Kepler’s Physical Astronomy

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Bruce Stephenson

   Pages 1-7

3. Mysterium Cosmographicum

   • Bruce Stephenson

   Pages 8-20

4. Astronomia nova

   • Bruce Stephenson

   Pages 21-137

5. Epitome of Copernican Astronomy

   • Bruce Stephenson

   Pages 138-201

6. Kepler and the Development of Modern Science

   • Bruce Stephenson

   Pages 202-205

7. Back Matter

   Pages 206-217

   PDF

Kepler's Physical Astronomy is an account of Kepler's reformulation of astronomy as a physical science, and of his successful use of (incorrect) physics as a guide in his astronomical discoveries. It presents the only reliable account of the internal logic of Kepler's so-called first and second laws, showing how and to what extent Kepler thought he had derived them from his physical principles. It explains for the first time Kepler's attempt to use an obscure discovery of Tycho Brahe to unify and confirm all of his own physical theories. It also describes the intricate (and neglected) theory which Kepler developed to account for the additional anomalies needed for the theory of the moon.

• astronomy
• logic
• moon

• Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA

  Bruce Stephenson

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