Look up at the night sky. How do you make sense of what you see? How much observation would it take to recognize patterns, repetition, order? Johannes Kepler documented years of observations before publishing his book in 1609. It is now widely considered that his observations mark the beginning of modern astronomy. The work contains Kepler’s first two laws of planetary motion—that the orbits of planets are elliptical rather than circular, and that the line from the planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times. These opened up new understandings of the solar system, and led us to an understanding of how we, on this planet, move through the universe.
This special exhibition at the Folger features rare books from the collection of Stuart and Mimi Rose that present literary, cultural, and historical high points.
