Famous Scientist - Johannes Kepler
Today's famous scientist is Johann Kepler. Known best for figuring out how planets revolve around
the sun, Kepler was a study in contradictions. One foot in medieval times and one foot in the
modern era. Kepler was born in Germany in 1571 and devoted himself to astronomy as a boy. At the time
just about everybody followed Ptolemy, whose outlook about the universe was kind of like
a typical teenager's. Everything totally revolves around me. But Kepler agreed with Copernicus,
who said that the center of the galaxy was the sun, not the earth. Whatever. He published the
first ever defense of Copernicus and later in life took it even further with his three laws
of planetary motion. The first law broke from the Copernican model which stated that the planets
revolve in perfect circles. Kepler figured out that the orbits were actually ovals and that the
sun isn't in the exact middle. He did it all without the aid of high-powered telescopes and
space exploration. And to make it even more impressive, think about what else was going on
Shakespeare was writing his plagues. To be or not to be. The King James Bible came out and
people called the pilgrims landed at a place called Plymouth Rock. In his 40s he turned into a lawyer
to defend his mother against charges of witchcraft. I'll get you my pretty. Like a medieval Perry Mason
he got his clients off the hook or in this case the burning stake. As modern as his research was
for astronomy he was also a major force in the ancient art of astrology. Forever enabling
pickup artists everywhere. Hey baby what's your sign? That's right in the highly scientific field
of horoscopes Kepler was famous for predicting the future. But even with all his astrological
skill it seems impossible that Johann Kepler could ever have foreseen the impact he would have
on centuries to come.