incapable of proof." Hoffmann, the president of the states of Styria,
who had taken Kepler to Prague on his first visit, exerted himself to
perfect the reconciliation, and this hasty quarrel was entirely passed
over.
On Kepler's return to Prague, in September, 1601, he was presented to
the Emperor by Tycho, and honoured with the title of Imperial
Mathematician, on condition of assisting Tycho in his calculations.
Kepler desired nothing more than this condition, since Tycho was at that
time probably the only person in the world who possessed observations
sufficient for the reform which he now began to meditate in the theory
of astronomy. Rudolph appears to have valued both Tycho Brahe and Kepler
as astrologers rather than astronomers; but although unable to
appreciate rightly the importance of the task they undertook, of
compiling a new set of astronomical tables founded upon Tycho's
observations, yet his vanity was flattered with the prospect of his name
being connected with such a work, and he made liberal promises to defray
the expense of the new Rudolphine Tables. Tycho's principal assistant at
this time was Longomontanus, who altered his name to this form,
according to the prevalent fashion of giving to every name a Latin
termination. Lomborg or Longbierg was the name, not of his family, but
of the village in Denmark, where he was born, just as Müller was seldom
called by any other name than Regiomontanus, from his native town
Königsberg, as George Joachim Rheticus was so surnamed from Rhetia, the
country of the Grisons, and as Kepler himself was sometimes called
Leonmontanus, from Leonberg, where he passed his infancy. It was agreed
between Longomontanus and Kepler, that in discussing Tycho's
observations, the former should apply himself especially to the Moon,
and the latter to Mars, on which planet, owing to its favourable
position, Tycho was then particularly engaged. The nature of these
labours will be explained when we come to speak of the celebrated book
"On the Motions of Mars."
This arrangement was disturbed by the return of Longomontanus into
Denmark, where he had been offered an astronomical professorship, and
still more by the sudden death of Tycho Brahe himself in the following
October. Kepler attended him during his illness, and after his death
undertook to arrange some of his writings. But, in consequence of a
misunderstanding between him and Tycho's family, the manuscripts were
taken out of his hands; and when, soon afterwards, the book appeared,
Kepler complained heavily that they had published, without his consent
or knowledge, the notes and interlineations added by him for his own
private guidance whilst preparing it for publication.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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