Donald Benson

The Ballet of the Planets

A Mathematician's Musings on the Elegance of Planetary Motion

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

The Ballet of the Planets unravels the beautiful mystery of planetary motion. The book shows how our understanding of planetary motion evolved from ancient Greece to the time of Newton. It illustrates the interaction between theory and observation, the scientific method, a process still central to the science of today.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oxford University Press, USA
• Seitenzahl: 192
• Erscheinungstermin: 29. Mai 2012
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 249mm x 164mm x 23mm
• Gewicht: 394g
• ISBN-13: 9780199891009
• ISBN-10: 0199891001
• Artikelnr.: 34157597

Autorenporträt

Donald C. Benson is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Davis, and the author of A Smoother Pebble and The Moment of Proof.

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 The Survival of the Valid
I. Birth
2 The Bowl of Night
3 Epicycles and Relative Motion
4 The Deferent-Epicycle Model
5 Making Money, Et Cetera
II Rebirth
6 The Reluctant Revolutionary
7 Circles No More
8 The War with Mars
III Enlightenment
9 The Birth of Mechanics
10 The Astronomical Alchemist
A. The Greek Alphabet
B. Vectors
Notes
References
Index