Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630), a key figure in the scientific revolution, was a German mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and an early writer of science fiction stories. He is best known for his laws of planetary motion, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonice Mundi and the textbook Epitome of Copernican Astronomy.

Through his career Kepler was a mathematics teacher at a Graz seminary school (later the University of Graz), an assistant to Tycho Brahe, court mathematician to Emperor Rudolf II, mathematics teacher in Linz, and court astrologer to General Wallenstein. He also did fundamental work in the field of optics and helped to legitimize the telescopic discoveries of his contemporary Galileo Galilei.

He is sometimes referred to as "the first theoretical astrophysicist", although Carl Sagan also referred to him as the last scientific astrologer.

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NPR Topics: Space

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