Urbain Le Verrier

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Pizza Puzzle (talk | contribs) at 14:05, 12 June 2003. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Jump to navigation Jump to search

Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier (March 11, 1811, Saint-Lô, France - September 23, 1877, Paris, France) was a French mathematician specialized in celestial mechanics. He worked at the Paris Observatory for most of his life.

His most famous achievement is the discovery of Neptune, using only mathematics. The calculations were made to explain discrepancies with Uranus's orbit and the laws of Kepler and Newton. At the same time, but unknown to both, the same calculations were made by Adams. LeVerrier would assist Galle in locating the planet (September - 1846); which was found within 1° of its predicted location, a point in Aquarius.

Perhaps galvanized by his discovery, he proceeded to intepret the orbit of Mercury as influenced by another planet (tentatively named Vulcan). This triggered a wave of false detections, which lasted until 1915, when Albert Einstein explained the motion of Mercury with his theory of general relativity.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Urbain_Le_Verrier&oldid=1027363"