Cunningham, Clifford J. (Author)
Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage
Volume: 25
Issue: 3
Pages: 439-456
This paper shows that Johannes Kepler's work on defining the structure of the Solar System was closely linked to his knowledge and understanding of Lutheranism, specifically what Martin Luther wrote. His study of harmonic proportions in geometric figures led him to note the gap between Mars and Jupiter, where he proposed an unseen planet existed. This was 206 years before the discovery of the first asteroid. But there were many other gaps in Kepler's scheme of the Solar System, which he also suggested might be filled by unseen planets. The role of Providence is explored in his search for how geometrical forms fit the data, and how he yearned for still more data proving Mars and Venus had moons in order to fill bothersome gaps. Kepler's famous three-dimensional representation of the Solar System is put in the context of other sixteenth century diagrams; a study of its artistic style shows that Kepler redefined the epistemological status of pictures. Two unexpected ways in which a void arises in Kepler's work are explored, and his influence upon the writings of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge is explained in terms of the Trinitarian approach adopted by Kepler.
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