Painting - <I>Law of Orbiting Velocity (Kepler)</I>
date: label: date made
content: 1965
name: label: referenced
content: Kepler, Johannes
label: painter
content: Johnson, Crockett
notes: label: Description
content: This work illustrates two laws of planetary motion proposed by the German mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) in his book <I>Astronomia Nova</I> (<I>New Astronomy</I>) of 1609. Kepler argued that planets move about the sun in elliptical orbits, with the sun at one focus of the ellipse. He also claimed that a planet moves about the sun in such a way that a line drawn from the planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times. The ellipse in the work represents the path of a planet and the white sections equal areas. The extraordinary contrast between the deep blue and white colors dramatize this phenomenon.
label: Description
content: This oil painting on masonite has a wooden frame. It is signed: CJ65. It also is marked on the back: Crockett Johnson 1965 (/) LAW OF ORBITING VELOCITY (/) (KEPLER). It is #22 in the series. The work follows an annotated diagram from Crockett Johnson’s copy of Newman's <I>The World of Mathematics</I> (1956), p. 231. Compare to paintings #76 (1979.1093.50) and #99 (1979.1093.66).
label: Description
content: Reference: Arthur Koestler, <I>The Watershed</I> (1960).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Crockett Johnson
label: See more items in
content: Art
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Ruth Krauss in memory of Crockett Johnson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1979.1093.16
label: catalog number
content: 1979.1093.16
label: accession number
content: 1979.1093
objectType: label: Object Name
content: painting
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: masonite (substrate material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (frame material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 82 cm x 102.2 cm x 3.8 cm; 32 5/16 in x 40 1/4 in x 1 1/2 in