Le Verrier—Magnificent and Detestable Astronomer
Part of the Astrophysics and Space Science Library book series (ASSL, volume 397)
About this book
Introduction
Le Verrier was a superb scientist. His discovery of Neptune in 1846 made him the most famous astronomer of his time. He produced a complete theory of the motions of the planets which served as a basis for planetary ephemeris for a full century. Doing this, he discovered an anomaly in the motion of Mercury which later became the first proof of General Relativity. He also founded European meteorology. However his arrogance and bad temper created many enemies, and he was even fired from his position of Director of the Paris Observatory.
Keywords
19th century astronomy French celestial mechanics Le Verrier astronomer Mercury anomaly discovery Neptune discovery Paris observatory director history of astronomy planet hunting techniques solar system history
Bibliographic information
- DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5565-3
- Copyright Information Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
- Publisher Name Springer, New York, NY
- eBook Packages Physics and Astronomy
- Print ISBN 978-1-4614-5564-6
- Online ISBN 978-1-4614-5565-3
- Series Print ISSN 0067-0057
- Buy this book on publisher's site