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December 27, 1571
Weil, Swabia, Germany
November 15, 1630
Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany

Astronomer

"For just as the eye is fitted for the perception of colors, the ear for sounds, so is man's mind created not for anything but for the grasping of quantities."

Johannes Kepler.

The German astronomer Johannes Kepler was one of the chief founders of modern astronomy (study of celestial bodies, such as planets, stars, the Sun, and the Moon). A pivotal figure in seventeenth-century science, he made discoveries in astronomy and mathematics that spurred further developments. Many of his findings are still valid today. He is best known for his discovery of three basic laws underlying the motion of planets.

Johannes Kepler was born to a Lutheran family in the Catholic city of Weil in Swabia, Germany. In 1576 his family moved to Leonberg in the Protestant duchy...