On Hooke's 1685 manuscript on orbital mechanics (Q1386713)

This ``Letter to the Editor'' is a response to Herman Erlichson's critique of the author's analysis of a manuscript by Robert Hooke, dated September 1685, which describes a geometrical construction for orbital dynamics. In order to provide additional evidence for his standpoint, the author demonstrates that Hooke's construction can readily be seen to correspond to Newton's geometrical construction for his proof that Kepler's area law is a consequence of central forces. Nauenberg argues that his critic is mistaken because he does not make a distinction between the method by which Hooke's drawing is carried out, and the dynamics which it illustrates according to the accompanying text. In conclusion, the author insists that it was not Hooke, but Newton who first formulated the deduction for the radial dependence of the centripetal force tending to the center of an elliptic orbit as a problem, and solved it by applying the affine transformation.