According to the late German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler, April 27, 4977 B.C. — 7,003 years ago today — was the day the universe was created. [“This Day in History,” History.com, April 27, 2026.]

Yes, I know: modern science tells us that the “Big Bang” happened some 13.8 billion years ago, not a mere 7,000. But Kepler lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, so his resources were somewhat limited.

But he was no slouch. A student of Nicolaus Copernicus during his university years, and later a contemporary of Galileo Galilei, Kepler was the first to theorize that the planets moved around the sun in ellipses, not circles; and he calculated the relationship of the time a planet takes to orbit the sun to the average distance of the planet from the sun. He also did important work in the fields of mathematics and optics, including demonstrating how the human eye works. Pretty heady stuff for his time.

Yet somehow, the record of his suggested date for the creation of our universe has survived the centuries, and is commemorated — if not widely celebrated — today.

If nothing else, it’s a good excuse to do a little stargazing tonight . . . and perhaps to indulge in some extra Haagen Dazs, just for fun.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/27/26