Читать книгу Magic Shadows. The Story of the Origin of Motion Pictures онлайн

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Kepler was a precocious child though he suffered from poor health. He had no special interest or inclination towards astronomy until in 1594, at the age of 23, he found himself required to teach a class in that subject. Soon he became an expert and before his death announced the Kepler laws explaining the planetary system. In 1600 Kepler became assistant to Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), the greatest practical astronomer to that date but one who rejected the Copernican theory that the earth and planets revolve around the sun, a theory which was firmly proved by Kepler. Brahe lost the tip of his nose in a duel, so he wore a gold one, carrying with him cement with which to stick on the tip whenever it fell off.

A few years after becoming astronomer to the Emperor, Kepler published, in 1604, Ad Vitellionem Paralipomena—“Supplement to Witelo”; Witelo, a Pole called Thuringopolonus, wrote a treatise on optics about 1270. He was a contemporary of Roger Bacon. Kepler used da Vinci’s parallel of the eye and the room camera and set the latter’s principles on a firm scientific basis.