Christiaan Huygens, FRS ( , ; 14 April 1629 – 8 July
1695) was a prominent Dutch
mathematician, astronomer, physicist,
horologist, and writer of early science fiction. His work included
early telescopic studies elucidating the nature of the
rings of Saturn and the discovery of its
moon
Titan, investigations and
inventions related to time keeping and the pendulum clock, and
studies of both
optics and the
centrifugal force.
Huygens achieved note for his argument that light consists of
waves,, now known as the
Huygens–Fresnel principle,
which became instrumental in the understanding of
wave-particle duality. He generally
receives credit for his discovery of the centrifugal force, the
laws for collision of bodies, for his role in the development of
modern
calculus and his original
observations on sound perception (see
repetition pitch). Huygens is seen as the
first theoretical physicist as he was the first to use formulae in
physics.
Life
Huygens' giant telescope without
tube.
Picture from his 1684 Astroscopia Compendiaria tubi optici
molimine liberata (compound telescopes without a tube)
Huygens' explanation for the aspects of Saturn, Systema
Saturnium, 1659.
Christiaan
Huygens was born in April 1629 at The Hague
, the second son of Constantijn Huygens, (1596–1687), a
friend of mathematician and philosopher René Descartes, and of Suzanna van
Baerle (deceased 1637), whom Constantijn had married on 6 April
1627. Christiaan studied law and mathematics at the
University of Leiden and the
College of Orange in Breda
.
After a stint as a diplomat, Huygens turned to science.
French Academy of Sciences and Royal Society
The
Royal Society elected Huygens a
member in 1663.
In the year 1666 Huygens moved to Paris
where he held a position at the French Academy of Sciences under
the patronage of Louis XIV.
Using the
Paris
Observatory
(completed
in 1672) he made further astronomical
observations. In 1684 he published "Astroscopia
Compendiaria" which presented his new
aerial telescope.
Death
Huygens moved back to The Hague in 1681 after suffering serious
illness. He attempted to return to France in 1685 but the
revocation of the
Edict of Nantes
precluded this move. Huygens died in The Hague on 8 July 1695, and
was buried in the
Grote Kerk.
Scientific work
Mathematics
Probability theory
After
Blaise Pascal encouraged him to
do so, Huygens wrote the first book on
probability theory,
De ratiociniis in
ludo aleae ("On Reasoning in Games of Chance"), which he had
published in 1657.
Physics
Mechanics
Huygens formulated what is now known as the second
law of motion of
Isaac Newton in a quadratic form. Newton
reformulated and generalized that law. In
1659
Huygens derived the now well-known formula for the
centrifugal force, exerted by an object
describing a circular motion, for instance on the string to which
it is attached, in modern notation:
- F_{cf}=\frac{m\ v^2}{r}
with m the
mass of the object, v the
velocity and r the
radius.Furthermore, Huygens concluded that
Descartes' laws for the elastic
collision of two bodies must be wrong and
formulated the correct laws.
Wave theory
Huygens is remembered especially for his
wave theory of light, expounded in his
Traité de la lumière (see also
Huygens-Fresnel principle). The
later theory of light by
Isaac Newton
in his
Opticks proposed a different explanation for
reflection,
refraction and
interference of light assuming the existence of
light particles. The interference experiments of
Thomas Young vindicated Huygens'
wave theory in
1801, as the results could no
longer be explained with light particles (see however
wave-particle duality).
Optics
Huygens experimented with
double
refraction (birefringence) in Icelandic crystal (
calcite) and explained it with his wavetheory and
polarised light.
Clocks
He also worked on the construction of accurate
clocks, suitable for naval
navigation. In 1658 he published a book on this
topic called
Horologium. His invention of the
pendulum clock, patented in 1657, was a
breakthrough in timekeeping.
Devices known as
escapements regulate the
rate of a watch or clock, and the anchor escapement represented a
major step in the development of accurate watches. Subsequent to
this publication, Huygens discovered that the
cycloid was an
isochronous curve and, applied to pendulum
clocks in the form of cycloidal cheeks guiding a flexible pendulum
suspension, would ensure a regular (i.e isochronous) swing of the
pendulum irrespective of its amplitude, i.e. irrespective of how it
moved side to side. The mathematical and practical details of this
finding were published in "Horologium Oscillatorium" of
1673.Huygens was the first to derive the formula for the
period of the mathematical
pendulum (with massless rod or cable), in modern
notation:
- T_{slinger}= 2 \pi \sqrt{\frac{l}{g}}
with T the period, l the length of the pendulum and g the
gravitational acceleration.
Huygens also observed that two pendulums mounted on the same beam
will come to swing in perfectly opposite directions, an observation
he referred to as
odd sympathy which in
modern times is known as
resonance.
Contrary to sometimes expressed popular belief, Huygens was not a
clockmaker, and is not known to have ever made any clock himself;
he was a scholar, scientist and inventor, and the oldest known
pendulum clocks were made by
Salomon
Coster in The Hague, under a license from Huygens.
The oldest
known Huygens style pendulum clock is dated 1657 and can be seen at
the Museum
Boerhaave
in Leiden
, which also
shows an important astronomical clock owned and used by
Huygens.
Huygens also developed a
balance
spring clock more or less contemporaneously with, though
separately from,
Robert Hooke, and
controversy over whose invention was the earlier persisted for
centuries. In February 2006, a long-lost copy of Hooke's
handwritten notes from several decades'
Royal Society meetings was discovered in a
cupboard in Hampshire, and the balance-spring controversy appears
by evidence contained in those notes to be settled in favor of
Hooke's claim.
Internal combustion and other inventions
In 1673, Huygens carried out experiments with internal combustion.
Although he designed a basic form of
internal combustion engine,
fueled by gunpowder, he never successfully built one.
In 1675, Christiaan Huygens patented a
pocket watch. He also invented numerous other
devices, including a 31 tone to the octave keyboard instrument
which made use of his discovery of
31 equal temperament.
Astronomy
Saturn's rings and Titan
In 1655, Huygens proposed that
Saturn was
surrounded by a solid ring, "a thin, flat ring, nowhere touching,
and inclined to the ecliptic." Using a 50 power
refracting telescope that he designed
himself, Huygens also discovered the first of Saturn's moons,
Titan. In the same year he observed and
sketched the
Orion Nebula. His drawing,
the first such known of the Orion nebula, was published in
Systema Saturnium in 1659. Using his modern telescope he
succeeded in subdividing the nebula into different stars. (The
brighter interior of the Orion Nebula bears the name of the
Huygens Region in his
honour.) He also discovered several
interstellar
nebulae and some
double stars.
Transit of Mercury
On May 3, 1661, he observed planet
Mercury transit over the Sun, using the
telescope of telescope maker Richard Reeves in London together with
astronomer Thomas Streete and Richard Reeves.
Extraterrestrial Life
Christiaan Huygens believed in existence of extraterrestrial life.
Prior to his death in 1695, he completed a book entitled
Cosmotheoras in which he discussed his notions on
extraterrestrial life. Huygens was of the opinion that life on
other planets is pretty much similar to that on Earth. He thought
that availability of water in liquid form was essential for
existence of life and therefore the properties of water should vary
from planet to planet, since the kind of water that is found on
Earth would instantly freeze on Jupiter and vaporize on Venus. He
even reported observing dark and bright spots on the surface of
planet Mars and Jupiter. This he explained could only be justified
by existence of water and ice on those planets.
Works
400p
- 1649 - De iis quae liquido
supernatant (About the parts above the warer,
unpublished)
- 1651 - Cyclometriae
- 1651 - Theoremata de quadratura
hyperboles, ellipsis et circuli (theorems concerning the
quadrature of the hyperbola, ellipse and
circle, Huygens' first publication)
- 1654 - De circuli magnitudine
inventa
- 1656 - De Saturni Luna observatio
nova (About the new observation of the moon of Saturn -
discovery of Titan)
- 1656 - De motu corporum ex percussione, published only
in 1703
- 1657 - De ratiociniis in ludo
aleae = Van reeckening in
spelen van geluck (translated by Frans van Schooten)
- 1659 - Systema saturnium
- 1673 - Horologium oscillatorium sive de
motu pendularium (theory and design of the pendulum clock,
dedicated to Louis XIV of
France)
- 1673 - De vi centrifuga
(Concerning the centrifugal
force)
- 1684 - Astroscopia Compendiaria tubi
optici molimine liberata (compound telescopes without a
tube)
- 1685 - Memoriën aengaende het slijpen
van glasen tot verrekijckers (How to
grind telescope lenses)
- 1686 - Kort onderwijs aengaende het
gebruijck der horologiën tot het vinden der lenghten van Oost en
West (How to use clocks to establish the longitude
- 1690 - Traité de la lumière
- 1690 - Discours de la cause de la pesanteur (Discourse
about gravity, from 1669?)
- 1691 - Lettre touchant le cycle
harmonique (Rotterdam, concerning the 31-tone system)
- 1698 - Cosmotheoros ,
sciencefiction
- 1703 - Opuscula posthuma including
- De motu corporum ex percussione (Concerning the
motions of colliding bodies - contains the first correct laws for
collision, dating from 1656).
- Descriptio automati planetarii (description and design
of a planetarium)
- 1724 - Novus cyclus harmonicus
(Leiden, after Huygens' death)
- 1728 - Christiani Hugenii Zuilichemii,
dum viveret Zelhemii toparchae, opuscula posthuma ... (pub.
1728) Alternate title: Opera reliqua, concerning optics
and physics
- Tome I: Correspondance 1638-1656 (1888). Tome II:
Correspondance 1657-1659 (1889). Tome III: Correspondance
1660-1661 (1890). Tome IV: Correspondance 1662-1663
(1891). Tome V: Correspondance 1664-1665 (1893).
Tome VI: Correspondance 1666-1669 (1895). Tome VII:
Correspondance 1670-1675 (1897). Tome VIII: Correspondance
1676-1684 (1899). Tome IX: Correspondance 1685-1690
(1901). Tome X: Correspondance 1691-1695 (1905).
- Tome XI: Travaux mathématiques 1645-1651 (1908).
Tome XII: Travaux mathématiques pures 1652-1656
(1910).
- Tome XIII, Fasc. I: Dioptrique 1653, 1666
(1916). Tome XIII, Fasc. II: Dioptrique 1685-1692
(1916).
- Tome XIV: Calcul des probabilités. Travaux de
mathématiques pures 1655-1666 (1920).
- Tome XV: Observations astronomiques. Système de
Saturne. Travaux astronomiques 1658-1666 (1925).
- Tome XVI: Mécanique jusqu’à 1666. Percussion.
Question de l’existence et de la perceptibilité du mouvement
absolu. Force centrifuge (1929). Tome XVII:
L’horloge à pendule de 1651 à 1666. Travaux divers de
physique, de mécanique et de technique de 1650 à 1666.
Traité des couronnes et des parhélies (1662 ou 1663)
(1932). Tome XVIII: L'horloge à pendule ou à balancier de
1666 à 1695. Anecdota (1934). Tome XIX: Mécanique
théorique et physique de 1666 à 1695. Huygens à l’Académie
royale des sciences (1937).
- Tome XX: Musique et mathématique. Musique.
Mathématiques de 1666 à 1695 (1940).
- Tome XXI: Cosmologie (1944).
- Tome XXII: Supplément à la correspondance.
Varia. Biographie de Chr. Huygens.
Catalogue de la vente des livres de Chr. Huygens
(1950).
Portraits
During his lifetime
- 1639 - His father
Constantijn Huygens in the midst
of his five children by Adriaen
Hanneman, painting with medaillons, Mauritshuis
, The
Hague
- 1671 - Portrait by
Caspar Netscher, Museum
Boerhaave, Leiden, loan from
Haags Historisch
Museum
- ~1675 - Possible depiction of Huygens on
lÉtablissement de l'Académie des Sciences et fondation de
l'observatoire, 1666 by Henri
Testelin. Colbert presents the members of the
newly founded Académie des
Sciences to king Louis XIV of
France. Musée National du Château et des Trianons de
Versailles
, Versailles
- 1679 - Medaillon
portrait in relief by the French sculptor Jean-Jacques Clérion
- 1686 - Portrait in
pastel by Bernard Vaillant,
Museum
Hofwijck
, Voorburg
- between 1684 and 1687 -
Engraving by G. Edelinck after the painting by Netscher
- 1688 - Portrait by
Pierre Bourguignon, Koninklijke
Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Amsterdam
Named after Huygens
Science
- The Huygens probe: The lander for
the Saturnian moon Titan, part of the Cassini-Huygens Mission to
Saturn
- Asteroid 2801 Huygens
- A crater on Mars
- Mons Huygens, a mountain on the
Moon
- Huygens Software, a microscope image processing
package.
- Achromatic two element eyepiece designed by him.
- The Huygens–Fresnel principle,
a simple model to understand disturbances in wave propagation.
- Huygens wavelets, the fundamental
mathematical basis for scalar
diffraction theory
- W.I.S.V.
Christiaan Huygens:
Dutch study guild for the studies Mathematics and Computer Science
at the Delft University of
Technology
- Huygens Laboratory: Home of the Physics
department at Leiden University, The Netherlands
- Huygens Supercomputer: National Supercomputer facility
of The Netherlands, located at SARA in
Amsterdam
- The Huygens-building in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, first
building on the Space Business park opposite Estec (ESA)
- The Huygens-building at the Radboud University, Nijmegen, The
Netherlands. One of the major buildings of the science department
at the university of Nijmegen.
Other
See also
References
Further reading
- Andriesse, C.D., 2005, Huygens The Man Behind the
Principle. Foreword by Sally Miedema. Cambridge University Press.
- Boyer, C.B.: A history
of mathematics, New York, 1968
- Dijksterhuis, E.
J.: The Mechanization of
the World Picture: Pythagoras to Newton
- Hooijmaijers, H.: Telling time - Devices for time
measurement in Museum Boerhaave - A Descriptive Catalogue,
Leiden, Museum Boerhaave, 2005
- Struik, D.J.: A history of
mathematics
- Van den Ende, H. et al: Huygens's Legacy, The golden age of
the pendulum clock, Fromanteel Ltd, Castle Town, Isle of Man,
2004
- Yoder, J G., 2005, "Book on the pendulum clock" in Ivor Grattan-Guinness, ed.,
Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics. Elsevier:
33-45.
- Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) : Library of
Congress Citations. Retrieved 2005-03-30.
External links
Primary sources, translations
Museums
Other
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Netherlands
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