ROLE AND IMPACT

SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

He published the law which said that the Sun was the center and planets revolve around the Sun, not the earth.
Developed the three laws of planetary motion which stated that planets move in an ellipse rather than a circular motion.
A renowned mathematician who proved logarithms and used his skills to theorize on planets.
Further developed lenses for optics and the telescope

Three laws of planetary motion; the earth's orbits are elliptical rather than circular, the earth moves at different speeds depending on its distance from the sun, and the time it takes for a planet to make a complete orbit around the sun is determined by its distance from the sun.
discovered that lenses in the human eye inverts images and makes them appear upside down in the retinas.
Rudolphine Tables, in 1627, which served as a star catalog and planetary table for scientists.
invented the refracting astronomical telescope which had improved and more accurate capabilities than the one Galileo created.
observed a supernova that comes every 800 years and found out the astronomical property of the star, later named a Kepler's Star.
Inverse square law on light intensity
Kepler proved that logarithms worked and simplified any math equation.

The Rudolphine Tables, named after the late Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II

He used Brahe’s astronomical observations on Mars.
In 1601, Kepler was given unrestricted access to Brahe’s works as he was appointed Imperial Mathematician.
He observed the planets and their movement with a telescope for 17 years.
analyzed and referred to Copernicus' and Galileo's works.
He studied the theory of camera obscura in order to develop a telescope that could magnify better; he was trying to provide an explanation of eclipses.

Tycho Brahe

He used Brahe’s observations to publish his first and second law in 1609 and the third one in 1618.
Published many books such as, Astronomiae Pars Optica (1604); De Nova in Pede Serpentarii (1604); Astronomia Nova (1609); and Dioptrice (1611).
Published Mysterium Cosmographicum in 1596 which supported the heliocentric theory.
Used status and authority because he was an imperial mathematician with support from the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II.

A sketch of Kepler's second law, the one stating that a planet's orbit is dependent on its distance from the sun

Inspired Sir Isaac Newton, someone who was religious, to develop the law of gravitation, one of the most important laws in science.
Issac Newton was inspired by Kepler's Inverse Square Law on Light Intensity along with the first two laws of planetary motion in his book Astronomia Nova.

The theories and opinions published by prior scientists who believed in heliocentrism were ridiculed by the Church.
Prior scientists were jailed and forced to denounce what they had said or written.
Faced persecution and forced relocation because of his religion.
Faced the death of his wife, partner Tycho Brahe, and children.
Crippled hands and poor eyesight because of his diagnosis of smallpox.
His mother and grandmother were both convicted of witchcraft.

Sir Isaac Newton

Image of Kepler next to a globe

Further supported Copernicus's theory, disproving the church’s beliefs and their authority.
Changed how scientists viewed the movements of planets and their relation to the sun and its force.
NASA dedicated a science center in Kepler’s name, revolving around the Kepler spacecraft and its mechanics, data analysis, and software.
Developed the first credited lenses for eyeglasses and also contributed to the development and scientific study of optics.
The Kepler spacecraft launched on March 6, 2009, and became the first planet-hunting spacecraft.
Showed the importance and clash of religion during the scientific revolution.
inspired new levels of thinking for Isaac Newton, helping him to contribute to the scientific revolution and his laws on gravitation.

An image taken by the Kepler Spacecraft