Johannes Kepler was born prematurely into a poor Protestant family. His father was a mercenary soldier who later abandoned the family.

Suffered from smallpox which left him with weakened eyesight and crippled hands. This would affect his astronomical observations.

Entered the Protestant seminary at Adelberg, beginning his religious education and path toward becoming a Lutheran minister.

Enrolled at the University of Tubingen to study theology. Here he learned Copernican astronomy from Michael Maestlin.

Appointed mathematics teacher at the Protestant school in Graz. Began his astronomical calculations and calendar making.

Published Mysterium Cosmographicum, defending Copernican heliocentrism using geometric models of planetary orbits.

Married Barbara Muller, a wealthy widow. They had five children together, though three died in infancy.

Met astronomer Tycho Brahe in Prague and became his assistant. Gained access to Tycho's unprecedented astronomical data.

After Tycho's death, appointed Imperial Mathematician to Emperor Rudolf II. Inherited Tycho's observational data.

Observed and studied a supernova in the constellation Serpentarius, now known as Kepler's Supernova, the last observed in our galaxy.

Published Astronomia Nova containing his first two laws of planetary motion: elliptical orbits and equal areas in equal times.

His wife Barbara and son Friedrich died. Emperor Rudolf abdicated. Kepler left Prague for Linz under new patronage.

Married Susanna Reuttinger after carefully evaluating eleven potential brides. They had six children together.

His mother Katharina was accused of witchcraft. Kepler spent six years defending her until her acquittal in 1621.

Published Harmonices Mundi containing his third law of planetary motion relating orbital periods to distances from the Sun.

Published the Rudolphine Tables, accurate planetary tables based on Tycho's data and his laws, used for over a century.

Kepler died while traveling to collect money owed to him by the emperor. His grave was destroyed in the Thirty Years War.

Newton used Kepler's laws to derive universal gravitation. Kepler's laws remain fundamental to celestial mechanics today.