Robert Russell Newton
| Robert Russell Newton | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 7, 1918 |
| Died | June 2, 1991 |
| Citizenship | United States of America |
| Fields | Physics, astronomy, science historian |
| Institutions | Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University |
| Known for | The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy |
Robert Russell Newton, also R. R. Newton (July 7, 1918 - June 2, 1991)[1] was an American physicist, astronomer, and historian of science.
Newton was Supervisor of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. Newton was known for his book The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy (1977). In Newton's view, Ptolemy was "the most successful fraud in the history of science". Newton showed that Ptolemy had predominantly obtained the astronomical results described in his work The Almagest by computation, and not by the direct observations that Ptolemy described.
Distrust of Ptolemy's observations goes back at least as far as doubts raised in the 16th century by Tycho Brahe and in the 18th Century by Delambre. Arthur Berry made similar remarks in about 1899. R. R. Newton also made a charge of conscious falsification.
Newton was also known for his work on change of the rotation rate of the earth, and historical observations of eclipses.
[edit] Bibliography
- Newton, Robert R. (1959). "Periodic orbits of a planetoid passing close to two gravitating masses". Smithsonian Contribution to Astrophysics 3: 69. Bibcode 1959SCoA....3...69N.
- Ancient astronomical observations and the accelerations of the earth and moon. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 1970. ISBN 0801811805.
- Medieval chronicles and the rotation of the earth. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 1972. ISBN 0801814022.
- Ancient planetary observations and the validity of ephemeris time. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 1976. ISBN 0801818427.
- The crime of Claudius Ptolemy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 1977. ISBN 0801819903.
- The moon's acceleration and its physical origins ... Vol 1: as deduced from solar eclipses. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 1979.
[edit] External links
- "The Ptruth About Ptolemy". TIME magazine. November 28, 1977. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,919182,00.html. Retrieved 2007-11-18.
- Evans, J. (May 1993). "Essay Review: The Origins of Ptolemy's Astronomical Tables, by Robert R. Newton". Journal for the History of Astronomy 24: p.145. Bibcode 1993JHA....24..145E.
- Newton, Robert R.. "The Scholarly Integrity of Book Reviews" (PDF). DIO 1.1: pp. 30–48. http://www.dioi.org/vols/w11.pdf.
- Newton, Robert R. (1974). "Two Uses of Ancient Astronomy". Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Land. A. 276 (1257): 99–110. Bibcode 1974RSPTA.276...99N. doi:10.1098/rsta.1974.0012. http://www.pereplet.ru/gorm/atext/newton2.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-18.
- Hugh Thurston's 1998 condensation of R. Newton's 1977 Crime of Claudius Ptolemy. DIO 8.1 pp.3-17.[dead link] PDF.
