Kepler's Laws

Johannes Kepler's laws of planetary motion:

1. 1. The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci, i.e. planetary orbits are not circluar but eliptical
2. 2. A line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time, i.e. motion of the planet is faster when closer to the sun
3. 3. The square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit. Captures the relationship between the distance of planets from the Sun, and their orbital periods

Kepler published his first two laws in 1609, having found them by analyzing the astronomical observations of Tycho Brahe. Kepler published the third law in 1619.

Kepler's Defense of Tycho against Ursus

History of Astronomy: Kepler's Defense of Tycho against Ursus by Edward Rosen, Popular Astronomy, Vol. 54, p.405, 1946. In 1595, the inexperienced Kepler had written a flattering letter to Nicholas Reimers (who called himself Ursus (the bear)), then Imperial Mathematician to Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor in Prague. In 1597, Reimers issued his De astronomicis hypothesibus, with its venomous attack on Tycho Brahe. He incorporated Kepler’s letter in it without Kepler’s knowledge or consent, thereby unscrupulously making it appear that in his duel with Tycho he was supported by Kepler. Kepler himself had by now become renowned through publication of his Cosmographic Mystery. Reimers died in mid-August 1600. In October 1600, Kepler, at the request of Tycho, began composing a rebuttal of Reimers works (A Defense of Tycho against Ursus (Apologia Tychonis contra Ursum)), but it remained unpublished by the time of Tycho's death (24. October 1601). In the end, Kepler's Defense of Tycho was found among his unpublished manuscripts by Christian Frisch, who edited Kepler’s collected works, and put it in print for the first time in 1858. More on Kepler at Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Educational Animated Short Clips

Educational animated short clips by Jeremiah Warren, Dallas, TX, on Youtube: Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, History of the Calendar, Naming of Hurricanes, and Steve Jobs. Creative and informative.

Snippets 2011-11-23

Web: Lord of the Rings: Gary Appenzeller has compiled three web pages with the differences between books and movies for 'The Fellowship of the Ring' , ‘The Two Towers' and 'The Return of the King'
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Medicine: Patient.co.uk: Good information on a variety of diseases. Also more in dept information at PatientPlus. Also has an informative video directory
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Photography: Fotolia: Stock photos for little money
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Maps: Gmap Pedometer: Measures distances of self-chosen routes on a Google map
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Video: You Only Live Twice (1967). w/ Sean Connery (James Bond). Directed by Lewis Gilbert. Bond needs to find out who is behind the hijacking of American and Russian space crafts.The trail leads to Japan, SPECTRE its leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Overall rating 4 out of 10.
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Movie: GoldenEye (1995): w/ Pierce Brosnan (James Bond), Sean Bean (Alec Trevelyan),Izabella Scorupco (Natalya Simonova), Famke Janssen (Xenia Onatopp). Directed by Martin Campbell. Bond fights a former colleague (006) who stole a satellite weapon. Overall rating 5 out of 10.
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History: Historypin. Provides map with current and historical photos. Can study how streets have changed over the years.
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Movie: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011). w/ James Franco (Will Rodman), Freida Pinto (Caroline Aranha), Andy Serkis (Cesar). How it all began: Delopmental Alzheimer's drug is tested on monkeys and makes them intelligent. Researcher takes one of them (Cesar) home and raises him there, but eventually has to give him up to a shelter. Cesar escapes and organizes an uprising. Good special effects. Story okay. Andy Serkis also played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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