Joseph Cowley

The planetary observations of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) provide the data upon which Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) will later base his famous three laws accurately describing the revolutions of the planets around the sun. The play's conflict stems not only from Kepler's urgent need for Tycho's observations to prove his theories, and Tycho's equally urgent desire not to share them before h can use them (with Kepler's help) to prove his own, but also from the utterly different characters of the two men. Kepler is an advocate of the Copernican sun-centered system, Tycho of the Ptolemaic earth-centered system. Kepler's cunning and seeming weakness are pitted against Tycho's arrogance and seeming strength. At stake is the glory and fame for one of the greatest discoveries of all time: how the solar system works. This conflict will keep you on the edge of your seat from first page to last.

This play, a historical drama in two acts, has had readings in Columbus, Ohio, and Riverhead, NY, and has been reviewed favorably by the Tycho Brahe scholar John Robert Christianson in the Volume 28, Number 1, 2005 issue of The Bridge, a Journal of the Danish American Heritage Society.