A Landmark Witch Trial

In 1615 Katharina, mother of the great scientist Johannes Kepler, was accused of witchcraft. Ulinka Rublack asks what her landmark trial tells us about early-modern attitudes towards science, nature and the family.

Johannes Kepler's prayer book and his wife's hairpin on a manuscript of his work.

The German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) is one of the most important figures of the scientific revolution. He defined the three laws of planetary motion and discovered that planets move in ellipses. One of the least known facts about him is that his mother was accused of witchcraft. 

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