John Kepler was born on December 27, 1571 to Heinrich and Katharina in Württemberg, Germany. Heinrich was the owner of the local tavern and used the young Johannes as a boy. In the days of his youth, Kepler was often very ill for one reason or another, which made him quite frail and a little saddened. After witnessing the Great Comet of 1577, at the age of 6, Kepler acquired a passion for astronomy; Seeing the lunar eclipse of 1580 also contributed to this great interest. In addition to his strong interest in everything related to astronomy, the young Johannes was quite good at mathematics. Heinrich and Katharina sent Johannes to monastic school where he attended seminars in both Adelburg and Maulbronn (SciencLives). From these seminars Kepler moved to the Tubinger Stift at the University of Tubingen (Germany). At university, Kepler mastered both the Ptolemaic and Copernican systems of planetary motion. During his time at university, young Johannes studied theology, mathematics and philosophy. At age 22, Kepler graduated second on the school list and was made a professor, then moved to Gratz, Austria, to teach mathematics and astronomy (ScienceLives). Subsequently, Kepler emigrated to Prague in 1599 to become Tycho Brahe's assistant. Brahe ordered Johannes to complete his tables on planetary motion, and upon his death in 1601 the tables were completed. Kepler eventually raised enough money to publish these tables, and thus produced the first tables that were accurate and usable by navigators (Westman). Subsequently Kepler began experiments on planetary motion (ScienceLives). Eventually Johannes discovered the elliptical model still in use today. The three great laws of planetary motion discovered by Kepler are... middle of paper... nine survived into adulthood from his first marriage in 1597, and widowed his second wife Susanna Reuttinger (Westman). Kepler was not a man who experienced great joy throughout his life, he was a man who had a great impact on many fields of mathematics and the field of astronomy as a whole. John Kepler paved the way for many astronomers and mathematicians and helped advance these fields. Kepler was a talented astrophysicist, the first and last scientific astrologer. Works Cited "Giovanni Kepler". Science lives! Online. Science lives and the web. November 25, 2013. Westman, Robert S. “Johannes Kepler (German Astronomer).” Encyclopedia Britannica online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 November 2009. Web. 22 November. 2013. .