Variations on a Theme by Kepler

Abstract

This book is based on the Colloquium Lectures presented by Shlomo Sternberg in 1990. The authors delve into the mysterious role that groups, especially Lie groups, play in revealing the laws of nature by focusing on the familiar example of Kepler motion: the motion of a planet under the attraction of the sun according to Kepler's laws. Newton realized that Kepler's second law-that equal areas are swept out in equal times-has to do with the fact that the force is directed radially to the sun. Kepler's second law is really the assertion of the conservation of angular momentum, reflecting the rot

Identifiers

DOI

10.1090/coll/042

Citations and references