Studies of Pallas in the Early Nineteenth Century: Historical Studies in Asteroid Research. Second Edition

Abstract

This book opens with the long-forgotten fact that the orbital elements of a planet between Mars and Jupiter were first printed in 1681. The missing planet idea that animated astronomers from Kepler to Zach is the perfect example of what the British historian of science A. Rupert Hall (1962a: 188) meant when he said, “The history of science derives its coherence less from the temporal succession of events than from the continuity of ideas.” He went on to say that “while not neglecting the work of the scientist’s hands the historian has to look more deeply for the thought that guided that work and gave it a theoretical structure.” This book, thoroughly revised and updated from its first edition in 2004, examines both the thought and theoretical structure created by the astronomers and mathematicians in the early nineteenth century as they grappled with the existence of not just one missing planet but two.