Top 1 Apps Similar to 造化之门

Kepler, by Walter W. Bryant“I’m sure you remember that Tycho Brahe had his own systemoftheuniverse. In a tychonic system, the earth was stationaryatthecenter, the sun went around the earth, and all of theotherplanetswent around the sun. Of course, Tycho believedpassionatelyin hisown system, and on his death bed he beggedJohannes Kepler tousethe new observations to prove the correctnessof thetychonicsystem. It was a touching moment. I have no idea ofwhatKeplerthought of that moment. But the idea of doing what Tychohadaskedhim to do never even crossed his mind. Kepler was aCopernicantohis very core, and as soon as he got his hands onTycho's data,thefirst thing that he set out to do was to analyzethe orbit ofmars.It proved to be enormously difficult, and nomatter what hedid, hecouldn't make the orbit of mars fit a circle.Thedisagreementbetween the angular position of mars in the sky andthebestcircular orbit was eight minutes of arc. In other words, ifhehadtried to do the same thing before Tycho’s observations,itwould’vebeen possible. But with the new data, it could no longerbemade towork. And so Kepler was faced with a direct conflictbetweentheancient platonic dictum, that all motions in the heavenshad tobecircular motions, and the new tychonic observations.Facedwiththat conflict, he made his choice; he chose theobservations.Andhe started the search for a different smooth curvethatwoulddescribe the orbit of mars. After years of agonizing work,hehitupon the answer. It was a curve that had been knownforthousandsof years; and it’s called: an ellipse.” - Dr.DavidL.Goodstein“Focus is the Latin word for fireplace. It was first usedfortheellipse by a man who became known as thewanderingmathematician.His name was Johannes Kepler; and in the sunhe sawthe greatestfireplace in the universe. In his emotionallife,however,particularly as a child, he saw very little in the wayofwarmth.Kepler’s father, a low rank soldier of fortune, desertedthefamilyearly. His mother was later tried for witchcraft.Although,it’snot known whether Kepler senior fled because she hadthemakings ofa real witch. In his father’s absence, Johanneswasconstantlyvisited by poverty; and despite his mother’sallegedcharms, byillness as well. His background challengesmanycontemporarynotions about heredity and the environment. Thoughhedisplayed theskill and curiosity of mathematical genius,JohannesKepler seemedan unlikely candidate to solve somefundamentalproblems of theuniverse.”“At the dawn of a new century, January 1st, 1600, Keplersetoffin search of the most accurate astronomical data on earth,andtheman who possessed them: Tycho Brahe… no one onearthappreciatedthe potential value of Tycho’s heavenlyobservationsbetter thanJohannes Kepler. To him, the data wereessential. Thekey to unlockthe door to the universe and to revealwhat he called‘the secretsof the skies’. But much to Kepler’sdismay, Tycho knewhow to keepa secret. So, Kepler struggled withoutTycho’s preciousdata foralmost two years. Then, on October 24,1601, fate steppedin.Tycho’s dying words were: ‘Let me not seem tohave lived invain.’The Dane’s family withheld the data, but Keplermanaged tomakeTycho’s last wish come true. Advancing science morethanethics, hestole the material. The otherwise mild-mannerlittlemathematicianwas finally ready, in his own words, to ‘wage mywaron Mars’.” -The Mechanical Universe… and Beyond, Lesson21,Kepler’s ThreeLawsNavigation Instructions:Swipe left or right on the screen to turn totheprevious/nextchapter.Tap twice to turn to the next chapter.Swipe up or down on the screen to scroll throughthecurrentchapter.Use the menu button to select a specific chapter from thetableofcontents.Use the menu button to access options for text sizeandbackgroundcolors.Enjoy!