Let us examine with some detail into their discovery, meantime catching a glimpse of the life history of the remarkable man whose name they bear.
JOHANN KEPLER AND THE LAWS OF PLANETARY MOTION Johann Kepler was born the 27th of December, 1571, in the little town of Weil, in Wurtemburg.

He was a weak, sickly child, further enfeebled by a severe attack of small-pox.

It would seem paradoxical to assert that the parents of such a genius were mismated, but their home was not a happy one, the mother being of a nervous temperament, which perhaps in some measure accounted for the genius of the child.

The father led the life of a soldier, and finally perished in the campaign against the Turks.
Young Kepler's studies were directed with an eye to the ministry.

After a preliminary training he attended the university at Tubingen, where he came under the influence of the celebrated Maestlin and became his life-long friend.
Curiously enough, it is recorded that at first Kepler had no taste for astronomy or for mathematics.