Department
of
Science & Technology Studies
University College London
Nicholas Kollerstrom's
Newton's 1702 Lunar Theory
Who Used It?
The following 'Newtonian' astronomers in the early eighteenth
century prepared tables based upon TMM:
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1717: Nicholas Delisle, Paris
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1718: Peter Horrebow, Uppsala, Norway
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1726: Nicholas Grammatici, Ingolstadt, Sweden
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1732: Richard Wright, Birmingham
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1733: Angelo Capello, Venice
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1735: Charles Leadbetter, London
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1739: Richard Dunthorne,
Cambridge
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1740: Charles Brent, Leicester
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1746: Pierre LeMonnier, Paris
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1749: Edmond Halley, Greenwich (prepared 1720-23)
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for details and worked examples, see the bibliography
These tables were all published in one form or another, except
for that of Delisle, whose work remained in manuscript. Delisle claimed
to be the first to have repared tables based upon the Newtonian theory
(ie, TMM). They all gave worked examples of their method (again, except
for Delisle, or, if he did, none remains). Leadbetter published in 1742
a more comprehensive astronomy treatise than the above, which abandoned
the Newtonian theory. Halley drew up his version of
the theory around 1720, and used it while he was Astronomer Royal, but
it was only published posthumously in 1749, by which time it was out-of-date.
In mid-eighteenth century France, the most widely used (lunar) tables were
those of Halley and LeMonnier, according to the historian D'Alembert (1754,
p. iv). Slight differences between the two versions were noted, e.g., Halley
had omitted the seventh equation, while LeMonnier kept it.
The First Computation
The first TMM-based calculation on record was published in
the Philosophical Transactions of 1710, by 'the Reverend Mr H. Cressner,
M.A., Fellow of the Royal Society.' Cressner compared this with a computation
based on Flamsteed's theory as published by William Whiston, which method
he called , 'Horroxian' . The occasion was a lunar eclipse observed at
Streatham in South London in 1710. Thus, at the dawn of the Age of Enlightenment,
there existed two rival British lunar theories. Mr Cressner claimed that
he was the first to do this:
'There being therefore no
Examples of any Calculation (that I know of) according to that Theory,
nor of the Theory's Agreement with Observations yet made Public; I thought
it proper to offer this one to this learned Society's perusal...I have
added the Calculation from the famous Mr Flamsteed's
Tables, according to Horrox's Theory, as I find them published in the Ingenious
Mr Whiston's Astronomical Lectures...'
He reported that the Newtonian version was considerably
more exact.
The contents of this page remain
the copyrighted, intellectual property of Nicholas Kollerstrom. Details.
rev: May 1998