Three-body Problem from Pythagoras to Hawking

Mauri Valtonen has pioneered the study of the relativistic three-body problem and has worked on many of its applications in astronomical systems. He graduated at University of Cambridge in 1975, and has worked at University of Turku in Finland and in recent years at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Barbados. He has been awarded the E.J.Nystrom prize of the Finnish Society for Sciences and Letters.  Kiyotaka Tanikawa has initiated the numerical symbolic dynamics of the collinear and planar three-body problem.  He graduated at the University of Tokyo in 1967 and has  worked in the International Latitude Observatory until 1988, and then in the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.  He is retired Professor of the latter observatory and works there after retirement. Minor planet #10117 has been named after Tanikawa. He is also known as a historical astronomer using the ancient solar eclipses in order to determine the long-term variationsof the Earth rotation.Victor Orlov is a graduate of Saint Petersburg State University. He joined studies of the three-body problem in 1975. Besides the three-body problem, his interests include the large-scale structure of the Universe, stellar dynamics, dynamics of multiple stars and galaxy groups.  He is currently Professor of Saint Petersburg State University.Aleksandr Mylläri began the studies of the three-body problem in 1987 in Saint Petersburg State University. He has conducted joint research with all co-authors of the book. He is Associate Professor in St. George's University  in Grenada, West Indies, and Adjunct Professor in Åbo Akademi University in Finland.Konstantin Kholshevnikov is a well known specialist in Celestial Mechanics. He has graduated in Saint Petersburg State University in 1962 and is currently the Head of Celestial Mechanics Chair of the same institute. His many awards include Leonhard Euler Medal of USSR Academy of Science, and the minor planet number 3504 is named after him. Joanna Anosova is a pioneer in the study of the general three-body problem using computers. She is a graduate of Saint Petersburg State University, and has worked there for many decades. She is now retired Professor of University of Texas at Austin. The famous Agekian-Anosova map is named after her and her former teacher and colleague Tateos Agekian.

"Readers learn a vast amount about the history of astronomy while reading about the ubiquitous three-body problem; the presentation is done magnificently well-even without any mathematical equations! ... Numerous diagrams clearly reveal important concepts, and the portrait photos and sketches connect readers to the involved historical figures. There is a great, complete index ... . Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers." (F. Potter, Choice, Vol. 54 (4), December, 2016)

• 1 Classical problems.- 2 From Newton to Einstein: the discovery of laws of  motion and gravity.- 3 From comets to chaos.-  4 Fractals, entropy and arrow of time.- 5 Solar System.- 6 Interacting galaxies.- 7 Three body problem in perspective.- 8 Black holes and quasars.