The chance discovery of Uranus by William Herschel in 1781 prompted the events that eventually led to the mathematical detection of Neptune (SOURCE). French scientist and mathematician, Pierre Simon de Laplace developed mathematical expressions, by applying Newton’s law of universal gravitation, for the reciprocal perturbation exerted by planets due to their gravitational attraction in his acclaimed treatise on celestial mechanics. Using these expressions, a table containing the positions of planets over time could be achieved. The calculations of the tables, that predicted the movements of the planets, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus begun in 1821 at the Bureau des Longitudes by mathematician Alexis Bouvard (SOURCE). Although the calculations for
