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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Astrophysics and Astronomy

Gettysburg College

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Science

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

4. Kepler, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart Jan 1958

4. Kepler, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section VIII: The Development of Modern Science

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), a Dane, spent nearly his entire life making careful measurements of the positions of the stars and planets. Most of his work was done at Copenhagen under the patronage of the Danish king. He developed and refined astronomical instruments to an accuracy that was far superior to anything previously done. In his late years at Prague, he started on the reduction to order of the systematic observations that he had made over a period of decades. In 1600 a young German mathematician and astronomer, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), visited Tycho and then stayed to help in the mammoth …


1. Greek And Medieval Science, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart Jan 1958

1. Greek And Medieval Science, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section VIII: The Development of Modern Science

What kind of questions did the Greeks ask themselves about the physical universe? We can paraphrase Plato: the stars move about the earth in circles, the perfect paths, and they move with uniform motion as befits divine and eternal beings. But five of these stars are planets (Greek for wanderers) which appear to have irregular motion, first moving forward, then actually stopping, and then moving backward for awhile. Since the heavens are incorruptible, the planets too must really be moving in uniform motion in circular paths. How then can we account for the apparently irregular motions? What uniform motions must …