Kepler’s Harmonies: Feynman, the Ellipse, and the Poetry of the Planets
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Exploring Chapter 7 of The Feynman Lectures on Physics, and the profound simplicity behind Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion When Richard Feynman opens a discussion on Kepler’s laws in The Feynman Lectures on Physics , he takes us not only into the realm of orbital mechanics, but also into the history of science itself—a time when careful observation, mathematical intuition, and imagination transformed our understanding of the heavens. The passage quoted from Lecture 7-1 (Kepler’s Laws) provides a compact but deeply rich account of Kepler’s three planetary laws, each rooted in the genius of observational astronomy and each resonating through centuries of physics and mathematics. Let us take Feynman’s overview as a springboard, and explore more deeply the scientific and historical context of each law, tracing their discovery, interpretation, and impact. Kepler’s First Law: The Shape of Orbits – From Circles to Ellipses “Kepler found that each planet goes around the sun in a curve c...