to collect his scientific work on the theory of solar radiation that was scattered in many books and papers, milanković began his life's work in 1939. this tome was entitled "canon of insolation of the earth and its application to the problem of the ice ages", which covered his nearly three decades of research, including a large number of formulas, calculations and schemes, but also summarized universal laws through which it was possible to explain cyclical climate change and the attendant 11 ice ages – his namesake milankovitch cycles.