Christian Huygens (1629-1695)

As the year 2001 approaches, technology brings us to a point where we, as a civilization, believe we can do anything. The human race has gone so far as to put men in space, build skyscrapers hundreds of feet high, and even search the deepest parts of the ocean. When you think of the knowledge that the average 12 year old consumes every day of their lives, ask yourself a question… Where did it all start? For example, when a child looks at their watch and it says ten to four, they just assume that it’s ten to four. How often do you suppose a child thinks of where a clock originated from or why a second is a second? Well, the purpose of this essay is to research a scientist and answer these questions for myself and for anyone else who is interested in learning just a little bit more!

Christian Huygens was a great figure in the fields of research into mathematical physics, astronomy and optics, and among the founders of mechanics and optical physics. Huygens was born at The Hague on April 14th 1629. Huygens was born into a prominent family. His father, Constantijn, drew on an intellectual heritage. Highly placed in Dutch political life, his father was widely known as a Latinist scholar, poet, and diplomat. Christian was soon known to be a Dutch genius. He lived an uneventful but remarkably productive life. Huygens received the finest education possible and was exposed to Europe’s intellectual elite. In May 1645, at age sixteen, Huygens entered Leiden University where he studied mathematics and law. Here he ran into a man called Fransvan Schooten. Schooten later guided his early work in mathematics. After this, in March 1647, Huygens studied law at the University of Breda before finally returning to The Hague. At this point Christian felt somewhat pressured to make a career decision. By this point he was sure that he did not want to follow in his Father’s footsteps into diplomatic life. Christian was a highly talented man and soon began to demonstrate his prodigious talent. His first work published, Theoremata de quadratura hyperboles, ellypsis et circuli, displayed his geometrical skills in 1651.  Huygens was known as one of the world’s best. While on a trip to the middle of Europe, he met most of the notable scientists of the day, among them Gassendi, Auzout, Boulliau, Roberval, Mylon, and Sorbière. In 1663, Huygens was still in Paris and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, the first of many such honors. When he later returned to Paris that year, he was offered a substantial pension by Louis the Fourteenth who had visions of what would eventually become the Académie royale des sciences. Three years later, Huygens returned to Paris again and accepted Louis’ offer. He stayed in a prestigious apartment in rooms below the Bibliothèque royale, the new home of the nascent Académie. Huygens occupied these rooms until 1681. During the next fifteen years he returned to The Hague on only two occasions, reportedly for reasons concerning health. He died on July 8th, 1695.
     In his lifetime, he completed many theories that are still believed to be true.   In 1654, Huygens efforts were directed to the improvement of the telescope. With his brother, grinding and polishing lenses. He also devoted himself to the construction of lenses reaching enormous length. The three sizes built were lengths of 123 feet, 180 feet, and 210 feet. In later dates they were given to the Royal Society of London in whose possession they still remain. The achromatic eye-piece on the lens is known by his name. Two years later, Huygens began to resolve numerous astronomical questions such as the nature of Saturn’s appendage. ( Huygen’s success in improving the lenses led him to focus on the rings of Saturn and published his work in 1659 as the Systema Saturnium.) These observations required some exact means of measuring time and was soon led to inventing the Pendulum clock in 1658.
    In 1660, Huygens discovered he needed a more accurate way of measuring time. Thus, the Pendulum clock was invented. He studied the relationship between an abstract, mathematical pendula and a real pendula in detail. He found a relation between the length of the cord and the period of pendulum, an abstract that is. After getting this far, he asked himself, "What real pendulum is equal to what abstract pendulum?" Huygens solved this by considering the center of gravity of an arbitrary shaped object and applying what we now call the conservation of energy!
    In 1690, Huygens created a theory that he is most widely known for: his contribution to the wave theory of light. Huygens met Isaac Newton a year prior to his work on this subject and was the person to influence him on this matter. He published a treatise expounding the wave theory of light. From this, he was able to deduce geometrically the laws of refraction and reflection and to explain the phenomenon of double refraction. Newton, however, supported the particle emission theory of light, and his greater eminence caused contemporary scientists to favor Newton's theory over the wave theory. Huygens theory stated that every point on the front of an advancing wave is itself a source of new waves. In Traité de la Lumière he developed the concept of the Wavefront. This theory was also supported by the observation that two intersecting beams of light did not bounce off each other as would be expected if they were composed of particles.
    Sometime throughout Huygens life he wrote a book that summed up all of his theories and inventions called the Horologium Oscillatorium. It was written about pendulum clocks, how a cycloid is tautochronous, definitions of evolutes and involutes, compound pendulums, and the centers of oscillation and suspension are interchangeable.
    A gifted Mathematician, Huygens was the central figure in the Acedémie Royale des sciences in Paris and is remembered for numerous positive contributions in the sciences ranging from mechanics (stating principle of centrifugal force), and optics (wave theory) to applied science (the pendulum clock). Without question, Christian Huygens was one of the ornaments of the century and a key figure in what has been called the scientific revolution!
 
 
 

                                                                  BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ball, Rouse.W.W.Christian Huygens(1629-1695).  Jan.14th, 2001
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Biography-Christian Huygens-The Scientific Revolution.  Jan.9th, 2001
    <www.clas.ufl.edu/users/rhatch/08sr-hygns-bio.html>

Fundamentals of Physics  1987 D.C.Health Canada Ltd.P.370-372

Weistein.Eric W.Christian Huygens(1629-1695).  2000. Jan.9th,2001
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