Johannes Kepler Gesammelte Werke

Abstract

WITH the appearance of the second volume of the new edition of Kepler's works the first three volumes are now available, the third containing the “Astronomia Nova” having been issued first in order of date. It is curious that the three already exhibit the complex personality of Kepler in a violently contrasted way. In the first, the mystic element is predominant, and that is hard to reconcile with a truly scientific spirit. The second reveals the impatience of a sanguine temperament, which is not easily compatible with a philosophic outlook. The third, equally the product of those active years which followed the death of Tycho Brahe, reflects an assured serenity, when insight and resource never fail and every difficulty is met and overcome with untiring industry. No voluminous writer can be expected to produce a succession of masterpieces of the highest order, but in the inequality of his work it would be hard to find a parallel to Kepler. Johannes Kepler Gesammelte Werke Herausgegeben im Auftrag der Deutschen Forsch-ungsgemeinschaft und der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Unter der Leitung von Walther von Dyck und Max Caspar. Band 2: Astronomiae Pars Optica. Herausgegeben von Franz Hammer. Pp. 466. (Munchen: C. H. Beck, 1939.) 9 gold marks.