Johannes Kepler
Kepler's second law says how fast the planet moves around the ellipse. When the planet is closer to the Sun, it moves faster. When it is farther from the Sun, it moves slower. If there is a line between the planet and the Sun, the line sweeps out an area as it follows the planet. The area it sweeps out in one day is always the same. Before Kepler, astronomers thought that planets always moved at the same speed along the circle/s.