Description

Leonhard Euler stood at the center of mathematical development in the eighteenth century. Euler Celestial Analysis shines a dazzling light on the intellectual context of Eulers contributions to mathematical astronomy. Offering an elegant and unbiased portrait of this remarkable mathematician, Dora Musielak uses Eulers works to explore how he built the foundation for the rigorous study of motion in our Solar System. With his exquisite flair for analysis, Euler stated the three-body problem of celestial mechanics, and he derived the differential equations for the general n-body problem, identifying all the integrals of motion. He studied comets, eclipses, derived planetary orbits, and pioneered the study of planetary perturbations. Old and blind, Euler put forward the most advanced lunar theory of his time. Euler Celestial Analysis also provides an introduction to spacecraft orbit mechanics, a branch of celestial mechanics that studies spaceflight and that has revolutionized the direct exploration of the heavens.