The University of Padua -- on the recommendation of the departing Galileo -- sought Kepler to fill the mathematics professorship .
Kepler , preferring to keep his family in German territory , instead travelled to Austria to arrange a position as teacher and district mathematician in Linz .
The University of Padua -- on the recommendation of the departing Galileo -- sought Kepler to fill the mathematics professorship , but Kepler , preferring to keep his family in German territory , instead travelled to Austria to arrange a position as teacher and district mathematician in Linz .