Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571-November 15, 1630) was the German founder of physical astronomy. An attack of smallpox when he was four-years-old left him with crippled hands and poor eyesight. Overcoming those handicaps, he studied Copernicus' works and at age 23 became a professor of astronomy. He discovered the laws governing planetary motion and pioneered the discipline of celestial mechanics, known as Kepler's Laws, which aided Newton in his formulation of the theory of gravitation.
He advanced Copernicus' heliocentric theory of the solar system, with the planets revolving around the sun instead of the earth. His publishing of the ephemeris tables, necessary for plotting star movement, contributed to the theory of calculus.
In his work, "The Harmonies of the Worlds" (1619), book five, where he compared the celestial orbits of the planets with polyphonic harmonies in music, Johannes Kepler wrote:
<O, Almighty God, I am thinking Thy thoughts after Thee! Nothing holds me! I will indulge in my sacred fury, I will triumph over mankind by the proud confession that I have stolen the golden vases to build up a tabernacle for my God, far away from the confines of Egypt. If you forgive me, I rejoice; if you be angry, I can bear it. The die is cast; the book is written, to be read either now or by posterity, I care not which. It may be well to wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six thousand years for an observer.> 1571JK001
Johannes Kepler wrote in his work, The Harmonies of the Worlds (1619):
<Holy Father, keep us safe in the concord of our love for one another, that we may be one just as Thou art with Thy Son, Our Lord, and with the Holy Ghost, and just as through the sweetest bonds of harmonies Thou hast made all Thy works one, and that from the bringing of Thy people into concord, the body of Thy Church may be built up in the Earth, as Thou didst erect the heavens themselves out of harmonies.> 1571JK002
In the conclusion of his treatise, The Harmonies of the Worlds (1619), Johannes Kepler wrote:
<I thank Thee, my Creator and Lord, that Thou hast given me this joy in Thy creation, this delight in the works of Thy hands; I have shown the excellency of Thy works unto man, so far as my finite mind was able to comprehend Thine infinity; if I have said aught of Thy glory, graciously forgive it.> 1571JK003
In Homage of Eminent Persons to the Book, (Samuel Wordsworth Bailey, ed., New York: 1871, p. 84), Johannes Kepler stated:
<We astronomers say, with the common people, the planets stand still or go down; the sun rises or sets. How much less should we require than the Scriptures of Divine inspiration, setting aside the common mode of speech, should shape their words according to the model of the natural scientist, and, by employing a dark and inappropriate phraseology about things which surpass the comprehension of those whom it designs to instruct, perplex the people of God, and thus obstruct its own way towards the attainment of the far more exalted object at which it aims.> 1571JK004
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1571JK001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Johannes Kepler, The Harmonies of the Worlds (1619). Sir David Brewster, biography. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas),
p. 266. Henry M. Morris, Men of Science-men of God (El Cajon, CA: Master Books, Creation Life Publishers, Inc., 1990), pp. 11-13.
1571JK002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Johannes Kepler, The Harmonies of the Worlds (1619). Great Books of the Western World, Robert Maynard Hutchins, editor-in-chief (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1948, vol. 16. pp. 1009-1010, 1018, 1025, 1030,1040, 1048,
1050, 1081-1085).
1571JK003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Johannes Kepler, The Harmonies of the Worlds (1619). Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas), p. 266.
1571JK004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Johannes Kepler, Homage to the Book, p. 84. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, Oregon: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas), p. 266.