Knowing there was no money in science, Vincenzo Galilei wanted his son to become a cloth-dealer. While the young Galileo was disobeying his father and cultivating an unwholesome interest in geometry, Tycho Brahe was maintaining the impoverished Johannes Kepler and his entire family. Not long after this, a certain Cambridge mathematician noticed a strange phenomenon that became known as 'the precession of the equinoxes', before formulating his law of gravity. In this fascinating collection of lectures, first published in 1893, the eminent Professor of Physics Oliver Lodge (1851–1940) takes the reader on a tour of the history of astronomy. Including biographical notes on landmark astronomers, more than a hundred illustrations, and simple explanations of important concepts, this engaging book's range from the geocentric theory of the universe to the discovery of Neptune and the calculation of tides. It remains highly accessible to the general reader today.
- ISBN13 9781139380904
- Publish Date 5 May 2013 (first published 23 December 2009)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Cambridge University Press
- Imprint Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing)
- Format eBook
- Language English