Lecture 15: The Watershed: Tycho and Kepler
In the generation following Copernicus, the question of planetary\nmotions was picked up by two remarkable astronomers: Tycho Brahe, the\nbrilliant Danish astronomer whose precise measurements of the planets\nrepresented the highest expression of pre-telescope astronomy, and\nJohannes Kepler, the brilliant and tormented German mathematician who\nused Tycho's data to derive his three laws of planetary motion. These\nlaws were to sweep away the vast complex machinery of epicycles, and\nprovide a geometric description of planetary motions that set the stage\nfor their eventual physical explanation by Isaac Newton a generation\nlater. Recorded 2006 Oct 11 in 100 Stillman Hall on the Columbus campus\nof The Ohio State University.