IT was the most important astronomical discovery of the Victorian age, but the complex mathematics that first identified the planet Neptune was overshadowed by bureaucratic incompetence, incest and infanticide.

A book published this week by historian of science Tom Standage will reveal how Britain's leading astronomer in the mid-19th century, George Airy, failed to act on the findings passed to him by a young mathematician and was beaten to the discovery by a French scientist.

When Airy received the calculations, he was not only anxious about the imminent arrival of his ninth child, but also ...

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