The New Shepherd's Lamp
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Author(s): J.-P. Bourginon et al.
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 3540926372
Format: video
Price: £21.67, $23.85
Review Date: 11 January 2001
Review: This video explains and illustrates the history of astronomy, starting with Ptolemy's theory of the planets moving round the Earth. It is made in the form of a documentary - with a poet discussing with an astronomer, a mathematician and an engineer the mathematical ideas that led to the ability of space technicians to keep a satellite in orbit. The poet is trying to find out how such a man-made object could be up there, in orbit like the planets such as Venus - the so-called Shepherd's Lamp. The scientists use 'the space of elliptical motions', an advanced mathematical concept first introduced by Lagrange in 1808. The video looks at the mathematical representations of Copernicus, Tych Brahe, Kepler and Newton in a journey through the mathematical theories that have helped to lead to present-day understanding.