Download or read book Celestial Encounters written by Florin Diacu and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1999-03-28 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Celestial Encounters traces the history of attempts to solve the problem of celestial mechanics first posited in Isaac Newton's Principia in 1686. More generally, the authors reflect on mathematical creativity and the roles that chance encounters, politics, and circumstance play in it. 23 halftones. 64 line illustrations.