Christian Huygens

Author Code: OCHY

Huygens was tutored at home until he was sixteen and then studied law and mathematics at the University of Leiden. He then studied at the College of Orange in Breda. After completion of his studies in 1649, he travelled on a diplomatic mission under the auspices of Henry, Duke of Nassau. In 1651, Huygens published Theoremata de Quadratura and established an international reputation in mathematics. In 1654, Huygens returned to The Hague and devoted himself to scientific research and the following year began grinding his own telescopic lenses. In 1662, he designed Huygenian eyepiece as an ocular telescope. In 1663, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. Huygens was a gifted mathematician and made serious contributions to science, including the wave theory of light, the true shape of the rings of Saturn and contributions to the science of dynamics. He met, and was a friend of, many scientific dignitaries of the 17th century, including Pascal, Leibniz and Newton. His important works include Cyclometriae (1651), De Saturni Luna Observatio nova (1656), De vi Centrifuga (1659), Horologium Oscillatorium sive de motu pendularium (1673), Traite de la Lumiere (1690) and Cosmotheoros (1698 Posthumous).