Nicolas-Louis De La Caille, Astronomer and Geodesist
- Publisher's listprice GBP 76.00
-
36 309 Ft (34 580 Ft + 5% VAT)
The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.
- Discount 10% (cc. 3 631 Ft off)
- Discounted price 32 678 Ft (31 122 Ft + 5% VAT)
Subcribe now and take benefit of a favourable price.
Subscribe
36 309 Ft
Availability
printed on demand
Why don't you give exact delivery time?
Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.
Product details:
- Edition number 01
- Publisher OUP Oxford
- Date of Publication 13 December 2012
- ISBN 9780199668403
- Binding Hardback
- No. of pages202 pages
- Size 240x162x16 mm
- Weight 504 g
- Language English
- Illustrations 48 b/w illustrations 0
Categories
Short description:
This is the first comprehensive biography of one of the greatest and most careful observational astronomers of all time. He mapped the southern sky and named many of the constellations. In addition, he contributed to geodesy, navigation, and celestial mechanics.
MoreLong description:
La Caille was one of the observational astronomers and geodesists who followed Newton in developing ideas about celestial mechanics and the shape of the earth. He provided data to the great 18th-century mathematicians involved in understanding the complex gravitational effects that the heavenly bodies have on one another.
Observing from the Cape of Good Hope, he made the first ever telescopic sky survey and gave many of the southern constellations their present-day names. He measured the paths of the planets and determined their distances by trigonometry. In addition, he made a controversial measurement of the radius of the earth that seemed to prove it was pear-shaped.
On a practical level, La Caille developed the method of `Lunars' for determining longitudes at sea. He mapped the Cape. As an influential teacher he propagated Newton's theory of universal gravitation at a time when it was only beginning to be accepted on the European continent.
This book gives the most comprehensive overview so far available of La Caille's life and work, showing how he interacted with his often difficult colleagues. It places special emphasis on his life at, and his observations and comments on, the Cape of Good Hope, where he spent the years 1751-53.
This is an exact and detailed book, not only dealing with a great astronomer, but exploring the less-well-known world of 18th-Century Frech research astronomy. It is lucidly written and thoroughly documented.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Early Life
The Cape
The Shape of the Earth
Notes about the Cape
Later Years
Paradox Resolved
