How It's Used

"The German astronomer Johannes Kepler is believed to have begun the game in 1600, when he was given the problem of figuring out Mars's orbit around the Sun from astronomical observations made by his mentor, Tycho Brahe. Kepler took over the problem from a senior Brahe assistant, Longomontanus. Kepler bet Longomontanus he would crack the problem in a week or so, said Dr. James Voelkel, a historian of science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The stakes are not known, but Longomontanus won going away: It took Kepler five years to find the solution.

"That set the stage for what was 'undoubtedly one of the most crucial wagers in scientific history,' said Dr. Alan E. Shapiro, a historian of science at the University of Minnesota. Kepler's pondering had produced his three laws of planetary motion, which describe the elliptical orbits and how fast planets moved in them. Unfortunately, nobody knew why planets would behave like that.

"So as a way to spark competition, Christopher Wren, the English architect and scientist, announced in 1684 that he would give a book worth 40 shillings to anyone who, within two months, could deduce Kepler's laws from the inverse-square law that says the Sun's gravity decreases with the square of the planet's distance from the Sun. Isaac Newton's paper on his solution grew into his Principia, the tract that became a cornerstone of modern physics. 'The rest is history,' Dr. Shapiro said. By the time he published it, however, years had passed, and Newton could not cash in his winning ticket."

—James Glanz, “Putting Money Where Their Minds Are: Where Scientists Gather, Wagering Flourishes,” The New York Times, August 25, 1998, p. F1.

"Even in her sure hands [in Measuring the Universe: Our Historic Quest to Chart the Horizons of Space and Time], Hawking is tough to grasp. Her definition of wormholes makes some sense: 'theoretical connections between universes or between different places and times in the same universe.' Still, it's hard to understand how Hawking knows the things exist if, as Ferguson notes, 'there are no experimental or observational data to support this theory.'

"But then Ferguson takes us by the hand again: 'Einstein often spoke of the gift of fantasy being essential to the work he did. No one yet knows whether these theories will be remembered merely as ingenious curiosities, like Kepler's linking the planetary orbits to the regular solids or musical phrases, or whether, like his three laws of planetary motion, they might turn out to be among the most significant advances in the history of astronomy.'"

—Susan Adams, "The Universe and Mrs. Ferguson Yes, it's time to contemplate the universe again. Because some of us didn't get it the first time,” Forbes, December 13, 1999.

“Mars has always fascinated watchers of the night sky. The reddish colour was associated with blood and war: Mars was the Roman god of war. Its movement against the stars from night to night is fast enough to be followed easily, unlike the more distant outer planets of Jupiter and Saturn.

"The Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) made extensive observations of the positions of the planets, especially Mars. His Mars observations were passed on to Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), who spent many years formulating and testing his three laws of planetary motion. Using these rules the future positions of the planets could be predicted accurately for the first time.”

—Michael Hendrie, “Time for a closer look at our nearest neighbour,” The Times (UK), August 26, 2003.

“Among the hundreds of astrologers, alchemists, philosophers and artists who flocked to Prague to enjoy its reputation for religious toleration and free enquiry came the English magus Dr John Dee, astrologer and spy for Queen Elizabeth' his dubious assistant, Edward Kelley, with whom he practised angel magic and swapped wives, the Polish alchemist Michael Sendigovius [sic], who probably discovered oxygen, the Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno, who was executed in 1600 by the Inquisition for trying to restore the Egyptian religion, the Danish aristocrat astronomer Tycho Brahe, who lost his nose in a duel but was the greatest naked-eye observer of the heavens of his day, his poor assistant, the German mathematician Johannes Kepler, who established the three laws of planetary motion, and the Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who anticipated Surrealism with his portraits made from fruits and flowers. Together, they helped to lay the foundations of both the Scientific Revolution and the Rosicrucian Enlightenment which opposed it.”

—Peter Marshall, “Theatre of the World: Mystical Prague,” The Independent on Sunday, October 1, 2006.

Also Known As (AKA)

Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion, Kepler’s Three Laws of Planetary Motion

Links

Related on eAlmanac
The Three Laws of Motion
The Three Laws of Robotics
The Three Laws of Thermodynamics

Beyond eAlmanac
Wikipedia article on the Three Laws of Planetary Motion

Product Links
"On The Shoulders Of Giants" by Stephen Hawking
"Archimedes to Hawking: Laws of Science and the Great Minds Behind Them" by Clifford Pickover
"Kepler's Witch: An Astronomer's Discovery of Cosmic Order Amid Religious War, Political Intrigue, and the Heresy Trial of His Mother" by James A. Connor