Johannes Kepler

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.9K Ratings

🗓️ 29 December 2016

⏱️ 49 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630). Although he is overshadowed today by Isaac Newton and Galileo, he is considered by many to be one of the greatest scientists in history. The three laws of planetary motion Kepler developed transformed people's understanding of the Solar System and laid the foundations for the revolutionary ideas Isaac Newton produced later. Kepler is also thought to have written one of the first works of science fiction. However, he faced a number of challenges. He had to defend his mother from charges of witchcraft, he had few financial resources and his career suffered as a result of his Lutheran faith. With David Wootton Professor of History at the University of York

Ulinka Rublack Professor of Early Modern European History at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St John's College

Adam Mosley Associate Professor in the Department of History at Swansea University

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time. There's a reading list to go with it on our website,
0:04.6	and you can get news about our programs if you follow us on Twitter at BBC In Our Time. I hope
0:10.2	you enjoyed the programs. Hello, the German astronomer Johannes Kepler is widely regarded as
0:15.5	one of the greatest scientists of all time. Born in 1571, his work laid the foundations for the
0:21.6	breakthrough that Isaac Newton made a century later. Kepler conducted research in the field of
0:26.7	optics and made important advances in mathematics. He became imperial mathematician at the Holy
0:31.7	Roman Emperor, but his most significant achievement was his development of his three pioneering laws
0:37.4	of planetary motion, which revolutionized our understanding of the solar system. He accomplished
0:42.1	all this despite the fact that he had little money. His personal life was hit by tragedy.
0:46.5	His mother was accused of witchcraft, and he was a Lutheran at a time when an increasingly
0:50.8	Catholic Germany often persecuted Lutherans. He's also thought to have written one of the first
0:55.4	works of science fiction. With me to discuss Johannes Kepler's life and science are David Wooden,
1:01.0	professor of history at the University of York. You will link a rule black, professor of early modern
1:05.6	European history at the University of Cambridge in Phillips and Johns College, and Adam Mosley,
1:10.4	associate professor in the Department of History at Swansea University. Adam Mosley,
1:14.7	religion played a major role in Kepler's life. It didn't have lives in many people at that time.
1:19.6	What was the religious situation in Germany when Kepler was growing up?
1:23.4	What we think of as Germany was, at that point, the Holy Roman Empire, which was a network of
1:28.6	principalities and little states and Prince Bishop Ricks, that was normally ruled over by the Habsburg
1:34.4	Emperor, and it had been driven by the Reformation. That had generated religious conflict,
1:41.1	and it generated a military conflict, which had come to an easy truce in the piece of
1:46.4	Habsburg in 1555. One of the principles of that settlement was the Cueo's Reguio
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