The Neptune File: A Story of Astronomical Rivalry and the Pioneers of Planet Hunting - Hardcover

Standage, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802713637 ISBN 13: 9780802713636

Publisher: Walker Books, 2000

Synopsis

The Neptune File is the first full account of the dramatic events surrounding the eighth planet's discovery, and the story of two remarkable men who were able to "see" on paper what astronomers looking through telescopes for more than 200 years had overlooked.

On June 26, 1841, John Couch Adams, a brilliant young mathematician at Cambridge University, chanced upon a report by England's Astronomer Royal, George Airy, describing unsuccessful attempts to explain the mystifying orbital behavior of the planet Uranus, discovered 65 years earlier. Adams theorized that Uranus's orbit was being affected by the gravitational pull of another, as-yet-unseen planet. Furthermore, he believed that he did not need to see the planet to know where it was. Four years later, his daring mathematical calculations pinpointed the planet's location, but Airy failed to act on them―a controversial lapse that would have international repercussions.

Soon after Adams's "proof," a rival French astronomer, Urbain Le Verrier, also calculated the planet's position, and the race was on to actually view it. Found just where Adams and Le Verrier had predicted, the planet was named Neptune―and as the first celestial object located through calculation rather than observation, its discovery pioneered a new method for planet hunting.

Drawing on long-lost documents in George Airy's Neptune scrapbook, which resurfaced mysteriously at an observatory in Chile in 1999, The Neptune File is a crackling good human drama and a fascinating exploration of the science that underpins planetary astronomy. And the tale continues to unfold, as Tom Standage relates: Since 1995, astronomers have discovered more than 40 planets outside our solar system, opening an intriguing window on the universe. Yet none of these planets have ever been seen. Their discovery―and the history of science―owes much to the two men who unlocked the secret to locating unseen new worlds.

About this title

About the Author

Tom Standage is technology editor at The Economist magazine and the author of four history books, "A History of the World in Six Glasses" (2005), "The Turk" (2002), "The Neptune File" (2000) and "The Victorian Internet" (1998), two of which have been serialized as "Book of the Week" on Radio 4. "The Victorian Internet was made into a Channel 4 documentary, "How The Victorians Wired the World". Tom has previously covered science and technology for a number of newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, Wired and Prospect. He holds a degree in engineering and computer science from Oxford University, and is the least musical member of a musical family. He is married and lives in Greenwich, London, with his wife and daughter.

Reviews

Adult/High School-Beginning with Sir William Herschel's 1781 discovery of Uranus, this account describes the genesis and development of our modern age's search for new planets. When unaccountable variations were observed in Uranus's orbital behavior, scientists in several countries raced to find the cause, and it was mathematicians who eventually deduced, in the next century, the presence of Neptune, the first planet to be discovered through calculation alone. In a readable, journalistic (though somewhat low-key) style, Standage reveals the twists of fate, personalities, nationalistic rivalries, bureaucratic snafu, and mounting scientific evidence that determined the course of this great discovery. John Couch Adams, in England, and Urbain Le Verrier, in France, independently converged upon Neptune by means of different mathematical theories and methods; controversy raged for years over who found the mystery planet first, but it is Adams who, by this account, comes out ahead, for having developed the better method. He is also more sympathetic, due to his modest, forward-thinking personality, and thanks to the "Neptune File"-recently rediscovered documentation showing how his work, and its recognition, had been impeded by his own countrymen. Finally, touching upon today's planetary astronomy, Standage shows how the science developed by these 19th-century mathematicians led to today's stunning discoveries of planets belonging to other suns. This is a fascinating story that can prove both useful and interesting to students of astronomy, mathematics, and history.-Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

At a time when new extra-solar planets are announced monthly, Standage (The Victorian Internet) recounts an extraordinary tale of the confluence of great scientific and mathematical investigation and talent, as well as personal and national rivalries, which produced both a momentous discovery and enough embarrassment to cloud the careers of several distinguished astronomers. The protagonist is mathematical prodigy and Cambridge University astronomy graduate student John Couch Adams, who in 1845 completed a detailed calculation of the orbit of an unseen planet based on its supposed gravitational effects on Uranus. To put the enormous originality of Adams's hypothesis into proper perspective, Standage actually begins his account with the discovery of Uranus in 1781, considered inexplicably unruly in its movements and thus an anomaly among planets. Applying the fresh approach of mathematics to this conundrum, Adams calculated exactly where another planet, soon to be known as Neptune, was in the solar system. England's astronomer royal, George Airy, as well as Adams's own observatory director, James Challis, although intrigued, did not endorse Adams's theory until Airy began corresponding with a French mathematician named Urbain Le Verrier, who shared Adams's belief. This finding ignited Airy's desire not to let England lose out to France in what could be a monumental breakthrough. On August 12, 1846, Challis spotted but did not recognize Neptune and missed earning Adams and himself credit for the discovery, which went ultimately to an astronomer in Berlin. Standage, science correspondent at the Economist, gives a colorful account of the Neptune affair. Both astronomy buffs and armchair explorers will revel in his tale. Illus. Astronomy Book Club alternate. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Standage, author of The Victorian Internet (1998), is back with another intriguing tale from the annals of science, a history rich in serendipity, ruthless competition, and aggressive resistance to new ideas. All of these factors come into play in the dramatically contentious and scandalous events surrounding the discovery of Neptune in 1846. Standage begins his brisk account in 1781, when William Herschel discovered Uranus, an unruly celestial body whose strange orbital irregularities seemed to indicate the presence of yet another planet. John Couch Adams, an English mathematics prodigy, was inspired to search for the mystery planet through mathematical calculation rather than observation. He performed this demanding and unprecedented task brilliantly, only to be ignored by George Biddell Airy, England's royal astronomer and an obstructionist of the first order, who suppressed Adams' findings until he learned that a Frenchman, Urbain Jean-Joseph Le Verrier, was on the same track. Standage's account of the ensuing race to find Neptune, the international furor that followed, and the impact on the methodology of future planet hunters is as entertaining as it is illuminating. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Walker Books
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802713637
• ISBN 13: 9780802713636
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256