Johannes Kepler's 442nd birthday: Google Doodle celebrates 17th-century mathematician, astronomer and astrologer

Astronomer Johannes Kepler's google doodle

Johanes Kepler, who was born on 27 December 1771, was born near Stuttgart and made his foray into astronomy after he worked as a maths teacher in Graz, Austria - where he became an associate of Prince Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg.

He became an assistant to astronomer Tyro Brahe and later the imperial mathematician to Emperor Rudolf II.

He lived at a time where there was little division between astronomy and astrology, but is best known for his laws describing the motion of planets around the sun, which he published between 1609 and 1619.

He incorporated religious reasoning into his work, motivated by his faith and possibly inspired by his observation at the age of six of the Great Comet of 1577.

He died aged 58 on 15 November 1630.