The story of modern natural science begins not only in Florence at the time of Galilei, but also in Prague during the reign of Rudolf II. The Catholic emperor invited the Danish astronomist Tycho Brahe and the German Johannes Kepler to his court. Both of them were Protestants, both exiles taking refuge in Prague. The meeting between them was a fortunate one, although it lasted barely a year, ending with Brahe`s mysterious death. Brahe`s exact observations and calculations formed the basis of Kepler`s work on planetary orbits, which continues to determine our conception of the world up to the present day.
»Tycho Brahe`s Path to God«, written in 1915 and dedicated to his friend Franz Kafka, is Max Brod`s first and best-known historical novel. In it he gives us a splendid panorama of the time around 1600, and an intense portrayal of the two different characters. The figure of Johannes Kepler was modelled on Albert Einstein, who Max Brod met whilst teaching at the University of Prague.
A gripping historical novel about Johannes Kepler and the beginnings of modern natural science in Prague around 1600.
The Author
Max Brod (1884 -1968) was one of the most well-known representatives of German-speaking literature in Prague before and after the First World War; today he is famous primarily as the editor of the works written by his friend Franz Kafka.
