No label defined (Q3840972)

[For the 1969 ed., see Bronx, N. Y.: Chelsea Publ. Comp., Inc. IX; Zbl 0267.01035.] This last volume of Laplace's principle work includes books XI through XVI of Mécanique céleste. It deals with the figure and rotation of the earth (book XI), the attraction and repulsion of spheres and the motion of elastic fluids, including the caloric theory of heat and gases (book XII), the oscillations of fluids surrounding the planets (book XIII), the rotation of heavenly bodies about their centers of gravity (book XIV), planetary and cometary motions (book XV), and the movement of satellites (book XVI). At the beginning of each book, Laplace has placed an introductory chapter that gives a detailed account of the works of his predecessors and contemporaries. Due to these notices historiques, volume V of Mécanique céleste is of special interest for historians of science and mathematics who want to recognize what Laplace himself has contributed to the different topics. No index, introduction or commentary has been added to this unaltered reprint of the original edition of 1825.