Titius-Bode law
Ley de Titius-Bode
- Date
- 1766 (Titius) / 1772 (difundida por Bode) · confidence high
- Place
- Wittenberg, Germany
- Credited to
- Johann Daniel Titius; popularised by Johann Elert Bode
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Titius proposed an empirical formula approximating planetary distances from the Sun, and Bode widely popularised it; it successfully predicted the position of Uranus and Ceres but failed when applied to Neptune.
It is now considered a numerical coincidence without demonstrated physical basis, rather than a genuine physical law.
What it led to
- The search for and identification of the dwarf planet Ceres in 1801
- The law's later discrediting as a universal physical principle