Reviews for In Search of Planet Vulcan: The Ghost in Newton's Clockwork Universe

The average rating for In Search of Planet Vulcan: The Ghost in Newton's Clockwork Universe based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-05-15 00:00:00 Vincent Morgan Newtonian physics is a wonderful thing, and for years astronomers and mathematicians were sure that the movements of the universe could eventually be explained using Newton's theories. One particular French astronomer, Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier, was particularly adept at using mathematics to predict the movements of the planets, and actually was able to theorize the existence and location of the planet Neptune before it was actually discovered. Fresh from this success, Le Verrier set his sights on interpreting Mercury's eccentric orbit. He eventually concluded that there must be another planet between Mercury and the Sun. This was a respected theory in some circles, but it didn't really gain steam until an amateur astronomer by the name of Edmond Lescarbault claimed to have actually seen this planet, dubbed Vulcan, pass in front of the Sun. This was enough evidence for Le Verrier, who was certain that his solution could be the only logical explanation for Mercury's orbit. There followed years of scientific controversy and false alarms, as astronomers and mathematicians took sides in the debate and trucked around the world, observing solar eclipses and attempting to catch a glimpse of the elusive Vulcan. Most did not cling to the idea as enthusiastically as Le Verrier, and of course eventually Einstein was able to explain Mercury's orbit without resorting to phantom planets, but this book still tells a fascinating tale of scientific history, controversy, and competition.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-01-27 00:00:00 Gggfg Ffgfdffdctgc I enjoyed this quick jaunt down the path of scientific esoterica. As the author makes plain, this story recounts a short lived obsession from some of the greatest minds in physics to explain something for which they had no tools to framework to previously explain. If a story taking one from Newton to Einstein sounds boring, well, then it is you who probably lack depth. Newton's initial monumental rules of the physical world led to later scientists literally spotting planets not by telescopic observation but rather through math (and then verified by visualizations). If one could do such a thing, then one could also incorrectly conjure the existence of a planet called Vulcan that would explain unpredicted variations in the way we observe Mercury's orbit. Einstein, however, performed he reverse trick and used logic (and match) to destroy the possibly existence of Vulcan. The fun part of this book... is how.