Johannes Kepler: Literature and His Scientific Work, Planetary Exploration

On March 6, 2009, NASA launched the Kepler Mission. This scientific mission is designed to find Earth-like planets orbiting other Sun-like stars in Earth's "neighborhood" of the solar system. The name for this mission is particularly apt given that Johannes Kepler put forth theories about planetary motion and their relationship to their star and each other in a heliocentric solar system that were revolutionary in their time, and which have stood up in the centuries since that time. Kepler's own life was complicated-his mother was accused of being a witch, and he was sensitive to the criticism that he faced in his work. He was a Protestant, which meant that he was not subject to the same ecumenical pressure that the Vatican could bring to bear on Catholic scientists, but he knew that he was proposing ideas that raised challenging religious as well as scientific questions. This research considers recent literature regarding Kepler and his work, and the insights that the literature provides regarding this important pioneer of planetary exploration.

Dorman considers the way that three authors address the issue of error in an essay that analyzes the approaches of Mark Twain, C. S. Lewis and Kepler. Lewis wrote from a religious perspective while Twain was often in open warfare against religion. Kepler's writings were scientific in their approach, and his work was nonfiction compared to the other two writers who also wrot

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nsit in that the skies were overcast and he could not view the transit. Another astronomer recalculated Kepler's work and determined that a Venus transit would take place eight years later; Kepler had predicted it would not occur until 1761. There are few records as to what this English astronomer-known variously as Horrox or Horrocks-saw during his 1639 observation as he died unexpectedly at the age of 23, but it is known that Kepler's prediction that Venus would indeed transit on June 6, 1761 was accurate (Maor 34). Kepler is not the only astronomer to accurately predict the movement of objects in space-Halley has a comet named for him based in part on Kepler's Laws-but Kepler was the first. To make bold predictions about where specific objects would be in the sky more than a century before they appeared there had never been done. To do it without the aid of modern technology seems impossible. This is the level of importance that Kepler's work takes on, and part of his legacy. Astronomers were able to make important observations by looking at a particular part of the sky from a particular place on earth at a particular date and time based on Kepler's work. Such a contribution is critical to the scientists who fol

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