[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Ceres, of course, holds a prominent position in the history of mathematical astronomy, probability theory and in establishing the reputation of Karl F. Gauss as Europe’s leading mathematician.

http://www.math.rutgers.edu/~cherlin/History/Papers1999/weiss.html

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks.

“When Uranus was discovered in 1781, it was found to fit the Titius-Bode law.”

Just a bit of whinin’ from me, T-B is at best a mnemonic. Here’s what some astronomy prof guy sez:

http://astroprofspage.com/archives/1160

First of all, it isn’t really a “law” at all, in the scientific sense of the word. It is at best a “rule.” There is no physical basis for it, and not even any solid theoretical basis. It is a mathematical formulation that isn’t even mathematically sound... in 1846, Neptune was discovered, and it lay nowhere near where the Titius-Bode law predicted that it should be found. Astronomers again began to think of the relationship as simply a mathematical curiosity: basically, a numbers game.