Who used Tycho Brahe's calculations to discover the elliptical motion of the planets? (1 point)
• Kepler
• Newton
• Galileo
• Copernicus
Kepler used Tycho Brahe's calculations to discover the elliptical motion of the planets.
Kepler used Tycho Brahe's calculations to discover the elliptical motion of the planets.
The person who used Tycho Brahe's calculations to discover the elliptical motion of the planets is Johannes Kepler. To arrive at this answer, we can recall some basic knowledge about the history of astronomy.
1. Copernicus (option "Copernicus") was a Polish astronomer who proposed the heliocentric model, which placed the Sun at the center of the solar system, with the planets orbiting around it. While Copernicus' model challenged the geocentric model that placed the Earth at the center, he did not base his calculations on Tycho Brahe's data.
2. Galileo (option "Galileo") was an Italian astronomer and physicist who made numerous important discoveries, such as the four largest moons of Jupiter and the phases of Venus. However, he did not use Tycho Brahe's calculations to determine the elliptical motion of the planets.
3. Newton (option "Newton") was an English physicist and mathematician who formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation. While Newton's laws were integral in understanding planetary motion, he did not rely on Tycho Brahe's calculations specifically to discover the elliptical orbits.
4. Kepler (option "Kepler") was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer who worked as Tycho Brahe's assistant. Kepler meticulously studied Brahe's observational data, which included precise measurements of the positions of planets over several decades. Based on this data, Kepler used his mathematical skills to derive and refine his three laws of planetary motion. Kepler's first law, also known as the law of ellipses, stated that planets moved in elliptical orbits around the Sun, with the Sun located at one of the foci of the ellipse.
Therefore, the correct answer is Kepler (option "Kepler").