An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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The theory according to which variations in the elements of Earth-Sun geometry are responsible for the sequence of ice ages during the Pleistocene era. The main elements are the varying tilt of the Earth's rotational axis, and the varying eccentricity of the Earth's orbit.

Named after the Serbian mathematician Milutin Milankovitch (1879-1958), who introduced the concept during the first half of the twentieth century.