Selections from Kepler's Astronomia Nova

by Kepler, Johannes; Donahue, William H.

• ISBN13: 9781888009286
• ISBN10: 1888009284
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-03-01
• Publisher: Green Lion Press

Summary

Johannes Kepler wrote Astronomia Nova (1609) in a single-minded drive to sweep away the ancient and medieval clutter of spheres and orbs and to establish a new truth in astronomy, based on physical causality. Thus a good part of the book is given over to a nontechnical discussion of how planets can be made to move through space by physical forces. This is the theme of the readings in the present module.

Table of Contents

Editor's Preface	p. vii
About Johannes Kepler	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. x
Kepler's Introduction	p. 1
Introduction to the celestial motions*	p. 29
Physical implications of theories of circular motion	p. 37
How I came to work on Mars	p. 41
The earth, like other planets, moves nonuniformly	p. 45
The Physical reality behind nonuniform motion	p. 51
The power that moves the planets is in the sun	p. 55
The sun is a magnet, and rotates in its space	p. 63
How can the planetary powers make a circular orbit?	p. 71
A way to calculate using the physical speed rule	p. 79
The orbit is not a circle	p. 83
The physics and mathematics of a noncircular orbit	p. 89
Epilogue: What about the ellipse?	p. 95
Geometrical Planetary Models	p. 97
Technical Notes	p. 101
Glossary	p. 105
Bibliographical Note	p. 109
About this series: Scientific Classics for Humanities Studies	p. 110
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