Christian Huygens

Short Description of Topic

Who Was He?

Christiaan Huygens was a famous Dutch scientist, mathematician, and astronomer of the 17th Century. Huygens was noted for many mathematical, physical, and astronomical discoveries during his time.

Early Life

Christiaan Huygens was born on April 14, 1629. Huygens was the son of Constantijn Huygens, a natural philosopher and diplomat. Christiaan was home schooled until the age 16, including having Jan Jansz de Jonge Stampioen as a tutor. Within his family’s circle of friends were notable scientist like Galileo Galilei, Marin Mersenne, and Rene DeCartes. In 1946, Christiann enrolled in the University of Leiden as a student of law and mathematics. While in school, Huygens developed a strong interest in differential geometry, which he would use throughout the rest of his life.

Notable Published works and Theories

Shortly after leaving the University of Leiden, Huygen worked Mersenne studying geometry. In 1951, Huygens produced his first published work titled Theoremata de quadrature. For the following two years, Huygen shifted his focus to spherical lenses. In 1662, Huygen developed his first notable device, the Huygenian Eyepiece. The Huygenian eyepiece used two convex lenses, which became the first multi-lens eyepiece. Additionally, in the early 1650’s Huygens published the first theory on probability theory using games of chance to study the subject.

Notable Scientific Discoveries

In 1859, Huygens created the exponential form of Newton’s Second Law using circular motion as the centerpiece for his derivations. Eventually, his formula would lead to the formation of the modern Centripetal Force equation. Huygen’s work in circular motion didn’t stop there. Earlier, Huygens developed the world’s first pendulum clock. He was also the first to develop the modern equation for the period of a pendulum. In 1855, Huygens was one of the first to propose that Saturn had a thin solid ring that never touched the surface of the planet. Using a telescope he built himself, Huygens also became the first person to ever discover Saturn’s largest moon Titan. In addition to his other discoveries, Huygens may be most known around the scientific community for his wave theory. The wave theory of light. With this Huygens also proposed that light has a finite speed and that light is longitudinal wave.

Connectedness

1. How is this topic connected to something that you are interested in?

I have always had an interest in astronomy. Huygens is one of science’s best kept secrets. His accomplishments are constantly left in the background behind famouns scientists like Newton, Galileo, and others but he is equally as important. Huygens was a pioneering mathematician and scientist whose works are still used today in multiple subjects. There aren’ t many scientists who could say that.

Put this idea in historical context. Give the reader the Who, What, When, Where, and Why.

List of Works

• 1649 – De iis quae liquido supernatant (About the parts above the water, unpublished) • 1651 – Cyclometriae • 1651 – Theoremata de quadratura hyperboles, ellipsis et circuli, in Oeuvres Complètes, Tome XI, link from Internet Archive. • 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 (on the planet Saturn) • 1659 – De vi centrifuga (Concerning the centrifugal force), published in 1703 • 1673 – Horologium oscillatorium sive de motu pendularium (theory and design of the pendulum clock, dedicated to Louis XIV of France) • 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 – Old Dutch: 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 (solar system, cosmology, life in the universe) • 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 • 1888–1950 – Huygens, Christiaan. Oeuvres complètes. The Hague Complete work, editors D. Bierens de Haan (tome=deel 1-5), J. Bosscha (6-10), D.J. Korteweg (11-15), A.A. Nijland (15), J.A. Vollgraf (16-22). • 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).

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiaan_Huygens\ http://www.space.com/16070-christiaan-huygens.html http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Huygens.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_(moon) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEMSxH1spaA