Motion Gallery

Celestial mechanics, medieval artwork

Celestial mechanics. Coloured historical artwork depicting a medieval pilgrim looking out from the sky (blue) to see the mechanics of the heavens (upper left). Cogs (yellow) can be seen in the left corner, with tracks that the Sun, moon and stars move along. This is an example of the classical geocentric (Ptolemaic) worldview that dates back to Ancient Greek times. It was replaced by the heliocentric (Copernican) model, proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543. This woodcut is from The Atmosphere by Camille Flammarion, published in 1873

© DETLEV VAN RAVENSWAAY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Melbourne Sunset from Williamstown

Amazing Williamstown view of Melbourne City after Sunset at the mouth of the Yarra River where it enters Hobsons Bay and Port Phillip, south-west of the Melbourne city centre

© An La

182960833, 2013, Architecture, Australia, Capital Cities, City, City Life, Cityscape, Cloud Sky, Color Image, Crowded, Glowing, Horizontal, Illuminated, Modern, Moored, Motion, Nautical Vessel, No People, Outdoors, Panoramic, Photography, River, Skyscraper, Sunset, Tall High, Town, Travel Destinations, Urban Skyline, Victoria Australia, Waterfront

James Clerk Maxwell, caricature

James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879). Caricature of the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell. Maxwell's works cover a wide area of science, and he is regarded as one of the finest minds of the 19th century. His major work was on light and electromagnetic waves. He showed that oscillating charges produced waves in an electromagnetic field, and that these waves had the same velocity as light. This led him to predict other forms of electromagnetic radiation, such as radio waves. His equations introduced the value c for the speed of light. He also worked on the motions of molecules in a gas, and showed that Saturn's rings must be composed of numerous particles

© GARY BROWN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY