THE GREAT ONES
Johannes Kepler
V.K. SUBRAMANIAN
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Johannes Kepler (1571 A.D.- 1630 A.D.) was the founder of the modern science of optics.
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Illustration: V.K. Subramanian
Johannes Kepler, the German scientist, is considered one of the founders of modern astronomy.
Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion are derived from Copernicus’ discoveries and paved the way for the discoveries of Isaac Newton.
His first Law states that each planet moves round the sun in an elliptical (not circular) orbit, with the sun at one focus.
The second Law states thats planet moves more quickly when it is closer to the sun; the speed of a planet varies in such a way that the line joining the planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal lengths of time.
The third Law states that the more distant a planet is from the sun, the longer it takes to complete the revolution, with the square of the period of the revolution being proportional to the cube of the distance from the sun.
Discoveries
Kepler’s suggestion that planetary motions were controlled by forces originating from the sun led Newton to develop his Law of Gravity.
Kepler was also the first to suggest that tides were caused by the gravitational pull of the moon.
Kepler was also the Founder of the modern science of optics. He postulated the ray theory of light to explain vision.
Kepler was born on December 27, 1571 A.D. and died in Bavaria, on November 15, 1630.
Kepler taught science at the Universtiy of Graz in Austria and later became the Imperial mathematician appointed by the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II.
This is an extract from the book The Great Ones by V.K.Subramanian, Abhinav Publications, New Delhi
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