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1577
A Comet-sized Wonder
In approximately 1577, Johannes Kepler had an event occur that could arguably be pointed out as what started his exploration of the cosmos and philosophy. Known as the Great Comet of 1577, Kepler viewed it when he was about 5 years old, and was awed by the sheer size of the comet, which stretched across the entire sky (Hudon). This event surely piqued his interest in the field he would become best known for, and his eventual creation of the Laws of Planetary Motion. -
The Cosmic Mystery
In his first publication, Kepler delves into mathematical and philosophical ideas to produce, "the earliest astronomical work to attempt to present a mathematical account of the motions of the planets in terms of physical effects introduced by the Sun" (Madden, 1). It was a theory based in linking the known planets with the five Platonic solids (Kepler). There is a great video that explains it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrmjEfBReoA -
A Philosophical Dream
One of Johannes' major gifts to the philosophical field, and eventual science field, was his work on a fictitious book (posthumously published in 1634 by his son) where humans travel to the moon (Kepler). While still a long way off, he philosophized in his book about how man could get to the moon through mysticism (daemons specifically) and magic. While not magic, our modern-day rockets and ability to get to the moon go to show that philosophical ideas of today, can be tomorrow's fact. -
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Laws of Planetary Motion
Starting with publishing his first two laws in 1609, Johannes Kepler worked on solving the planetary motions of our solar-system till his third law came about in 1619, which later culminated in the total work of his three laws in 1621 (Kepler). These laws have been used by modern astronomers as the basis for their research, and are one of his largest contributions to science. There is a YouTube video that explains this process well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s77LJO6USEY