Kepler's Witch
by James A. Connor
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Set against the backdrop of the witchcraft trial of his mother, this lively biography of Johannes Kepler – 'the Protestant Galileo' and 16th century mathematician and astronomer – reveals the surprisingly spiritual nature of the quest of early modern science. In the style of Dava Sobel's Galileo's Daughter, Connor's book brings to life the tidal forces of Reformation, Counter–Reformation, and social upheaval. Johannes Kepler, who discovered the three basic laws of planetary motion, was show more persecuted for his support of the Copernican system. After a neighbour accused his mother of witchcraft, Kepler quit his post as the Imperial mathematician to defend her. James Connor tells Kepler's story as a pilgrimage, a spiritual journey into the modern world through war and disease and terrible injustice, a journey reflected in the evolution of Kepler's geometrical model of the cosmos into a musical model, harmony into greater harmony. The leitmotif of the witch trial adds a third dimension to Kepler's biography by setting his personal life within his own times. The acts of this trial, including Kepler's letters and the accounts of the witnesses, although published in their original German dialects, had never before been translated into English. Echoing some of Dava Sobel's work for Galileo's Daughter, Connor has translated the witch trial documents into English. With a great respect for the history of these times and the life of this man, Connor's accessible story illuminates the life of Kepler, the man of science, but also Kepler, a man of uncommon faith and vision. show lessTags
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While Johannes Kepler was breaking ground in the field of astronomy, he was also fighting to save his mother from a charge of witchcraft. This book gives an account of that struggle along with a biography of Kepler's life in general. Sounds pretty fascinating, no? Welp. Apparently not, at least as Connor tells it. Bone dry and so disappointing.
Johannes Kepler's biography, scientific career, family problems, including elderly mother tried as a witch, and beginning of 30 yr war.
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Witch Hunts
30 works; 7 members
Author Information
5 Works 682 Members
He lives in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania with his wife, two border collies, and two stray cats. He is currently teaching English at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. For eighteen years, he was a Catholic priest and a member of the Jesuit Order, where he served as a teacher, worked in parishes, and ministered to Native peoples---notably show more the Shuswap, Nez Perce, Moses Lake, and Navajo. A winner of the Iowa Journal of Literary Studies Essay Award, he has published in Traditional Home Magazine, The Iowa Review, and has a collection of short stories entitled GOD'S BREATH AND OTHER STORIES. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Kepler's Witch
- Original publication date
- 2009-10-13
- People/Characters
- Johannes Kepler; Tycho Brahe; Katharina Keplerin; Heinrich Kepler; Michael Mästlin; Nicolaus Copernicus (show all 12); Andreas Osiander; Friedrich III., Deutscher Kaiser und König von Preußen; Johannes Regius; Nicholas Reimarus Ursus; Friedrich Rosenkrantz; Osiander, Andreas, 1498-1552
- Important places
- Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 419
- Popularity
- 73,474
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.84)
- Languages
- Czech, English, Norwegian (Bokmål), Portuguese (Portugal)
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 9
- ASINs
- 5
