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Mathematician

Johannes Kepler

Early Modern

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a German mathematician and astronomer, a central figure of the Scientific Revolution best known for his three laws of planetary motion, which showed that planets travel in elliptical rather than circular orbits. In his 1611 pamphlet on the six-cornered snowflake he gave the first mathematical treatment of the close packing of equal spheres, conjecturing that no arrangement packs spheres more densely than the cubic and hexagonal close packings; the claim, now the Kepler Conjecture, was not proved until Thomas Hales's work of 1998 and its 2014 formal verification. Kepler also advanced the practical use of Napier's new logarithms, publishing his own eight-figure logarithm tables with the Rudolphine Tables in 1628. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Birth Date
1571-12-27 1
Birth Year
1571 1
Death Date
1630-11-15 1
Death Year
1630 1
Birthplace
Weil der Stadt, Holy Roman Empire (present-day Germany) 1
Death Place
Regensburg, Holy Roman Empire (present-day Germany) 1
Nationality / Culture
German 1
Defining Contribution
Calculated tables of eight-figure logarithms, published with his Rudolphine Tables in 1628, helping to establish Napier's new method as a practical tool for astronomers. 2
Defining Contribution
First stated, in 1611, the conjecture that no packing of equal spheres in space is denser than cubic or hexagonal close packing, now called the Kepler Conjecture. 3
Defining Contribution
Formulated the three laws of planetary motion, establishing that planets move in elliptical orbits and overturning the assumption of circular orbits that had held since antiquity. 1
Defining Contribution
Gave the first mathematical treatment of the close packing of equal spheres, an analysis he connected to the hexagonal shape of honeycomb cells. 2
Biography
Gender
Male 1
Connections

Attributed Works

Great Stellated Dodecahedron, Mathematical Objects
Source Wolfram MathWorld: Great Stellated Dodecahedron

Conjectures Posed

Kepler Conjecture, Theorems

Kepler first stated the conjecture in 1611; it was proved by Thomas Hales in 1998.

Source Kepler Conjecture (Wikipedia)

In Branch

Discrete Geometry, Branches of Mathematics
In the Other Atlases

Same As

Johannes Kepler

Also in Space and Astronomy Atlas: the same subject.

Nationality

Germany

Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.

Source Johannes Kepler (Wikipedia)Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia articletier 2
Quote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German polymath who was an astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and music theorist.
Sources
1. Johannes Kepler (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws of planetary motion
  • Infobox
  • Lead section, gender reference
    He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws of planetary motion, and his books Astronomia nova, Harmonice Mundi, and Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae.
View the Source
2. Johannes Kepler, Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
  • Page text
    He also did important work in optics (1604 , 1611) , discovered two new regular polyhedra (1619) , gave the first mathematical treatment of close packing of equal spheres ( leading to an explanation of the shape of the cells of a honeycomb, 1611) , gave the first proof of how logarithms worked (1624) , and devised a method of finding the volumes of solids of revolution that ( with hindsight! ) can be seen as contributing to the development of calculus (1615 , 1616) .
  • Page text
    Kepler calculated tables of eight-figure logarithms, which were published with the Rudolphine Tables ( Ulm, 1628) .
View the Source
3. Kepler Conjecture (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationOrigins section
Quote, Origins section
The conjecture was first stated by Johannes Kepler (1611) in his paper 'On the six-cornered snowflake'.
View the Source
Wolfram MathWorld: Great Stellated Dodecahedron
Wolfram MathWorldAttributed Works: Great Stellated Dodecahedron, Lead
Quote, Attributed Works: Great Stellated Dodecahedron, Lead
It was rediscovered by Kepler (and published in his work Harmonice Mundi in 1619), and again by Poinsot in 1809.
View the Source

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