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World Scientific
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Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kerner, R., author.
Title: Our celestial clockwork : from ancient origins to modern astronomy of the solar system /
Richard Kerner, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France.
Description: Hackensack, NJ : World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., [2022] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021017842 | ISBN 9789811214592 (hardcover) |
ISBN 9789811215315 (paperback) | ISBN 9789811214608 (ebook) |
ISBN 9789811214615 (ebook other)
Subjects: LCSH: Astronomy--History.
Classification: LCC QB15 .K42 2022 | DDC 520--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021017842
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copyright © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the publisher.
For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance
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is not required from the publisher.
For any available supplementary material, please visit
https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/11674#t=suppl
Desk Editor: Ng Kah Fee
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Email: [email protected]
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To the memory of my father Dr. Samuel Kerner,
who taught me how to learn,
and from whom I learned how to teach.
v
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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Prof. Pascal Richet of
the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris for his constant ecourage-
ments, for sharing his deep knowledge of the history of science, and
for a throughout reading of the manuscript. His constructive crit-
icisms and suggestions have seriously improved the text. Separate
thanks are due to Evelyne Richet for suggesting a better title.
I am greatly indebted to Prof. Jan-Willem van Holten of the Uni-
versity of Leiden for his extraordinary act of friendship, consisting in
the carefuland thoughtful reading of the draft versionof this book. His
invaluable remarks and suggestions concerning the scientific content
and the style alike enabled a substantial improvement of the book’s
final shape.
Thanks are due to Dr. Jerzy Karczmarczuk for helping me with
the computer programming and Latex compilation.
Last but not least, this book could not be written without my wife
Graz˙yna’s loving care, patience and support.
Paris, December 2020
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Preface
Thepresent book is based on a series of lectures theauthor delivered
at the Parisian Universit´e Pierre et Marie Curie, which has been
since then given the new name Sorbonne-Universit´e. These lectures
were intended to help to compensate the lack of elementary astro-
nomical knowledge and history of its development among the young
people freshly out of high schools, and who were about to start Uni-
versity studies in science — mostly physics and mathematics.
The lectures on the astronomy of the Solar System and its his-
torical development since the earliest times were a part of a wider
educational project for the sophomore students, proposed under the
name“AbitofScientificCulture”.Fivesemester-longprogramswere
proposed,includinglecturesandtutorials:besidestheastronomy,ele-
mentaryparticles,cosmology, geophysicsandnuclearphysics.Simple
exercises were proposed, which our students highly appreciated solv-
ing them during the tutorials.
Thepresentbookfollows faithfully the structureof lectures deliv-
ered during those years, with substantial additions permitted by the
book format. On the other hand, we cannot reproduce here sev-
eral interesting animated pictures and schemes, like the accelerated
images of solar and lunar eclipses, the motion of lunar shadow on
the surface of the Earth, or the revolutions of planets and stars. Tra-
ditional illustrations are abundant though, and readers’ imagination
will fill the gap.
ix
