The Scientific Papers of Sir George Darwin
Periodic Orbits and Miscellaneous Papers

This volume of collected papers, published in 1911, covers periodic orbits and some miscellaneous topics.

George Howard Darwin (Author)

9781108004473, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 July 2009

628 pages, 4 b/w illus.
24.4 x 3.2 x 17 cm, 0.99 kg

Sir George Darwin (1845–1912) was the second son and fifth child of Charles Darwin. After studying mathematics at Cambridge he read for the Bar, but soon returned to science and to Cambridge, where in 1883 he was appointed Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy. His family home is now the location of Darwin College. His work was concerned primarily with the effect of the sun and moon on tidal forces on Earth, and with the theoretical cosmogony which evolved from practical observation: he formulated the fission theory of the formation of the moon (that the moon was formed from still-molten matter pulled away from the Earth by solar tides). This volume of his collected papers covers periodic orbits and some miscellaneous papers, including two investigating the health statistics of the marriage of first cousins – of interest to a member of a dynasty in which such marriages were common.

Preface
Part I. Periodic orbits: 1. Periodic orbits
2. On certain discontinuities connected with periodic orbits
3. On certain families of periodic orbits
Part II. The Tides: 4. The tides
Part III. Miscellaneous Papers in Chronological Order: 5. On some proposed forms of slide-rule
6. An application of Peaucellier's cell
7. The mechanical description of equipotential lines
8. On a mechanical representation of the second elliptic integral
9. On maps of the world
10. A geometric puzzle
11. A geometric illustration of the potential of a distant centre of force
12. On graphical interpolation and integration
13. On a theorem in spherical harmonic analysis
14. On fallible measures of variable quantities, and on the treatment of meteorological observations
15. On the horizontal thrust of a mass of sand
16. On the formation of ripple-mark in sand
17. Note on Mr Davison's paper on the straining of the Earth's crust in cooling
18. On the mechanical conditions of a swarm of meteorites, and on theories of cosmogony
19. On the perturbation of a comet in the neighbourhood of a planet
20. The Eulerian notation of the Earth's axis
21. The analogy between Lesage's theory of gravitation and the repulsion of light
Part IV. Papers on Tides: 22. The tidal observations of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907
23. On a mistake in the instructions for the use of a certain apparatus in tidal reductions
24. Geological time
25. Presentation of the Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society to M. Henri Poincaré
26. Cosmical evolution
Appendix: 27. Marriages between first cousins in England and their effects
28. Note on the marriages of first cousins
Index.

Subject Areas: Solar system: the Sun & planets [PGS]