Great Minds Series: Epitome of Copernican Astronomy and Harmonies of the World (Paperback)

The brilliant German mathematician Johannes Kepler 1571-1630 one of the founders of modern astronomy revolutionized the Copernican heliocentric theory of the universe with his three laws of motion that the planets move not in circular but elliptical orbits that their speed is greatest when nearest the sun and that the sun and planets form an integrated system This volume contains two of his most important works The Epitome of Copernican Astronomy books 4 and 5 of which are translated here is a textbook of Copernican science remarkable for the prominence given to physical astronomy and for the extension to the Jovian system of the laws recently discovered to regulate the motions of the Planets Harmonies of the World book 5 of which is translated here expounds an elaborate system of celestial harmonies depending on the varying velocities of the planets