Original subtitles

My God.

A journey to the moon,

conceived and written over 400 years ago

by an astronomer whose thirst for knowledge

would give us a new perspective of the universe.

His name is Johannes Kepler.

He ushers in modern astronomy with his tireless search

for the truth of the cosmos.

Johannes Kepler's world of astronomy

is filled with many contradictions,

but also with a spirit of optimism.

People are increasingly putting their faith

in the power of knowledge and research,

and convinced, this will lead to a better future.

But for most of them, their future looks bleak.

Epidemics like the plague lead to countless deaths.

Those still alive feel abandoned by God

and powerless to change their fate.

And Europe's little ice age brings rain and ice,

which leads to spoiled harvests and famine.

Because there's no explanation for their misery,

people flock to superstitions.

Witches are thought to be connected to the devil

and everything evil in the world.

So, they're hunted and burned.

The witch hunt in Germany alone results in 20,000 deaths.

There are also clashes among Christians.

Protestants and Catholics increasingly

consider each other enemies.

That's why the Protestant Kepler

is forced to flee the Catholic City of Grots.

He finds refuge in Prague.

This is where the Roman German emperor, Kaiser Rudolph II,

assembles a number of leading scientists.

The emperor is particularly interested in astronomy.

That's why he has an observatory

built for his famous court mathematician, Tycho Brahe.

Brahe invites Kepler because he knows

and respects the brilliant mathematician.

Jeppe!

Yeah.

Ah, Kepler.

Good.

Jeppe,.

Welcome,.

Tycho Brahe, a Danish nobleman,

operates the most modern observatory of its time

on the small Baltic Sea Island.

He's fascinated with astronomical measuring instruments,

which he uses to explore the sky for over 30 years.

His quick temper, which results in him losing

the tip of his nose in a duel,

is in stark contrast with meticulousness he uses

to record the positions of planets and stars

in vast columns of figures.

His goal is to perfectly depict

the movements of celestial bodies

and to replace the old Greek worldview with something new.

For almost 2000 years, people were convinced

the earth was the center of the universe,

and all other planets rotated around it

in a perfect circular path.

This model increasingly contradicted other observations.

In 1543, the astronomer, Copernicus constructed a new model.

The sun was in the center,

and earth and the other planets orbited around it.

That didn't just shake up the world of astronomy,

but people's views of themselves

and their own world as well.

Even Tycho Brahe realizes this old worldview

doesn't correspond to a lot of new observations.

Searching for a compromise,

he develops his own Tychonic system.

Earth remains in the center

and the moon and sun orbit around it.

All other planets orbit with the sun around earth.

And Kepler's supposed to help Brahe prove that.

Amen.

Amen.

Kepler,.

Meridian transit, Eriksen?

Eriksen?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Is there a beauty and simplicity

behind the complexity and incomprehensibility

of the universe?

And is it possible for the human mind

to grasp such a unified picture?

Kepler is convinced that God created a perfect universe,

a refined and amazing world to be admired.

And that it's possible for humans

to understand this conformity of law

because it's based on geometry and numbers.

And so, he creates his first model of celestial mechanics.

Jeppe!

Yeah.

No.

Astronomical tables have served

an important function for centuries.

They contain tables calculating the position

of the sun, moon, and planets.

This is how holidays are scheduled,

seed time and harvest determined,

and horoscopes compiled.

It was normal for people to believe

the stars influenced character

and determined the future back then.

Their worldview consisted of everything being connected,

microcosms and macrocosms,

human nature and the universe were all connected.

Kepler was also influenced by this thinking.

Good.

Yeah. Yeah.

Tycho Brahe dies 10 painful days later

on October 24, 1601.

Most likely, from a severe urinary tract infection.

Johannes Kepler is named his successor two days later.

He's now 29 years old,

and the new imperial court mathematician.

What?

My God!

No.

What?

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

What? No.

Aha.

Katharina?

Seiffert.

Kepler discovers that the planets

sometimes move faster and sometimes slower.

But from the perspective of the sun,

always cover equal areas in equal time.

That's how he comes up with the law behind irregularity,

his first universal law.

Even today, Kepler's second law is still being used

to calculate a satellite's orbit

in circulation period, for example.

Yeah.

God!

Barbara!

When Kepler finally discovers

Mars's orbit is elliptical,

his theory suddenly coincides

with all of Brahe's observations.

He assumes all the other planets move like this as well.

This is his second law, called Kepler's first law today.

All planets move around the sun in elliptical orbits,

with the sun as the focal point of the ellipse,

the gravitational center of the movement.

Barbara!

Yeah.

I stand on the shoulders of giants.

Yeah.

Kepler.

Kepler,

Yeah.

Jeppe. Yeah.

Emperor Rudolf actually does look for allies.

His cousin, Leopold arrives in Prague with soldiers,

but instead of supporting the emperor,

they bombard and ravage the city.

Chaos reigns.

On top of that, Barbara is extremely ill.

Emperor Rudolph dies a year later.

Death and destruction follow.

As the widow and father of orphan children,

Kepler sees no future in Prague without his patron.

He leaves to Linz, where he's able to secure

the modest position of district mathematician.

Father?

Yeah,

Kepler's mother, Katharina

is accused of witchcraft three years later

in her native Württemberg.

She's tried as a witch and sentenced

to burning at the stake.

Kepler takes a stand against the allegations.

First, in writing.

Then he packs his things

and moves from Linz to Southern Germany for a year

to personally defend his mother.

The case drags on for six years.

In the meantime, Katharina is chained

and threatened with torture.

But Kepler's defense and Katharina's fortitude

finally result in a verdict of not guilty.

She's spared the gruesome fiery death

that many others couldn't escape.

Kepler's mother is free, but in the meantime,

the 30 year war has devastated half of Europe.

Kepler becomes a nomad, constantly searching for a new job,

money, a place to live.

Nevertheless, he's still convinced

God has created a sensible world,

and he himself has found a part of that divine blueprint.

This belief drives him to publish the book,

"Harmonices Mundi", the harmony of the world.

Kepler's third law is found in the book.

He defines the connection

between the extent of planetary orbit

with the time of orbit.

For the first time, the true dimensions of planets

could be established by calculating

the planet's circulation period around the sun.

At long last,

Kepler keeps his promise to the emperor.

After almost 30 years,

he finally completes the Rudolfine Tables.

He travels to Regensburg, where the Reichstag congregates,

to deliver his work to Emperor Ferdinand II.

He still proudly maintains the title

of imperial court mathematician.

Kepler dies several days before his 60th birthday,

on November 15, 1630, in the city on the Danube.

His legacy remains.

He saw himself as God's priest studying the book of nature,

and discovered universal laws that are still indispensable

in astronomy and space travel today.

Kepler revolutionized our worldview

during a time of war and persecution,

chaos, and superstition.

And he opened the gates to the new era of modern science

and into the expanse of the cosmos.