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May 23
Isabella Ford, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Johannes Kepler
David Barnhart
May 23, 2025
Sunset at Lyndhurst, 2011. Own photo.
Today is the birthday of Isabella Ford, in 1855, a pacifist, author, feminist, and social reformer in England.
Today is also a feast day, in the Episcopal Church, for Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler, astronomers who changed the way we understand the motions of planets. Copernicus faced opposition to his heliocentric model of the solar system, mostly from Protestants, and dedicated his book to Pope Paul III. He died on May 24, 1543, shortly after receiving the published copy of his manuscript. Kepler was born nearly thirty years later, in 1571, and argued that the scientific and rational study of nature was a gift from God, who made the world intelligible.
Reflection:
Johannes Kepler wrote:
“Those laws [of nature] are within the grasp of the human mind; God wanted us to recognize them by creating us after his own image so that we could share in his own thoughts.”
“We ought not to ask why the human mind troubles to fathom the secrets of the universe. The diversity of the phenomena of nature is so great, and the treasures hidden in the skies so rich, precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking in fresh nourishment.”
Prayer: Author of Creation, we learn more about you when we study your works. Help us not only to be in awe of stars, but to write policy that allows us to preserve those parts here on Earth that are most vulnerable. Amen.