in pure mathematics, have been carried out by Hugo Gyldén (1841–1896), while one of the most eminent pure mathematicians of the day, M. Henri Poincaré of Paris, has recently turned his attention to astronomy, and is engaged in investigations which, though they have at present but little bearing on practical astronomy, seem likely to throw important light on some of the general problems of celestial mechanics.
289. One memorable triumph of gravitational astronomy, the discovery of Neptune, has been described so often and so fully elsewhere[1] that a very brief account will suffice here. Soon after the discovery of Uranus (chapter xii., § 253) it was found that the planet had evidently been observed, though not recognised as a planet, as early as 1690, and on several occasions afterwards.
When the first attempts were made to compute its orbit carefully, it was found impossible satisfactorily to reconcile the earlier with the later observations, and in Bouvard's tables (chapter xi., § 247, note) published in 1821 the earlier observations were rejected. But even this drastic measure did not cure the evil; discrepancies between the observed and calculated places soon appeared and increased year by year. Several explanations were proposed, and more than one astronomer threw out the suggestion that the irregularities might be due to the attraction of a hitherto unknown planet. The first serious attempt to deduce from the irregularities in the motion of Uranus the position of this hypothetical body was made by Adams immediately after taking his degree (1843). By October 1845 he had succeeded in constructing an orbit for the new planet, and in assigning for it a position differing (as we now know) by less than 2° (four times the diameter of the full moon) from its actual position. No telescopic search for it was, however, undertaken. Meanwhile, Leverrier had independently taken up the inquiry, and by August 31st, 1846, he, like Adams, had succeeded in determining the orbit and the position of the disturbing body. On the 23rd of the follow-
- ↑ E.g. in Grant's History of Physical Astronomy, Herschel's Outlines of Astronomy, Miss Clerke's History of Astronomy in the Nineteenth Century, and the memoir by Dr. Glaisher prefixed to the first volume of Adams's Collected Papers.
