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Mathematical Treasure: Kepler's Rudolphine Tables and defense of Brahe

Author(s): 
Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University)

In 1627, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) published his Rudolphine Tables (Tabulae Rudolphinae), a collection of astronomical tables based mainly on the previous work of Tycho Brahe (1546-1601). The book also included tables of logarithms calculated by Kepler. The Tables were named in honor of Kaiser Rudolf II, then Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and Kepler’s patron.

Title page of Tabulae Rudolphinae by Johann Kepler, 1627

Below is shown page 64 from Kepler’s Tables:

Page 64 of Tabulae Rudolphinae by Johann Kepler, 1627

For more images from this work, see also Mathematical Treasures – Johann Kepler’s Rudolphine Tables.

 

In 1625, Kepler published Tychonis Brahie Dani Hyperaspistes, a defense of the work and findings of Tycho Brahe.

Title page of Tychonis Brahie Dani Hyperaspistes by Johann Kepler, 1625

The text begins with an elaborate dedication to Tycho Brahe.

First page of dedication from Tychonis Brahie Dani Hyperaspistes by Johann Kepler, 1625

The images above are presented courtesy of the University of Oklahoma and the University of Toronto Libraries.

Index to Mathematical Treasures

Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University), "Mathematical Treasure: Kepler's Rudolphine Tables and defense of Brahe," Convergence (October 2018)