On November 15, 1630, the prominent 17th century astronomer Johannes Kepler died in the city of Ratisbone while in complete poverty. He was born in Weil, Germany and started research in astronomy after finishing his studies. He took over the seat of professorship of mathematics and astronomy in the same university after the great German mathematician Tyco Brahe stepped down. He completed Copernicus’ theories on planets’ motion around the sun and published his great achievement in 1609 that states “The planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one focus”. He also stated that the square of the time a planet needsto traverse its orbit is proportional to the cube of the mean distance of the planet from its sun.
