Ten fun facts about Christiaan Huygens
Fact 1
Christiaan Huygens was born on 14 April 1629 and died on 8 July 1695.
Fact 2
Christiaan Huygens is recognized particularly as a physicist, probabilist, astronomer and horologist and was also a leading natural philosopher.
Fact 3
His work involved early telescopic readings of the rings of Saturn and the finding of its moon Titan, the creation of the pendulum clock and other examinations in timekeeping.
Fact 4
Christiaan Huygens published main studies of mechanics and optics and did great work on games of chance.
Fact 5
Christiaan Huygens College is a High School in Eindhoven, Netherlands and is named after him.
Fact 6
The first work Huygens published was Theoremata de quadratura (1651) in the area of quadrature.
Fact 7
In 1657 Huygens wrote the 5 dissertations on probability theory, De ratiociniis in ludo aleae ("On Reasoning in Games of Chance").
Fact 8
On 3 May 1661, Huygens spotted the planet Mercury journey over the Sun.
Fact 9
Huygens is recalled particularly for his wave theory of light, which he first talked about in 1678 to the Paris Académie des sciences. It was printed in 1690 in his Traité de la lumière (Treatise on light). He mentions Ignace-Gaston Pardies, whose document on optics aided him on his wave theory.
Fact 10
He died on 8 July 1695 and was buried in the Grote Kerk.
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