Huygens, Christiaan

Huygens, pronounced HY guhnz, Christiaan (1629-1695), was a Dutch physicist, astronomer, and mathematician. In 1678, Huygens proposed that light consists of series of waves. He used this theory in investigating the refraction (bending) of light.

Huygens' wave theory competed for many years with the corpuscular theory of the English scientist Isaac Newton. Newton maintained that light is made up of particles. Today, scientists believe that light behaves as both a particle and a wave.

Huygens was born in The Hague, the Netherlands. He studied mathematics and law at the University of Leiden and the College of Orange at Breda. Huygens worked with his brother Constantijn to develop skill in grinding and polishing spherical lenses. With these lenses, they built the most powerful telescopes of their time. Huygens also discovered a satellite of Saturn and asserted that what astronomers called "Saturn's arms" was a ring. In mathematics, he refined the value of pi. In the 1650's, Huygens invented a clock with a freely suspended pendulum.

Contributor: Ronald S. Calinger, Ph.D., Associate Prof. of History, Catholic Univ. of America.

Huygens, Christiaan

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