Norriss S. Hetherington is the director of the Institute for the History of Astronomy and a Visiting Scholar with the Office of the History of Science and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley. He has written extensively on the history of astronomy and cosmology, and has edited Encyclopedia of Cosmology: Historical, Philosophical, and Scientific Foundations of Modern Cosmology, and Cosmology: Historical, Literary, Philosophical, Religious, and Scientific Perspectives.

Hetherington covers the history of attempts to understand planetary motion, starting with the Babylonians, continuing through Plato and Ptolemy, and ending with Copernicus and Newton. He has written extensively on this subject and is the director of the Institute for the History of Astronomy at Berkeley. His expertise is evident in his clear, insightful overview of astronomy and the personalities of the people who pursued it, but what is unique is the ease with which he connects science to the cultures in which it was practiced. The index includes Bach, Julius Caesar, Dionysius, John Donne, Frederick II, Goethe, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Mohammed, Moliere (Moliere) , Mozart, Voltaire, and even God. The writing is authoritative but also accessible and humorous: the conflict between Descartes' and Newton's understanding of gravity is summarized by the statement that In Paris everything was explained by a pressure that nobody understood; in London everything was explained by an attraction that nobody understood either. A thorough, engaging study. Highly recommended. General readers; lower- and upper-division undergraduates.

• ForewordIntroductionAn Introduction to the History of ScienceBabylonian Planetary AstronomyPlato and Saving the PhenomenaEudoxus and Concentric SpheresEccentrics and EpicyclesEquivalenceAstronomy and PhysicsSaving the Phenomena QuantitativelyPtolemy's Exposition of Mathematical SstronomyReality or Mathematical Fiction?The Greatest Astronomer of Antiquity or The Greatest Fraud in the History of Science?Islamic Planetary AstronomyRevival in the WestCopernicus and Planetary MotionsThe Copernican RevolutionBreaking the CircleIsaac Newton and ravityThe Newtonian RevolutiuonGlossaryTimelineBibliography

Norriss S. Hetherington is the director of the Institute for the History of Astronomy and a Visiting Scholar with the Office of the History of Science and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley. He has written extensively on the history of astronomy and cosmology, and has edited Encyclopedia of Cosmology: Historical, Philosophical, and Scientific Foundations of Modern Cosmology, and Cosmology: Historical, Literary, Philosophical, Religious, and Scientific Perspectives.

Hetherington covers the history of attempts to understand planetary motion, starting with the Babylonians, continuing through Plato and Ptolemy, and ending with Copernicus and Newton. He has written extensively on this subject and is the director of the Institute for the History of Astronomy at Berkeley. His expertise is evident in his clear, insightful overview of astronomy and the personalities of the people who pursued it, but what is unique is the ease with which he connects science to the cultures in which it was practiced. The index includes Bach, Julius Caesar, Dionysius, John Donne, Frederick II, Goethe, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Mohammed, Moliere (Moliere) , Mozart, Voltaire, and even God. The writing is authoritative but also accessible and humorous: the conflict between Descartes' and Newton's understanding of gravity is summarized by the statement that In Paris everything was explained by a pressure that nobody understood; in London everything was explained by an attraction that nobody understood either. A thorough, engaging study. Highly recommended. General readers; lower- and upper-division undergraduates.

• ForewordIntroductionAn Introduction to the History of ScienceBabylonian Planetary AstronomyPlato and Saving the PhenomenaEudoxus and Concentric SpheresEccentrics and EpicyclesEquivalenceAstronomy and PhysicsSaving the Phenomena QuantitativelyPtolemy's Exposition of Mathematical SstronomyReality or Mathematical Fiction?The Greatest Astronomer of Antiquity or The Greatest Fraud in the History of Science?Islamic Planetary AstronomyRevival in the WestCopernicus and Planetary MotionsThe Copernican RevolutionBreaking the CircleIsaac Newton and ravityThe Newtonian RevolutiuonGlossaryTimelineBibliography