Johannes Kepler was born on December 27, 1571 in Weil der Stadt, Baden-Wurttemberg. Johannes’s grandfather was actually mayor of the city, but once Johannes was born all the wealth was gone.

Kepler’s father was a mercenary and left Johannes when he was five, and his mother was a ‘healer’ or ‘herbalist’. Johannes was born premature which caused him to be sickly throughout childhood. He contracted smallpox at a very age and it caused him to become visually impaired, but he soon outgrew his sickly stage and then dived into his studies.    Johannes was captivated by astronomy when he was very young. At six years old he saw the Great Comet of 1577 and at age nine observed a lunar eclipse. Growing up Kepler was not the brightest student, but after switching schools his intellect shone bright. He was offered a scholarship to attend the University of Tubingen where he studied under Vitus Muller and Jacob Heerbrandt, both famous in their fields.   While there he studied theology, philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy.

After his intellectual abilities became well known he was offered a professorship in Graz, Styria. One of his responsibilities was to make astrological predictions, and after his predictions of a cold winter and the Turks invading came true he was promoted. One day, while teaching a class, he observed that his drawing of circles and triangles could explain the solar system. He strongly believed in the Copernican system and with much examining he found that the solar system was three dimensional, not two dimensional.

     Kepler was treated in both positive and negative means by the rest of the scientific community. The scientific community, including Galileo, firstly refused his hypothesis stating ‘that the moon caused the tides on the Earth was unscientific’. However Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion did much of a better job of upholding precision than the earlier views in relation to circular orbits and so, despite the beliefs of Galileo, the scientific community immediately supported them.     Although Kepler was most devoted to his planetary studies, he came across other discoveries while journeying to his goal. Kepler discovered that reflections provided the image in your eye, and that when you use two eyes it enables depth perception. In addition to that he also created glasses for farsighted and nearsighted people. Although his focus was certainly on planetary motion, it seems he took a pit stop when he started discovering things about the eye, because he also explained the telescope, images and their magnification, and the properties of reflection.    Once Kepler continued in his planetary studies, he discovered that gravity was caused by two bodies, not one.

With that he then concluded that the moon causes the motion of the tides on earth. With all the information Kepler studied and published he was able to predict several interesting things. The first being the birth of Christ, which no one really knows that accuracy of, but the second was an eclipse that he predicted, but never saw.    Kepler’s theory, countless discoveries and inventions also interact with and have an impact on ethical ,cultural, and societal factors. To formulate his three laws of planetary motion. Kepler obtained Tycho’s data after his death by unethical means of stealing(under authorized ways).

Defending the ideas of Copernicus, Kepler went against the Church’s teachings and ideas. Thus people began questioning other doctrines the Church could be wrong about, since formerly every thing people did was in accordance with the Church’s teachings. This marked the beginning of the scientific revolution as it impacted the social giving individuals reason to start thinking for them instead of unquestionably following the Church. Likewise Kepler’s ideas had a huge effect on society. Positive impacts include the improvement of science, society’s education and so forth.  Kepler led a quiet life, but certainly did not have an easy one. He lost his first wife and two daughters to illness, leaving him with two other children to care for alone. He knew his work would never be accomplished if he had to keep the children every day, so he married again for a babysitter.

While he worked with Tycho his mother was put on trial for witchcraft, which caused him to put his work on hold until she was later released and freed of all charges. Kepler’s life was certainly a successful one despite the fallbacks and devastation. Without Kepler’s devotion to planetary motion we would not be as far advanced as we are today and the people’s understanding of the solar system would be limited and incorrect. Because of his dedication, along with others, we know a lot more about the planets motion today.