Page - 16 - in Great Astronoms - Johannes Kepler

[1] Editor’s note: Kepler’s given German name was “Johannes.” Throughout the chapter, the author used the Anglicized version of that name, “John”, but I have substituted the given name. [2] in Germany. [3] in Baden-Wurttenberg, Germany. [4] in Austria. [5] Editor’s note: Sir Richard Owen, FRS KCB (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and paleontologist. Owen is probably best remembered today for coining the word Dinosauria (meaning “Terrible Reptile” or “Fearfully Great Reptile”) and for his outspoken opposition to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. He agreed with Darwin that evolution occurred, but thought it was more complex than outlined in Darwin’s Origin. Owen’s approach to evolution can be seen as having anticipated the issues that have gained greater attention with the recent emergence of evolutionary developmental biology. He was the driving force behind the establishment, in 1881, of the British Museum (Natural History) in London. (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Owen .) [6] Editor’s note: Kepler had to do his calculations without the benefit of logarithms. Napier’s invention of logarithms at once attracted Kepler’s attention. He must have regretted that the discovery was not made early enough to save him a vast amount of labor in computations. (See p.52 in “Kepler” by Walter W. Bryant http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001475665) [7] Editor’s note: Pierre Gassendi (also Pierre Gassend, Petrus Gassendi; January 22, 1592 – October 24, 1655) was a French philosopher, priest, scientist, astronomer, and mathematician. With a church position in south-east France, he also spent much time in Paris, where he was a leader of a group of free-thinking intellectuals. He was also an active observational scientist, publishing the first data on the transit of Mercury in 1631. The lunar crater Gassendi is named after him. (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Gassendi ) 16