Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) is remembered for discovering the three laws of planetary motion, helping establish the idea that planets move around the Sun in elliptical orbits. But during the height of his scientific career, Kepler faced a very different challenge on Earth: his elderly mother, Katharina Kepler, was accused of witchcraft.
For years, he would divide his attention between studying the heavens and defending his mother from a legal case that could have ended with her execution.
