Figueiredo, Fernando B. (Author)
Fernandes, Joǎo (Author)
In 1782 José Monteiro da Rocha, astronomer and professor at the University of Coimbra, presented, in a public session of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, a memoire on the problem of the determination of the orbits of comets. Only in 1799 would the “Determinação das Orbitas dos Cometas” (Determination of the orbits of comets) be published in the Academy’s memoires. In that work, Monteiro da Rocha presents a method for solving the problem of the determination of the parabolic orbit of a comet making use of three observations. Monteiro da Rocha’s method is essentially the same as the method proposed by Olbers and published under von Zach’s sponsorship 2 years before, in 1797. Having been written and published in Portuguese was certainly a hindrance for its dissemination among the international astronomical community. In this paper, we intend to present Monteiro da Rocha’s method and try to explain to what extent we can justify Gomes Teixeira’s assertion that Monteiro da Rocha and Olbers must figure together in the history of astronomy, as the first inventors of a practical and easy method for the determination of parabolic orbits of comets.
...More
Chapter
Reich, Karin;
(2007)
Genaue Beobachtungen, exakte Bahnbestimmungen: Gauß` Beiträge zur Kometenforschung
(/isis/citation/CBB000930923/)
Article
Alexander Stoeger;
(2020)
Putting Astronomy on the Map: The Launch of the First Geographical-Astronomical Journal
(/isis/citation/CBB964074305/)
Article
Hoskin, Michael;
(2008)
Gravity and Light in the Newtonian Universe of Stars
(/isis/citation/CBB000930128/)
Article
Meschiari, Alberto;
(2002)
Corrispondenza di Giovanni Battista Amici con Franz Xaver von Zach
(/isis/citation/CBB000400925/)
Article
Kerszberg, Pierre;
(2013)
Deduction Versus Discourse: Newton and the Cosmic Phenomena
(/isis/citation/CBB001320867/)
Chapter
Ziller Camenietzki, Carlos;
Mendoça Pedrosa, Fábio;
(2004)
O Retorno do Cometa de 1682 e os Trabalhos da Juventude de José Monteiro da Rocha
(/isis/citation/CBB000500305/)
Chapter
de Deus Duarte, Maria;
(2012)
A Treasure-Hunt in Europe at War, or “a passage in the history of a heart”? The Translation of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Short Residence in Sweden into Portuguese
(/isis/citation/CBB001202022/)
Article
Pedro J. Freitas;
(2019)
The Correspondence from Ernesto Cesàro to Francisco Gomes Teixeira
(/isis/citation/CBB711366439/)
Article
Saraiva, Luís M. Ribeiro;
(2000)
A Survey of Portuguese Mathematics in the Nineteenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB000111681/)
Article
Fernando B. Figueiredo;
Guy Boistel;
(2022)
Monteiro da Rocha and the international debate in the 1760s on astronomical methods to find the longitude at sea: his proposals and criticisms to Lacaille’s lunar-distance method
(/isis/citation/CBB718271944/)
Article
Akira Okazaki;
(2023)
Cometary Records in The Vietnamese Official History Đại Nam Thực Lục [Chính Biên]
(/isis/citation/CBB690075724/)
Article
Herrmann, Dieter B.;
(1971 (pub. 1974))
Franz Xaver von Zach als Organisator der astronomischen Forschung zu Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts
(/isis/citation/CBB000024065/)
Book
Brosche, Peter;
(2001)
Der Astronom der Herzogin. Leben und Werk von Franz Xaver von Zach 1754-1832
(/isis/citation/CBB000102400/)
Book
Biegel, Gerd;
Oestmann, Günther;
Reich, Karin;
(2001)
Neue Welten: Wilhelm Olbers und die Naturwissenschaften um 1800
(/isis/citation/CBB000102408/)
Article
Hughes, David W.;
Marsden, Brian G.;
(2007)
Planet, Asteroid, Minor Planet: A Case Study in Astronomical Nomenclature
(/isis/citation/CBB000831604/)
Article
Cunningham, Clifford J.;
Orchiston, Wayne;
(2013)
Olbers's Planetary Explosion Hypothesis: Genesis and Early Nineteenth-Century Interpretation
(/isis/citation/CBB001200857/)
Book
Wolfgang R. Dick;
Oliver Schwarz;
(2016)
Franz Xaver von Zach und die Astronomie seiner Zeit
(/isis/citation/CBB628976202/)
Article
Fernando B. Figueiredo;
(2017)
The Portuguese Astronomical Activity in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries
(/isis/citation/CBB965323857/)
Book
Zach, Franz Xaver von;
(1995)
Astronomie der Goethezeit: Textsammlung aus Zeitschriften und Briefen Franz Xaver von Zachs. Ausgewählt und kommentiert von Brosche, Peter
(/isis/citation/CBB000067544/)
Chapter
Carolino, L. M.;
(2012)
Manuel Bocarro Francês, the Comet of 1618, and the Impact of Stoic Cosmology in Portugal
(/isis/citation/CBB001260651/)
Be the first to comment!