4 ms·
Newton's laws might be simple, but the best evidence that nature follows them is presented in Cavendish's hundred-page paper on weighing the Earth, and some ver
by thisrod 7y ago
Newton's laws might be simple, but the best evidence that nature follows them is presented in Cavendish's hundred-page paper on weighing the Earth, and some very clever calculations by Lagrange that fitted least-squares planetary masses to orbital data.
The simple results take centre stage, but science usually requires a lot of complicated work behind the scenes to get them.
- dboreham 7y agoAs a reasonably true Scotsman I have to cite this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiehallion_experiment https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiehallion_experiment
- perl4ever 7y ago"During a drunken party to celebrate the end of the surveying, the northern observatory was accidentally burned to the ground, taking with it a fiddle belonging to Duncan Robertson, a junior member of the surveying team. In gratitude for the entertainment Robertson's playing had provided Maskelyne during the four months of astronomical observations, he compensated him by replacing the lost violin with a Stradivarius."
- perl4ever 7y agoWhy does this sound like a bit from a Jack Vance novel?
- thisrod 7y agoContour lines were invented during an early measurement of G. That's cool to know!