Kepler's metaphysics of the solar system and his empirical criticism (1986/91)

Yesterday - eight days before the 356th anniversary of Kepler's death - marked another significant date in the story of Kepler. For 7 November 1631 was the day on which Pierre Gassendi observed and confirmed the passing of the planet Mercury in front of the sun, an event that Kepler had predicted two years before. Kepler was no longer able to witness this first empirical corroboration of his new theory of the planets. He had died the previous year, shortly before his fifty-ninth birthday.