Science, especially physics, can be extraordinarily difficult for the average person to understand. Historians of science coming with their expertise in historical methodology are able to analyze many of the motivations and actions taken by scientists, but they are not always able to follow the extremely technical mathematics which scientists use to produce their theories. Yet scientists who have the technical expertise to follow the mathematics frequently do not have the historical understanding to place the scientific work within a rich historical context. Consequently, it is critically important that scientists with both mathematical sophistication and historical sensitivities bring these combined skills to bear on the major issues in the development of science. Professor Nauenberg, a physics professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, brings this combined technical and historical skill to bear on one of the central issues in the development of modern physics: orbital dynamics. From Ptolemy in the ancient world through Copernicus and Newton up to the twentieth century efforts of Albert Einstein, orbital dynamics has been a critical factor in the acceptance or rejection of theories of physics. Indeed, it was Einstein's explanation of the peculiar orbit of Mercury that physicists found far more convincing for support of his theory of relativity than the more famous prediction of the gravitational bending of light. Professor Nauenberg is examining this history of the study of planetary orbits. In this part of his research, he is looking at the work of Newton and Hooke to trace the development of their work in orbital dynamics. Among other issues, he is examining the degree of validity of Newton's application of his principles of dynamics and gravitation to the anomalies in the orbit of the moon and Hooke's role in the early development of dynamics. The results of these studies promise to elucidate in ways previously not possible how these extraordinarily technical issue s developed. The ultimate solution to these planetary orbital anomalies took until Einstein to achieve. How scientists worked toward this ultimate solution provides us with an extraordinary picture of how extremely difficult scientific problems are attacked and finally resolved.
