy.
-
Katharina was accused of being a witch during the witch trials and Johannes defended his mother during the trial, playing a significant part in her release during October of 1621.
THE MARRIAGES
-
Kepler was married twice, once to Barbra Müller and the other to Susanna Reuttinger.
-
He had a total of 11 children, although only three children from each marriage lived past infancy.
-
Barbara Müller was the daughter of a mill owner, and the two were married on April 27, 1597.
-
Their first two children died early on, but they had Susanna (1602), Friedrich (1604), and Ludwig (1607).
-
Sadly In 1611, Barbara and Friedrich past away from an illness.
-
Johannes Kepler got remarried to Susanna Reuttinger On October 30, 1613.
-
Their first three children died early as well, but the next three Cordula (1621), Fridmar (1623) and Hildebert (1625) lived on.
Barbara Muller (left) next to Johannes Kepler(right).
RELIGION
-
Kepler was a devoted Lutheran.
-
The Counter-Reformation forcefully removed him from Graz, Austria, where he taught mathematics, and because of this he relocated in Prague.
-
After his patron Rudolf II died, Kepler moved to Linz in 1612, where he was excluded from the sacrament in the Lutheran Church because he refused to sign the Formula of Concord, a statement of faith.
-
Sought justification to his discoveries by connecting it back to God and his making of the universe through a "mathematical plan."
To justify God's purpose in the scientific and mathematical world Kepler theorized that the planets and their distances were determined by platonic solids
EDUCATION
-
Kepler first was schooled in Latin but later went to the Protestant Seminary of Maulbronn because of his future hopes of becoming a Protestant minister.
-
Although poor, Kepler was able to get into the University of Tübingen with a scholarship to study for the Lutheran Ministry.
-
His mathematics professor was Michael Maestlin, who was claimed to be one of Germany's most honorable astronomers.
-
Kepler was one of few who believed in Copernicus's heliocentric theory, and Maestlin was one of the first to introduced Kepler to the Copernican system.
-
Although he originally wanted to become a theologian, in 1594 he became a teacher in math and astronomy at the Protestant school in the city of Graz, Austria.
HIS LIFE
-
Grew up in a poor household with impairments from smallpox.
-
Kepler had crippled hands and poor eyesight, although it did not stop him from impressing those around him with his mathematic skills.
-
Kepler had to work in his grandfather’s inn in order to provide for his family.
-
Took up a love for astronomy after his mother showed him the Great Comet of 1577 and a lunar eclipse, along with the different phases of the moons.
-
Devoted his life to his education in math and astronomy, gaining scholarships along with future jobs in the field.
-
Worked under Tycho Brahe an imperial mathematician and astronomer.
-
published multiple books on his and Brahe's discoveries known as planetary motions.
-
His life was full of despair and death after his parents, children, and wife Barbra all past away, however, nothing stopped him from accomplishing some of the best scientific and mathematical works of his time.
The Solar System and the general location of planets around the sun.
INSPIRATIONS
An image of Nicolaus Copernicus, the scientist behind the heliocentric theory Kepler sought out to prove.
An image of Katharina Guldenmann, Kepler's mother.
-
Kepler’s mother first introduced the natural world and astronomy to Kepler, ultimately setting up his future path in the science.
-
His mathematics teacher Michael Maestlin allowed Kepler to further investigate the planets along with Copernicus's theories.
-
Tycho Brahe, an astronomer whom Kepler worked with in Prague ultimately led him to make discoveries on Mars and its orbit.
-
Galileo’s work was a starting point to Kepler’s findings along with Copernicus' theories on a heliocentric solar system.