Hello can someone tell me who first coined this word? The concept of an orbital barycenter is implied by Newton's laws of motion - (BTW was he the first to suggest that both the Sun *and* the Earth move) ? I've tried some google searches and haven't found this information, which surprised me. Thank you.

I'd have to say Archimedes. He first developed the concept of center of gravity( which is what a barycenter is), and the word barycenter is formed from the Greek roots for "heavy" and "center".

I'd have to say Archimedes. He first developed the concept of center of gravity( which is what a barycenter is), and the word barycenter is formed from the Greek roots for "heavy" and "center".

If he used some variant of this word, I'm pretty sure he didn't apply it to Astronomy, eh?