Biography and Kepler

Kepler was born in a poor family, and therefore he managed to graduate from school with great difficulty and go to the Tubingen University in a year. Here he was engaged in mathematics and astronomy. His teacher, Professor Purtlin, secretly was a follower of Copernicus. Soon, Kepler became a supporter of the theory of Copernicus. Already in the year he publishes a “cosmographical secret” where, accepting Copernicus’s conclusion about the central position of the Sun in the planetary system, he tries to find a connection between the distances of planetary orbit and the radii of spheres, into which the correct multifacers are inscribed in a certain order.

Despite the fact that this work of Kepler remained a model of scholastic, quasi -scientific philosophizing, he brought the author fame. In the year, the famous Danish astronomer-observer, who came to Prague, quietly Brage offered Johann a job as his assistant for observing the sky and astronomical calculations. After the death of Braga, Kepler began to study the remaining materials with long -term observations.

Kepler came to the idea of ​​the wrong opinion about the circular form of planetary orbits. Through calculations, he proved that the planets are moving not in circles, but in ellipses. The first Kepler law suggests: the sun is not in the center of the ellipse, but at a special point called focus. It follows that the distance of the planet from the Sun is not always the same. Kepler found that the speed with which the planet is moving around the Sun is also not always the same: approaching closer to the sun, the planet moves faster, and leaving further from it is slower.

This feature in the movement of the planets is the second law of Kepler. Both Kepler laws became the property of science from the year when his "new astronomy" was published - a presentation of the foundations of new heavenly mechanics. The need to improve the means of astronomical calculations, the preparation of tables of planets based on the Copernician system attracted Kepler to the issues of the theory and practice of logarithms.

He built the theory of logarithms on the arithmetic base and with its help compiled logarithmic tables, first published in the year and reprinted up to a year. In the book "Additions to Vitelli, or the optical part of the astronomy" Kepler, studying conical sections, interprets the parabola as hyperbole or ellipse with an infinitely removed focus - this is the first case of applying the general principle of continuity in the history of mathematics.

In years, at the height of the thirty -year war, when the book of Copernicus was already in the Vatican "List of Forbidden Books". Kepler publishes three releases "Essays on Copernican Astronomy." The name of the book inaccurately reflects its content - the Sun there occupies a place indicated by Copernicus, and the planets, the moon and shortly before Galileo opened by Galileo, the laws of Jupiter appeal to the laws open by Kepler.

In the same years, Kepler also publishes the “harmony of the world”, where he formulates the third law of planetary movements: squares of periods of circulation of two planets belong to each other as cubes of their middle distances from the sun. For many years, he has been working on the compilation of new planetary tables printed in the year called "Rudolphin tables", which for many years have been a table book of astronomers.

Kepler also owns important results in other sciences, in particular in optics. The optical scheme of the refractor developed by him has already become the main in astronomical observations by the year. Kepler was engaged not only in the study of the circulation of the planets, he was interested in other issues of astronomy. His attention was especially attracted by comets.

Having noticed that the tails of the comets are always turned away from the sun, Kepler expressed the guess that the tails were formed under the influence of sunlight. At that time, nothing was known about the nature of solar radiation and the structure of comets. Only in the second half of the XIX century and in the XX century it was found that the formation of the tails of comets is really associated with the radiation of the sun.

The scientist died during a trip to Regensburg on November 15, when he tried in vain at least part of the salary that the imperial treasury owed him over many years.