Descripción
First edition, a beautiful copy bound in contemporary red morocco with the arms of Napoleon III, of the collected works of Laplace, comprising his principal contributions to celestial mechanics and probability theory. The distinguished American historian of science Charles Gillispie considers Laplace to be "among the most influential scientists in all history". "Laplace gave the world three great works: the 'Mécanique Céleste,' the 'Exposition du Système du Monde,' and the 'Théorie Analytique des Probabilités.' Besides these he presented numerous important memoirs before the French Academy and the Academy of Sciences. Laplace's works were first published in seven volumes by the French government in 1843" (Richeson, 'Laplace's contributions to pure mathematics' (1948), p. 73). This national edition of the works of the 'Newton of France' was the result of laws passed by the two legislative chambers in 1842 and 1843, which authorised a special budget of 40,000 francs for publication. Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew, Napoleon III (1808-73), was President of the French Second Republic (1848-52) and Emperor (1852-70) during the Second French Empire. He succeeded Louis XVIII, under whose rule Laplace had been elevated to the title of Marquis. The 'Traité de Mécanique Céleste', which was first published in 1799-1825, codified and developed the theories and achievements of Newton, Euler, d'Alembert, and Lagrange. In the tradition of Newton's 'Principia', Laplace (1749-1827) "applied his analytical mathematical theories to celestial bodies and concluded that the apparent changes in the motion of planets and their satellites are changes of long periods, and that the solar system is in all probability very stable" (Dibner 14). "Laplace maintained that while all planets revolve round the sun their eccentricities and the inclinations of their orbits to each other will always remain small. He also showed that all these irregularities in movements and positions in the heavens were self-correcting, so that the whole solar system appeared to be mechanically stable. He showed that the universe was really a great self-regulating machine and the whole solar system could continue on its existing plan for an immense period of time. This was a long step forward from the Newtonian uncertainties in this respect. Laplace also offered a brilliant explanation of the secular inequalities of the mean motion of the moon about the earth - a problem which Euler and Lagrange had failed to solve. He also investigated the theory of the tides and calculated from them the mass of the moon" (PMM). The 'Exposition du Système du Monde' is "one of the most successful popularizations of science ever composed" (DSB). It is "an elegant, non-mathematical classic on astronomy. It is in this work that Laplace introduced one of his most notable contributions (although he himself did not take it very seriously at first) the so-called nebular hypothesis, which provided a conjectural account of the origin of the solar system" (PMM). The 'Théorie Analytique des Probabilités,' first published in 1812, is "the most influential book on probability and statistics ever written" (Hald), which John Herschel called "the ne plus ultra of mathematical skill and power". "In the 'Théorie' Laplace gave a new level of mathematical foundation and development both to probability theory and to mathematical statistics . . . [It] emerged from a long series of slow processes and once established, loomed over the landscape for a century or more" (Stigler). The 'Essai Philosophique sur les Probabilités' is Laplace's accessible summary of his work on probability theory. It first appeared as the introduction to the second edition of the 'Théorie Analytique' (1814). N° de ref. del artículo ABE-1601645921649
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