Abstract
The motion of astronomical bodies was first correctly analyzed by Newton, in the second half of the 17th century. He saw that a variety of apparently unrelated observations all had common features and should form part of a single theory of gravitational interaction. To formulate the theory, he had to invent mathematical techniques that described the observations and showed their interrelationship. His struggles with the mathematical problems are recorded in his book Principia Mathematica (Ne00).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1988 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Harwit, M. (1988). Dynamics and Masses of Astronomical Bodies. In: Astrophysical Concepts. Astronomy and Astrophysics Library. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2019-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2019-8_3
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-2021-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-2019-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive