Kepler Space Telescope searches for planets

摘要

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a great German scientist: a mathematician, astronomer, optics specialist and cosmologist who had a profound impact on our vision of the world in space around us. Therefore, it is quite fitting to name the Kepler Space Telescope after him. His work has told us a great deal about how the solar system works and provided great support for the Copernican view of a sun-centered solar system rather than an earth-centered one so beloved by the church up to that time. He was also courageous and suffered for being a Lutheran instead of a Catholic at a time when that was very important.