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A contemporary of Galileo and a forerunner of Isaac Newton,
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a pioneering German scientist and a
pivotal figure in the history of astronomy. This colorful,
well-researched biography brings the man and his scientific
discoveries to life, showing how his contributions were every bit
as important as those of Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton.It was
Kepler who first advocated the completely new concept of a physical
force emanating from the sun that controls the motion of the
planets--today we call this gravity and take it for granted. He
also established that the orbits of the planets were elliptical in
shape and not circular. And his three laws of planetary motion are
still used by contemporary astronomers and space scientists.The
author focuses not just on these and other momentous breakthroughs
but also on Kepler's arduous life, punctuated by frequent tragedy
and hardships. His first wife died young, and eight of the twelve
children he fathered succumbed to disease in infancy or childhood.
He was frequently caught up in the religious persecutions of the
day. His mother narrowly escaped death when she was accused of
being a witch.Intermingling historical and personal details of
Kepler's life with lucid explanations of his scientific research,
this book presents a sympathetic portrait of the man and
underscores the critical importance of Kepler's discoveries in the
history of astronomy.
Edmond Halley is known far and wide thanks largely to the comet
bearing his name, the nature of which he predicted in 1705. While
that discovery is enough to make the career of any scientist,
Halley’s massive contributions to the fields of astronomy,
philosophy, history, mathematics, engineering, and actuarial
science – the latter of which he founded single-handedly – as a
young man and eventually as Astronomer Royal are mostly overlooked.
Edmond Halley: The Astronomer Royal Who Brought the Universe to
Earth is a revelatory and deeply researched biography of a man
whose defining achievement isn’t even the half of it. A
jack-of-all-trades when it came to scientific reasoning, an
all-around academic, Renaissance man, and workaholic who couldn’t
leave well enough alone, Halley was amazingly productive and
prolific. He was behind some of the most groundbreaking pieces of
discovery in human history: it was Halley who was the first to
survey the skies and plot the stars of the southern hemisphere; he
published Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica, which many argue
is the most important scientific text ever written; in the field of
history, he translated the works of ancient Greek mathematician
Apollonius and calculated the date of Julius Caesar’s arrival in
Britain; he captained the ship Paramore on a scientific expedition
to plot the Earth’s magnetic fields, not losing a single original
crewmember on the mission; Halley was the first to calculate
mortality annuities, creating the foundation for actuarial science;
he made improvements to the diving bell, surveyed the tides of the
English channel, and led the movement to accurately measure the
distance between the Earth and Sun, unlocking the key to
determining the distance to the nearest stars. In this incisive and
surprising biography, author David K. Love reveals the boundless
mind and endless curiosity of Edmond Halley, a man whom many
readers may think they already know. From his inventions and
innovations to his personal life, Edmond Halley firmly cements the
legacy of the second Astronomer Royal among the first-rate
scientists of his time.
A contemporary of Galileo and a forerunner of Isaac Newton,
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a pioneering German scientist and a
pivotal figure in the history of astronomy. This colorful,
well-researched biography brings the man and his scientific
discoveries to life, showing how his contributions were every bit
as important as those of Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton. It was
Kepler who first advocated the completely new concept of a physical
force emanating from the sun that controls the motion of the
planets--today we call this gravity and take it for granted. He
also established that the orbits of the planets were elliptical in
shape and not circular. And his three laws of planetary motion are
still used by contemporary astronomers and space scientists. The
author focuses not just on these and other momentous breakthroughs
but also on Kepler's arduous life, punctuated by frequent tragedy
and hardships. His first wife died young, and eight of the twelve
children he fathered succumbed to disease in infancy or childhood.
He was frequently caught up in the religious persecutions of the
day. His mother narrowly escaped death when she was accused of
being a witch. Intermingling historical and personal details of
Kepler's life with lucid explanations of his scientific research,
this book presents a sympathetic portrait of the man and
underscores the critical importance of Kepler's discoveries in the
history of astronomy.
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