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Excerpt from Theoretical Astronomy Relating to the Motions of the Heavenly Bodies: Revolving Around the Sun in Accordance With the Law of Universal Gravitation The discovery of the great law of nature, the law of gravitation, by Newton, prepared the way for the brilliant achievements which have distinguished the history of astronomical science. A first essential, how ever, to the solution of those recondite problems which were to exhibit the effect of the mutual attraction of the bodies of our system, was the development of the infinitesimal calculus; and the labors of those who devoted themselves to pure analysis have contributed a most important part in the attainment of the high degree of perfection which characterizes the results of astronomical investigations. Of the earlier efforts to develop the great results following from the law of gravitation, those of Euler stand pre-eminent, and the memoirs which he published have, in reality, furnished the germ of all subsequent investigations in celestial mechanics. In this connection also the names of Bernouilli, Clairaut, and D'Alembert deserve the most honorable mention as having contributed also, in a high degree, to give direction to the investigations which were to unfold so many mysteries of nature. By means of the researches thus inaugurated, the great problems of mechanics were successfully solved, many beautiful theorems relating to the planetary motions demonstrated, and many useful formulae developed. It is true, however, that in the early stage of the science methods were developed which have since been found to be impracticable, even if not erroneous; still, enough was effected to direct attention in the proper channel, and to prepare the way for the more complete labors of Lagrange and Laplace. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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9781330163955

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