Celestial Mechanics (5-Volume Set in English & French) [Hardcover]

Pierre Simon Laplace (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1969 | ISBN-10: 0828401942 | ISBN-13: 978-0828401944 | Edition: Vol. 5 in FRENCH only

One of the landmarks in the history of human thought. This is a reprint of the famous English translation, with an extraordinary running commentary by Nathaniel Bowditch of the first four volumes of the Mecanique Celeste.

The fifth volume, in the original French, contains mainly historical material and completes the four volumes of the Bowditch annotated translation. The main feature of this volume is a masterly critico-historical discussion of the subject. In addition, there are various supplements to the matters treated in the first four volumes.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A systematic presentation of celestial mechanics ... a masterpiece. -- F. Cajori

Undoubtedly the greatest systematic treatise ever published. -- Bulletin of the AMS

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Chelsea Pub Co; Vol. 5 in FRENCH only edition (January 1969)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0828401942
• ISBN-13: 978-0828401944
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 10 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 18.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,686,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Celestial Mechanics, April 25, 2001

By 

Miguel Camarena Sainz (Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Celestial Mechanics (5-Volume Set in English & French) (Hardcover)

A masterpiece in the history of science, Celestial Mechanics constitutes a great reference for the applied methods of Newtonian mechanics. It not only includes guidelines into planetary problems but also introduces us to the basic equilibrium of planes, fluid mechanics, rotational mechanics, the theory of heat and gravitation. His findings were considered important: he approximated the shape of the earth and proved the stability of the solar system. The treatise is rather old in the handling of the problems and some of Laplace's methods are tricky due to his line of reasoning. However, his tools are impressive: he deduces the trajectories of planets with great accuracy and proves the theory of tides by gravitational relations.

Laplace's treatise contains a vast number of important mathematical and physical results: his discoveries are important in the development of potential theory, wave mechanics, and electricity. We can find many of Laplace's contributions: Laplace coefficients, Laplace's equation and operator among his many landmarks. His findings have now spread to many fields and have been gobbled up by textbooks, but you can explore the source of all those beautiful formulas by yourself and be in touch with one of the greatest minds of modern times. Anyone who is curious by the evolution of the Newtonian paradigm, looking for an important scientific work, or is just too curious about how the theory of gravity was applied to our universe will be fascinated by the contents of these volumes.