Johannes Kepler was a German Lutheran mathematician, astronomer and
astrologer, and a key figure in the 17th century astronomical
revolution. He is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary
motion, codified by later astronomers based on his works Astronomia
nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican Astronomy. Before
Kepler, planets' paths were computed by combinations of the circular
motions of the celestial orbs. After Kepler, astronomers shifted their
attention from orbs to orbits—paths that could be represented
mathematically as an ellipse. Kepler's laws also provided one of the
foundations for Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravitation. During
his career Kepler was a mathematics teacher at a Graz seminary school,
an assistant to Tycho Brahe, the court mathematician to Emperor Rudolf
II, a mathematics teacher in Linz, Austria, and an adviser to General
Wallenstein. He also did fundamental work in the field of optics and
helped to legitimize the telescopic discoveries of his contemporary
Galileo Galilei.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Kepler
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1410:
The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the
Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald, the
decisive engagement of the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grunwald)
1685:
James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, was executed for his role in the
Monmouth Rebellion, an attempt to overthrow the King James II of
England.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Scott%2C_1st_Duke_of_Monmouth)
1799:
French soldiers uncovered the Rosetta Stone in the Egyptian port
city of Rashid.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone)
1823:
A fire destroyed the ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the
Walls in Rome. The church would later be restored by 1840.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Saint_Paul_Outside_the_Walls)
1974:
Greek-sponsored nationalists overthrew Archbishop Makarios,
President of Cyprus, in a coup d'état and replaced him with Nikos
Sampson.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makarios_III)
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Wiktionary's Word of the day:
coy: Pretending shyness or modesty.
(
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coy)
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Wikiquote of the day:
Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than
oneself is real. Love, and so art and morals, is the discovery of
reality. -- Iris Murdoch
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iris_Murdoch)