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| Christian Huygens (1629-1695) |
Christian
Huygens was
born in Den
Haag, Holland on April 14, 1629.
He died in
Den Haag at July 8, 1695
at the age
of 66.
Huygens is a
mathematician, physicist,
and
discoverer who
invented the
first pendulum clock.
He also
discovered rings around
Saturn
planet. In his book
Entitled
“Traite’ de la Lumie’re”,
which was
published in 1690, he rejected
the theory
of corpuscular.
He concluded
that because
the light
vibrates so quickly,
then it is
more proper to say
that the
light consists of wave,
not
particles.
In
“Huygens’s Principle”, he
showed that
each point
at a wave
can be considered
produces
little waves (wavelets),
which
combine together to form a wave-front.
Huygens scientific work was
first published in 1651,
namely that discusses Cyclometriae circle. Then, in
1654 he produced
De circuli Magnitudine Inventa that discuss a variety of
things scientific issues.
He also took an interest in the
manufacture of lenses and telescopes.
In 1654, he invented a new method of
making lenses.
A year later, he managed to observe Saturn's satellite Titan.
The lenses were developed at a later date is also used for observation of
distant planets,
satellites, and the Orion nebula. In the same year he went to
Paris and met Boulliau are advised to learn about probability in Pascal and
Fermat.
When he returned to the
Netherlands, Huygens produce his work on the calculus of probability,
namely De
Ratiociniis in Ludo Aleae. Furthermore, he discovered the rings of Saturn,
but
unlike the theory of Saturn's rings and Boulliau proposed Roberval.
Galileo few
years earlier considered as part of the rings of Saturn.
In 1659, Huygens published his
Systema Saturnium that explains
the stages and phases change the rings of
Saturn.
Observations of other scientists that Fabri in 1665, it was confirmed
the theory of Huygens.
In 1656, he patented his
invention of the pendulum clock,
which can improve the accuracy of time
measurement.
The theory of pendulum motion expressed in
Horologium
Oscillatorium sive de motu pendulorum (1673).
He also discovered the law of
centrifugal force of uniform circular motion
While in London, Huygens
saw Boyle vacuum pump,
and he used it. In 1663, Huygens became a member
of the
prestigious Royal Society scientific institutions.
Huygens patented the
pendulum clock design in the same year.
Experiments Huygens on
elastic collision objects show legal error Descartes collision.
This theme was
the meeting of the Royal Society in 1668.
The Royal Society asking questions
about the impact and
Huygens answered through experiments momentum two objects
before
the collision is equal to the momentum of the two after the collision.
The
answer was later called the Law of Conservation of Momentum.
Circular motion into a
Huygens research theme at the time,
but he was also thinking about Descartes's
theory of gravity which is
based on material spinning (which he called vortex).
Something is wrong in the theory of Descartes. In 1669,
Huygens visited
Academie discuss this issue.
After that, Roberval and Mariotte me-corrected
view of Descartes.
Due to the often
alternating French-Dutch, Huygens became ill in 1670.
Before leaving Paris, Huygens
promise not to publish his research
on mechanics before it is sent to the Royal
Society.
1671, Huygens back to
Paris. However, in 1672,
King Louis XIV invaded Holland, Huygens saw difficult
position,
and became a very important thing for him to be in Paris.
French
scientists strongly support his research.
In 1672 Huygens met with
Leibniz in Paris.
After that Leibniz regularly visit the Academie.
Leibniz
indebted to Huygens, because he studied mathematics at Huygens.
In the same
year, Huygens learned about the working principle of
theory of light, especially about color.