He was
appointed to succeed Tycho in the position of imperial mathematician.
But a far more important point, both for Kepler and for science,
was that to him was confided the use of Tycho's observations. It was,
indeed, by the discussion of Tycho's results that Kepler was enabled
to make the discoveries which form such an important part of
astronomical history.
Kepler must also be remembered as one of the first great astronomers
who ever had the privilege of viewing celestial bodies through a
telescope. It was in 1610 that he first held in his hands one of
those little instruments which had been so recently applied to the
heavens by Galileo. It should, however, be borne in mind that the
epoch-making achievements of Kepler did not arise from any telescopic
observations that he made, or, indeed, that any one else made. They
were all elaborately deduced from Tycho's measurements of the
positions of the planets, obtained with his great instruments, which
were unprovided with telescopic assistance.
To realise the tremendous advance which science received from
Kepler's great work, it is to be understood that all the astronomers
who laboured before him at the difficult subject of the celestial
motions, took it for granted that the planets must revolve in
circles.
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