Abstract
We turn back now from the depths of interstellar space to our own Solar System, and the old question of how it came into existence. The daring thought that this question cannot be answered by the handing-down of ancient myths, but only through our own probing, was proposed in France as early as 1644 by René Descartes in his whirlpool theory. In Germany, still by 1755, Immanuel Kant had to publish the first edition of his “Allgemeine Naturgeschichte and Theorie des Himmels” anonymously, for fear of the (protestant) theologians; in it, he treated the origin of the Solar System for the first time “according to Newtonian principles”. Kant assumed a rotating, flattened primordial nebula, from which the planets and later their satellites were formed. The description offered independently somewhat later by S. Laplace in 1796 in his popular “Exposition du Système du Monde” was based on a similar hypothesis.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Atreya, S.K., Pollack, J. B., Matthews, M. S. (eds.): Origin and Evolution of Planetary and Satellite Atmospheres ( University of Arizona Press, Tucson 1989 )
Dirk, S. J.: The Biological Universe ( Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996 )
Dyson F. J.: Origins of Life ( Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999 )
Encrenaz, T., Bibring, J.-P.: The Solar System (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg 1995 )
Jakosky, B.: Search for Life on Other Planets ( Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1998 )
Kerridge, J. F. (ed.): Meteorites and the Early Solar System ( University of Arizona Press, Tucson 1988 )
Monod, J.: Chance and Necessity ( Random House, New York 1972 )
Suess, H. E.: Chemistry of the Solar System. An Elementary Introduction to Cosmochemistry ( Wiley, New York 1987 )
Taube, M.: Evolution of Matter and Energy on a Cosmic and Planetary Scale (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg 1985 )
Wasson, J.: Meteorites: Their Record of Early Solar-System History ( Freeman, Oxford 1985 )
Woolfson, M. M.: The Origin and Evolution of the Solar System ( Institute of Physics, Bristol 2000 )
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Unsöld, A., Baschek, B. (2002). The Cosmogony of the Solar System. In: The New Cosmos. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04356-1_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04356-1_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-08746-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-04356-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive