Basic Information
Christiaan Huygens was a Dutch scientist, astronomer, physicist, mathematician, and inventor who made many important contributions to these fields. He is thought to be the first theoretical physicist to use formulas. He made an early and nearly correct theory of light, identified the rings around Saturn, discovered Saturn's moon Titan, worked on the mechanics of forces and motion and improved telescopes and clocks. He knew many other notable minds of his time and was able to contribute to others' discoveries.
I believe that we do not know anything for certain, but everything probably."
-Christiaan Huygens
Huygens contributed to many fields.
Hover over each picture to see what they are.
--------------------------------Early Life-----------------------------------
- Christiaan Huygens was born on April 14, 1629 in the Hague in the Netherlands. He came from a very important middle-class family. His father was Constantijin Huygens, who knew many other famous minds like Rene Descartes. He studied under private tutors.
- In 1645 he went to the University of Leiden and studied law and math. In 1647 he moved to the College of Breda.
- Christiaan was very social during his school life. He did fencing and wore his sword to class, which caused him to get in trouble when a fight broke out.
------------------------------Career and Discoveries-------------------------------
- Huygens eventually shifted to become an astronomer, mathematician, physicist, and inventor. He published many books about his discoveries.
- Contributions to different fields:
- MATHEMATICS: Huygens did work on the calculus of probabilities. He also worked on circles: he proved methods claiming to "square the circle" false and named π as an irrational number.
- TELESCOPES AND ASTRONOMY: Huygens, with the help of his brother, came up with a better method of grinding and polishing lenses for telescopes, which allowed sharper images. With his new lenses, Huygens was able to more clearly see Saturn. He identified the weird "ear-like" shapes around the planet, first observed by Galileo, as actually rings in 1659. These lenses also allowed him to discover the largest moon of Saturn, Titan, in 1655. He also was one of the first people to observe the Orion Nebula (in 1656), made the first known drawing of it, and was able to note specific stars in the nebula with his improved lenses. He also invented the Huygens Eyepiece, the first eyepiece for a telescope with multiple lenses in 1662.
- PHYSICS: Huygens contributed to several physics laws. He figured out the law of conservation of momentum by thinking about what happens when two objects collide. This also helped the idea of conservation of energy as well. His work on colliding bodies helped Newton with his laws of motion. Huygens calculated the formula for centrifugal force, worked on the spreading out of waves, and researched falling objects. Huygens also proposed an alternative theory of gravity against Newton's.
- TIMEKEEPING: Huygens invented the first pendulum clock, which only became errored one minute per day. He improved this design so it only messed up by 10 seconds a day. Huygens improved wristwatches and sea clocks as well.
- LIGHT: During Huygens' time, there were three basic theories on light. 1: The eye sends out something that detects objects. 2: Objects emit something that hit the eye so the eye can detect it. 3: A medium between the eye and objects changed to allow sight. Huygens believed the third explanation, though his idea eventually turned into the second one. He believed a rare substance he called "luminiferous ether" filled the space between the eye and objects, and waves traveled through the ether. These waves vibrated the ether to get to the eye from objects allowing sight. Newton did not believe this; he thought light traveled as particles. After their deaths, it was found the both Huygens and Newton were correct. Light is both a wave and a particle, as explained by quantum mechanics. However, there is no such thing as luminiferous ether. Light, when it as viewed as an electromagnetic wave, does not need ether to travel through.
- Books:
- 1654: MATH- De Circuli Magnitudine Inventa (“The Magnitude of the Circle is Found”)
- 1658: PENDULUMS AND TIMEKEEPING- Horologium
- 1673: PENDULUMS, CENTRIFUGAL FORCE, OSCILLATIONS- Horologium Oscillatorium
- 1690: THEORY OF GRAVITY: Discours de la cause de la pesanteur (“Discourse on the Cause of Gravity”)
- 1690: THEORY OF LIGHT: Traité de la Lumière ("Treatise on Light")
- 1698 (after death published): LIFE BEYOND EARTH THEORIES: Cosmotheoros: The Celestial Worlds Discover'd: Or, Conjectures Concerning the Inhabitants, Plants, and Productions of the Worlds in the Planets
--------------------Life Events---------------------
Huygens mostly lived in the Netherlands and France. He was sickly and had to deal with many illnesses.
- He originally lived in the Netherlands.
- In 1655 and 1660 he visited France for one of the first time and met lots of intelligent people there, including the famous mathematician Blaise Pascal.
- In 1663 he was elected to the Royal Society.
- In 1666 he co-founded the French Academy of Sciences. It was at this time when he moved to France from the Netherlands, though he continued to visit the Netherlands.
- In 1681 he had to leave France and go back to the Netherlands due to a serious illness. He wanted to go back to France, but there were some events that prevented this. His patron who provided him with money and aid, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, died. Also, Louis XIV, the king of France, repealed the Edict of Nantes, which was a law allowing Protestants to stay in France. Huygens was a Protestant and was unable to return to France.
- In 1689 Huygens visited London and met Isaac Newton. Huygens respected Newton but disagreed with him in his theories about light and gravity. Huygens lectured about his own theory of gravity in London.
- In 1695 Huygens died back in the Netherlands, at 66 years old.
The world is my country, science my religion."
-Christiaan Huygens