There once lived two German men whose lives nearly overlapped, missing by only 30 years. One, Paracelsus, lived from 1494 to 1541. The other, Johann Kepler, lived from 1571 to 1630. Paracelsus’ thinking and work helped transform our understanding of our inner world, the human body. Kepler’s original thought and painstaking analysis of planetary orbital data helped transform humanity’s understanding of our outer world, the physical phenomena all around us and especially beyond Earth’s atmosphere. All modern medical science and astronomy have been built upon, at least partially, their work. Sidney Rosen has written a book about each man: Doctor Paracelsus and also The Harmonious World of Johann Kepler. The reader of each book, well-written at an upper middle school to high school level, will learn about the scientific contributions of each man and the society and personal background out of which arose their extraordinary achievements.
Rosen had a Ph.D. in physics and taught at the college level, as well as writing good scientific biographies for young people. His writing career was inspired by his wife, Dorothy, who was a children’s public librarian. Two other books by him that you should look out for are Galileo and the Magic Numbers and Wizard of the Dome: R. Buckminster Fuller, Designer for the Future.