Galileo and Kepler

Book lists index

Galileo and Kepler

National Weather Center.

Who was Kepler, and why was a telescope named after him?

The Kepler space telescope launched in March, 2009, to search for terrestrial planets around other suns. One month later, five Jupiter-like planets had been discovered. As of 2015, the Kepler telescope has discovered a total of more than 1,000 confirmed planets.

OU’s Kepler collection includes all 11 major works published during his lifetime and a large number of his minor works. In his immediate response to Galileo’s telescopic discoveries, Kepler suggested that unknown planets might exist, and might be inhabited.

1. Johann Kepler, Dissertatio cum Sidereo (Frankfurt, 1611), “Conversation on Galileo’s Starry Messenger”
2. John Wilkins, A Discovery of a New World… in the Moon (London, 1684)
3. Johannes Kepler, Astronomia nova (Heidelberg, 1609), “The New Astronomy”
4. Johann Kepler, Dioptrice (Augsburg, 1611), “Optics of Lenses”
5. Johann Kepler, Strena, seu de nive sexangula (Frankfurt on Main, 1611), “On the Snowflake, or the Six-Angled Crystal”
6. Johannes Kepler, Tabulae Rudolphinae (Gorlitz, 1627), “The Rudolphine Tables”
7. Johann Kepler, Wilhelm Schickard and Matthias Bernegger, Epistolae (Strasburg, 1672 & 1673), “Letters”
8. Johann Kepler and Jacob Bartsch, Admonitio ad astronomos (Frankfurt, 1630), “Admonition to Astronomers”
9. Maria Cunitz, Urania propitia (Oels, 1650), “The Generous Muse of the Heavens”

Further reading:
  • Stillman Drake, Galileo: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2001; originally printed 1983 in the Past Masters series), discussion guide.
  • James Voelkel, Johannes Kepler and the New Astronomy (Oxford, 1999)
  • Max Caspar, Kepler (Dover, 1993)
Curator: Kerry Magruder. Links are to the exhibit website, galileo.ou.edu. For more information, download the comprehensive, free Exhibit Guide from the iBook Store. Open Educational Resources are available at oulynx.org and ShareOK.

About ouhos

Kristina Southwell, Head of Operations; Kerry Magruder, Curator; and JoAnn Palmeri, Librarian
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