What does the Christiaan Huygens Biography have to do with Mars?



As you will see in the Christiaan Huygens Biography, he was one of the pioneering minds associated with the scientific revolution. He made many important contributions in the areas of mathematics, physics and astronomy.

Christiaan Huygen's Background

The Christiaan Huygens Biography begins on April 14, 1629. He was born in The Hague, Netherlands and died July 8, 1695. He was the son of Constantijin Huygens, a Dutch statesman, diplomat and artist. Among the many famous guests in his home were Rubens, Rembrandt, and Descartes.

He began his schooling in mathematics and then natural sciences. He studied law at the University of Leiden and College of Orange in Breda.

Huygens contributions to Mathematics and Physics

According to the Christiaan Huygens Biography, he played a minor part in the development of modern calculus. He achieved notice for his arguments that light consisted of waves. Christiaan Huygens worked on developing accurate clocks for navigation, and a breakthrough in timekeeping was his invention of the pendulum clock. He is credited with numerous other inventions including a patent on a pocket watch.

A published author, his first book was on probable theory, and later wrote one on mathematical and practical detail.

Now on to the more exciting parts of the Christiaan Huygens Biography

Christiaan Huygens and Astronomy

Just like Galileo before him, Christiann Huygens examined everything in the skies. Using his advanced telescope, he discovered Saturn’s moon which was named Titan. He also studied Saturn’s rings in great detail and later discovered they were made up of rocks. During that same year, Huygens saw and made the first drawing of the Orion Nebula which was in his book Systema Saturnium. He also discovered some double stars and several interstellar nebulae. Huygens was also credited with making the first map of Mars.

Christiaan Huygens thought about life on other planets and imagined a universe brimming with life, when some sixty odd years before Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake by Italian authorities for believing the same thing.

Things named for Christiann Huygens

  • The Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn
  • Asteroid 2801 Huygens
  • Huygens crater on Mars
  • Huygens mountain on the moon
  • Huygens-Fresnel principle
  • Huygens Laboratory
  • W.I.S.V. Christiaan Huygens study club

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