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Move to Prague
Kepler found himself forced out of his position as mathematician in Graz (what is now Austria) and ventured to Prague to work with Tycho Brahe. Brahe was a Danish astronomer famous for challenging what was previously known about the universe. Kepler would befriend Brahe who guarded his data and information carefully. Kepler presented educated and interesting mathematical theories that earned the trust of Brahe and thus access to his work. -
Death of Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe tragically died in October of 1601 from what is sometimes disputed between a kidney illness and mercury poisoning. From this point Kepler would take Brahe's position as Imperial Mathematician and would inherit all of Brahe's data and work. Kepler would use Brahe's precise data and use it to expand on the orbits of objects in space. Like Brahe, Kepler was a fan of the work of Copernicus and believed in concepts like a heliocentric orbit, an orbit in which a star is at the center. -
Astronomia Nova
Using data from Brahe, Kepler formed what are known as the laws of planetary motion. He discovered that Mars' orbit was an ellipse. Traditional circular orbits did not agree with the data. In this research Kepler was able to make the predicted elliptical orbits agree with Brahe's accurate data. In 1609 he published Astronomia Nova, presenting this work. Notably was his use of what is now the scientific method, he would let the data speak for itself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDHnWptz5Jo -
Harmonices Mundi
Lutherans were forced out of Prague in 1612 and Kepler was relocated to Linz, now the third largest city of Austria. Although Kepler had some disagreements with his family's religion, he was still labeled with this and found himself in the middle of what would become the Thirty Years War. Through extreme turmoil he would still publish his third law of planetary motion in what he labeled Harmonices Mundi. While grieving the death of his wife and two children, he overcame and remained committed.
