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3Chapter
In addition to Kepler’s discoveries already mentioned, with which his name
will be for ever associated, his claim on the gratitude of astronomers chiefly
depends on the publication of his famous Rudolphine tables. In this
remarkable work means are provided for finding the places of the planets with
far greater accuracy than had previously been attainable.
Kepler, it must be always remembered, was not an astronomical observer. It
was his function to deal with the observations made by Tycho, and, from
close study and comparison of the results, to work out the movements of the
heavenly bodies. It was, in fact, Tycho who provided as it were the raw
material, while it was the genius of Kepler which wrought that material into a
beautiful and serviceable form. For more than a century the Rudolphine tables
were regarded as a standard astronomical work. In these days we are
accustomed to find the movements of the heavenly bodies set forth with all
desirable exactitude in the Nautical Almanack, and the similar publication
issued by foreign Grovernments. Let it be remembered that it was Kepler who
first imparted the proper impulse in this direction.
When Kepler was twenty-six he married an heiress from Styria, who,
though only twenty-three years old, had already had some experience in
matrimony. Her first husband had died; and it was after her second husband
had divorced her that she received the addresses of Kepler. It will not be
surprising to hear that his domestic affairs do not appear to have been
particularly happy, and his wife died in 1611. Two years later, undeterred by
the want of success in his first venture, he sought a second partner, and he
evidently determined not to make a mistake this time. Indeed, the methodical
manner in which he made his choice of the lady to whom he should propose
has been duly set forth by him and preserved for our edification. With some
self-assurance he asserts that there were no fewer than eleven spinsters
desirous of sharing his joys and sorrows. He has carefully estimated and
recorded the merits and demerits of each of these would-be brides. The result
of his deliberations was that he awarded himself to an orphan girl, destitute
even of a portion. Success attended his choice, and his.second marriage seems
to have proved a much more suitable union than his first. He had five children
by the first wife and seven by the second.
The years of Kepler’s middle life were sorely distracted by a trouble which,
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Buch Great Astronoms - Johannes Kepler"
Great Astronoms
Johannes Kepler
- Titel
- Great Astronoms
- Untertitel
- Johannes Kepler
- Autor
- Robert S. Ball
- Datum
- 1907
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- PD
- Abmessungen
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Seiten
- 16
- Schlagwörter
- Astronom, Philosopher, Englisch, English, Astronomie, Philosophie
- Kategorien
- International
- Naturwissenschaften Physik