Abstract
ABSTRACTJames Croll was a pioneer in studies of the impact of the slowly changing orbital dynamics of the Earth on climate change. His book Climate and Time in their Geological Relations (1875) was far ahead of its time in seeking correlations between climate change, the occurrence of ice ages and perturbations to the Earth's orbit about the Sun. The astronomical cycles he discovered are now called ‘Milankovitch Cycles’ after the Serbian scientist whose research was first published in the Handbuch der Klimatologie in 1930. The celestial mechanical and astronomical background to Croll's research is the focus of this essay. The development of the understanding of the impact of perturbations of the elliptical planetary orbits by other bodies in the solar system paralleled new mathematical techniques, many of which were developed in association with celestial mechanical problems. The central contributions of many of the major mathematicians of the late 18th and 19th Centuries, including Euler, Lagrange, Laplace and Le Verrier, are highlighted. Although Croll's contributions faded from view for several generations, his pioneering insights have now been demonstrated to have been basically correct.
Highlights
Until I received the invitation to discuss the astronomical aspects of the pioneering research of James Croll (1821–1890) into the impact of the Earth’s orbital dynamics upon climate change, I had not come across this remarkable personality
I have an interest in the mathematics of celestial mechanics, since it played an important part in the mathematics of the old quantum theory to which astronomers such as Karl Scharzschild made key contributions
A central theme of celestial mechanics concerns the perturbations to the orbits and axes of rotation of the planets due the gravitational attraction of other celestial bodies, such as planets, satellites and comets
Summary
Celestial mechanics has an ancient and distinguished history. It was continually refined over the centuries as the most precise of the physical sciences, until the development of modern physics as we know it today following the Galilean and Newtonian revolutions. Prime motivations for these endeavours were originally to keep track of time so that religious festivals could be celebrated on the correct dates and to maintain a track of time and latitude for the purposes of navigation, which will prove to be a significant aspect of this story
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