{"id":611185,"date":"2026-04-28T12:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/611185\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T12:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:14:13","slug":"this-day-in-history-happy-birthday-the-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/611185\/","title":{"rendered":"This day in history: Happy birthday \u2026 the universe?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1242\" height=\"704\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/da8aafe053c89ef5cac78d3a3cb3f2fd.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>If you were looking for an excuse to have a slice of cake today, here is a great one. According to one of history\u2019s greatest scientists, today is the universe\u2019s birthday!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler calculated that the universe was created on April 27, 4977 B.C.<\/p>\n<p>While modern science tells us the universe is actually billions of years older, Kepler\u2019s calculation for the cosmos gives us a fascinating look at how the founders of modern science tried to make sense of our world.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/this-day-in-history\/april-27\/universe-is-created-according-to-kepler\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Johannes Kepler;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Johannes Kepler<\/a> was a brilliant scientist who helped change how we see the stars. As a student, he fell in love with the ideas of Nicolaus Copernicus. At the time, most people believed the sun revolved around the Earth. Copernicus argued the opposite, that the Earth revolves around the sun. Kepler took this idea and ran with it, eventually becoming the Imperial Mathematician for the Holy Roman Empire.<\/p>\n<p>Kepler is best known for his three laws of planetary motion. <a href=\"https:\/\/exterminatingangel.com\/on-this-day-in-history-4877-b-c-universe-is-created-according-to-kepler\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Before him;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Before him<\/a>, people thought planets moved in perfect circles. He proved that they actually move in ellipses. He also discovered that planets speed up as they get closer to the sun and slow down as they move away. His work was so solid that it later helped Sir Isaac Newton develop the law of gravity.<\/p>\n<p>In Kepler\u2019s time, science and religion were deeply intertwined. To find the beginning of everything, Kepler used a mix of astronomical data and biblical history. He looked at planetary alignments and historical records to work backward to a starting point. He wasn\u2019t the only one doing this, many scholars of the era tried to find an exact date for creation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Modern scientists who study the Big Bang theory estimate the universe is about 13.8 billion years old. Compared to that, <a href=\"https:\/\/abc11.com\/post\/the-universe-was-created-today-according-to-kepler\/1310328\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Kepler\u2019s estimate;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Kepler\u2019s estimate<\/a> of roughly 7,000 years is quite a bit off!<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"780\" height=\"449\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/154f7d7b79b70a29e820903e444b08de.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n<p>Even though his calculation wasn\u2019t correct, his methods were. Kepler taught us to look at the world through the lens of math and observation. He improved the telescope, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/Keplerian-telescope\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Keplerian telescope;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Keplerian telescope<\/a>. He used two convex lenses, creating a wider field of view and higher magnification, and he explained how the human eye works, and gave us the map for how planets move.<\/p>\n<p>So, even if the universe isn\u2019t exactly turning 7,003 today, we can still celebrate the curiosity of a man who dared to look at the stars and ask, \u201cWhen did all of this begin?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Happy Birthday to the universe!<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Ask us! What questions do you have about content, strategy, pop culture, lifestyle, wellness, history or more? We may use your question in an upcoming article!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/1wHBmZZrd4O0OAwQghNhg5fWe4mRpwt8KYbawDqiXyvY\/edit\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Ask us a question;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Ask us a question<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Like MediaFeed\u2019s content?\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/channel\/source\/Mediafeed\/sr-vid-ckv6hf6hjif65e0cjnm83s7yb2y0w5xmun0j4refire0ev6727is\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Be sure to follow us;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Be sure to follow us<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">This article was syndicated by<a href=\"https:\/\/mediafeed.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:\u00a0MediaFeed.org;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">\u00a0MediaFeed.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you were looking for an excuse to have a slice of cake today, here is a great&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[265447,265444,265446,265445,79,193,13207],"class_list":{"0":"post-611185","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-biblical-history","9":"tag-johannes-kepler","10":"tag-modern-science","11":"tag-nicolaus-copernicus","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-space","14":"tag-the-universe"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}