Forest Ray Moulton

author

Forest Ray Moulton

1872–1952

An astronomer and mathematician with a gift for big questions, he helped shape early 20th-century thinking about how the solar system formed and how celestial bodies move. He also wrote widely used textbooks that brought advanced science to students and general readers alike.

1 Audiobook

An Introduction to Astronomy

An Introduction to Astronomy

by Forest Ray Moulton

About the author

Born in Michigan in 1872, Forest Ray Moulton studied at Albion College before earning his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1899. He went on to teach astronomy there and became known for work that connected mathematics with some of astronomy's hardest problems.

Moulton is especially remembered for the Chamberlin–Moulton planetesimal hypothesis, an influential early theory of the solar system's origin, and for important research in celestial mechanics. His name also appears in the field's standard language through the Moulton plane, a concept in geometry, reflecting how broadly his mathematical ideas reached.

Alongside his research, he was a prolific writer and teacher. He produced textbooks and popular science books, including works on astronomy and on Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, helping complex ideas feel more approachable to a wider audience.