John Herschel on the Discovery of Neptune

Details John Herschel on the Discovery of Neptune John Herschel on the Discovery of Neptune

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006jahh....9..151k&link_type=abstract

Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage (ISSN 1440-2807), Vol. 9, No. 2, p. 151 - 158 (2006).

Mathematics

Neptune, Sir John Herschel, U. Le Verrier, J.C. Adams, G.B. Airy

Scientific paper

The letters of John Herschel that concern the discovery of the planet Neptune have not been greatly discussed by historians of science. I have transcribed these in the course of archiving the British Neptune-discovery documents. Herschel tends to be depicted as a background figure in narrations of the story of Neptune's discovery, whereas the present account focuses upon his evolving view of the topic: the rival merits of the two main protagonists, and the startling manner in which an obscure branch of mathematics (perturbation theory) was able to pinpoint the position of a new sphere in the sky. As the son of the man who found Uranus, his views have a special relevance. Also, I suggest that his eloquent prose style may still be enjoyed today.

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