| Description |
xiv, 178 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
The survival of the valid. Peer review ; The scientific method -- Birth. The bowl of night. The two-sphere universe ; Coordinate systems l The sun -- Epicycles and relative motion. A mechanical linkage ; Relative motion -- The deferent-epicycle model. Retrograde motion ; Ptolemy ; The deferent-epicycle model ; Intimations of numerology ; The equant -- Making money, et cetera. Epicyclic curves as decorative patterns ; Cycloidal curves -- Rebirth. The reluctant revolutionary. Adjusting the Ptolemaic theory ; Copernicus ; Galileo -- Circles no more. The ellipse ; Two pearls ; Tracking planets -- The war with Mars. Tycho Brahe ; Kepler -- Enlightenment. The birth of mechanics. Archimedes ; Galileo -- The astronomical alchemist. Newton's dynamics ; Rotational dynamics ; The law of universal gravitation -- The Greek alphabet -- Vectors. |
| Subject |
Planetary theory -- History.
|
| ISBN |
9780199891009 hardcover alkaline paper |
|
0199891001 hardcover alkaline paper |
|
