A
Some More Background
Someone told me that
each equation I included in the book
would halve the sales.
Stephen Hawking
As long as algebra is taught in school,
there will be prayer in school.
Cokie Roberts (née Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs)
(1943–2019)
This appendix aims at providing some additional background and understanding, but reading is not necessary for the reader not interested in such details. It
avoids mathematical equations. An extended version with mathematical
discussions can be found at my Kapteyn Website, for a direct download use
www.astro.rug.nl/JCKapteyn/AppendixA.pdf.
A.1 Vibrating Flat Membranes
To give an idea of what Kapteyn’s study of vibrating flat membranes in his PhD
thesis entailed, I give here a short summary.
The questions addressed are related to the manner in which a membrane
can vibrate, depending on shape and support. In those days it was not really
From: A Brief History of Time [118].
Cokie Roberts was an American journalist and author.
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
P. C. van der Kruit, Pioneer of Galactic Astronomy: A Biography of Jacobus C. Kapteyn,
Springer Biographies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55423-1
275
Some More Background
Someone told me that
each equation I included in the book
would halve the sales.
Stephen Hawking
As long as algebra is taught in school,
there will be prayer in school.
Cokie Roberts (née Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs)
(1943–2019)
This appendix aims at providing some additional background and understanding, but reading is not necessary for the reader not interested in such details. It
avoids mathematical equations. An extended version with mathematical
discussions can be found at my Kapteyn Website, for a direct download use
www.astro.rug.nl/JCKapteyn/AppendixA.pdf.
A.1 Vibrating Flat Membranes
To give an idea of what Kapteyn’s study of vibrating flat membranes in his PhD
thesis entailed, I give here a short summary.
The questions addressed are related to the manner in which a membrane
can vibrate, depending on shape and support. In those days it was not really
From: A Brief History of Time [118].
Cokie Roberts was an American journalist and author.
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
P. C. van der Kruit, Pioneer of Galactic Astronomy: A Biography of Jacobus C. Kapteyn,
Springer Biographies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55423-1
275