Plausibly Live! - The Official Podcast Of The Dave Bowman Show

If you were to ask me to name the scientists who have most impacted my own life and views of the Cosmos, at the very top of that list would be Johannes Kepler. Since I was introduced to him on Sunday, October 12, 1980, he has been a constant foundation for understanding the later works of Einstein, as well as my enjoyment of science fiction and of cosmology. I first met Kepler on the third episode of the series, Cosmos, with Carl Sagan relating not just his works, but his life as a man, which was fraught with dangers we can hardly imagine today. a man who amid events that historian’s study, religious and political upheaval and cultural clashes, defenestration's and war, still wanted to know the answers to questions that we too seek to find. It is his work that led us to our first steps into the Cosmos. Without his laws, we would not understand how to land on the Moon, or take photos of Pluto, or to communicate with Voyager all those billions of kilometers away on its expedition. Each year, on the 27th of D