Celestial Encounters
The Origins of Chaos and Stability
Published on 1. December 1996
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-691-02743-2 (ISBN)
Description
Starting with the story of Poincare's work on the phenomenon of chaos, this study traces the history of attempts to solve the problems of celestial mechanics first posed in Isaac Newton's "Principia" in 1686. In describing how mathematical rigour was brought to bear on one of our oldest fascinations - the motions of the heavens - they introduce the people whose ideas led to the field now called nonlinear dynamics. In presenting the modern theory of dynamic systems, the models underlying much of modern science are described pictorally, using the geometrical language invented by Poincare. More generally, the authors reflect on mathematical creativity and the roles that chance encounters, politics, and circumstance play in it.
Reviews / Votes
"One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1997" "[S]tories about the history of celestial mechanics are the subject of this delightful book. The authors interweave numerous anecdotes about the personalities involved in the discoveries with technical details of the mathematical ideas themselves. . . . a pleasant mix of things technical and things historical. . . . written in a lively and informative way."---Robert L. Devaney, Science "This book, which should be required reading for every nonspecialist astronomer, may well be headed toward becoming a classic." * Choice * "A particular strength of Celestial Encounters is the impression, conveyed with a deft touch, that mathematics is an international and collective effort made by real people for real reasons in the real world. All the players in the drama, alive or dead, come over as human beings who happen to have a passion for mathematics and an ability to fulfill that passion. This feature alone justifies buying the book."---Ian Stewart, New Scientist "A lively introduction to the fascinating story of celestial mechanics."---Jacques Laskar, Nature "Throughout the book one finds a vital quality that derives from the authors' real success in presenting mathematics as a human endeavor.... A valuable and accessible contribution to the chaos literature."---June Barrow-Green, Isis "A pleasant mix of things technical and things historical.... Written in a lively and informative way."---Robert Devaney, ScienceMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
23 halftones 64 line illus.
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 197 mm
Weight
567 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-02743-2 (9780691027432)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2022
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
€34.49
Available for download
Persons
Florin Diacu is Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Victoria in Canada. Philip Holmes, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is Professor of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics at Princeton University, where he directs the Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics.