Lot 67E email save

GAUSS, Karl Friedrich. Theoria Motus... 1809. fir

Sign In to see what this sold for

Hamburg: Perthes et Besser, 1809. 4to (280 x 240 mm). One engraved plate. Contemporary boards, rebacked in cloth at an early date. Condition: old, neat bookseller's labels to front endpaper, very occasional intermittent spotting, hinge cracked; boards rubbed. A wide margined copy. first edition of gauss' systematic method of orbit calculation. "In this work, Gauss systematically developed the method of orbit calculation from three observations he had devised in 1801 to locate the planetoid Ceres, the earliest of the discovered 'asteroids,' which had been spotted and lost by G. Piazzi in January of 1801. Gauss predicted where the planetoid would be found next, using improved mumerical method based on least squares, and a more accurate orbit theory based on the ellipse rather than the usual circular approximation. Guass's calculations, completed in 1801, enabled the astronomer W. M. Olbers to find Ceres in the predicted position, a remarkable feat that cemented Gauss's reputation as a mathmatical and scientific genius" (Norman). In this work Gauss explained and revealed his systematic approach. Norman 879.

View Bloomsbury Auctions next auction.

Similar lots up for auction