Religious Poems of Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687)

1. New Year (Translation of Niew Jaer)
2. The Ascension (Translation of Hemelvaert)
3. Sunday (Translation of Sondagh)
4. Dying Willingly (Translation of Willigh Sterven
5. Friendly Disagreement (Translation of Vriendelick Oneens)
6. Beginning of the Articles of our Belief (Translation of Begin van de Artijckelen onses Geloofs)

 

Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687) was an important figure in the politics, religion and literature of the emergent Dutch Republic during and after its struggle for freedom from Spanish rule. He designed his own house Hofwijk in Voorburg (now the Huygensmuseum), he was a very gifted composer, as well as politician and diplomat. He translated poems of John Donne into Dutch. He made a major contribution to the evolution and development of the Dutch language as a literary vehicle, most especially in his poetry. "Huygens' poëzie is spits and geestig, soms vroom en vaak autobiografisch" (Josien Moerman). The text of all Huygens's poems will ultimately be available on the WWW, thanks to the work of the University of Leiden. You can see what is at present available by pressing here. Only four of these six poems have so far appeared in the archive. I am grateful to this source for the picture of Huygens. The poems in the archive are classified by year, and the pages are quite long and do not appear to supplied with anchors, so to reach a poem in the archive you may need to scroll down a long way. To facilitate locating the poems on this page in the archive, the poem number in the archive is given here.

The first three sonnets below, Niew Jaer, Hemelvaert and Sondagh appeared in a short collection of poems called Heilighe Daghen published in January 1645 by Van Baerle, dedicated as a New Year gift to Lady Leonore Hellemans of Muijden. For a detailed study of Heilighe Daghen, see F.L. Zwaan: C. Huygens' Avondmaalsgedichten en Heilige Dagen, NV Uitgeversmaatschappij W.E.J. Tjeenk Willink, Zwolle, 1968.

The wordplay in Sondagh produces many problems for the translator, and it emphasizes that although Dutch and English are closely related, they are not close enough for perfect translation of Huygens's subtleties.

Willigh Sterven (number 4) is much later. It was probably written in Paris in 1664 when Huygens was deeply involved in diplomatic negotiations to regain the region of Orange for the House of Orange. It was first published in the second edition of Huygens's collected poems, Korenbloemen in 1672, as was Vriendelick Oneens (number 5), typical of Huygens's later puntdichten.

These translations have tried as far as possible to reproduce Huygens's style. As a result, the English is neither seventeenth century nor twentieth century, but hopefully intelligible to an educated reader. Poem number 6 (translation of Begin van de artijckelen onses Geloofs, dating from 1645), uses the words ought and nought, which now only survive in English dialect, because no other translation works effectively.

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1.Original in Huygens Archive.

(Translation © by Peter Large of Niew Jaer) It's gone. The last Sun sank yesterday in the the Sea, a witness of all my sinfulness of this last year. Today is like a thousand years to thee whom all men fear, this day I expose my dirty soul before thee taking off the foul clothes of the forty years and three, and two and yet two more that thou hast allowed me here; although I try thy patience with many a sinful prayer, a cleaner suit than ever I put on permit me. In its harsh newness it will constrain my flesh and blood and fit with difficulty: but I trust thy hand, that shall with ease adapt me and make the fitting good. Make me on the Way to th'eternal Fatherland one of Thy chosen Israelites in this Wilderness, let not this life's new Clothing wear out, though it oppress.

't Is uyt. De leste Son gingh gisteren in Zee, getuyge van mijn jaer vol ongeregeltheden. O dien daer dusend jaer zijn als de dagh van heden, voor wien ick desen dagh mijn' vuyle ziel ontklee van 't smodderigh gewaed van veertigh jaer en twee, en dry, en noch eens twee, die ghy my hebt geleden; al vergh ick 't dijn geduld met sondighe gebeden, gunt my een schoonder pack dan ick'er oyt aen dee. In d'eerste niewigheit sal 't vleesch en bloed wat prengen, en 't past haer moeyelick: maer ick betrouw Dijn' hand; die sal 't my lichtelick wat ruymen en wat lengen. Maeckt my maer op de Reis naer 't eewigh Vaderland in dese Wilderniss een' Dijner Israëlijten, en laet dit niewe Kleed mijn leven niet verslijten. 1 januari, 1645

 

2. (Translation © by Peter Large of O Israel's Chariot, with thy Horsemen full of might, where bearest thou our King? O strength of all the weak, art thou thus the refuge that all thy chosen seek? Art thou thus their help? Wilt thou leave them in the fight, wilt thou throw them as food, thou believers' champion knight, to tyrants? Boiled and grilled, serv'st thou thy servants meek, their arteries all burst, their muscles stretched to break, their limbs on griddles charred, flesh black instead of white? Fly then into our hearts, O glorious heav'nly Dove, snatch them from this mortality for Thyself to nourish, and leave the world no share, save that on which worms flourish; and all that is worthy transport to heaven above. O thou who from henceforth in eternal bliss dost dwell, be here, and from this moment, convey us there as well.

Hemelvaert) O Wagen Israëls met uwe Ruyter-knechten, waer voert ghy onsen Vorst? O aller swacken troost, zijt ghy soo toeverlaet der ghenen die ghy koost? Blijft ghy hun soo te hulp? Verlaet ghy haer in 't vechten, voorvechter van Dijn volck? Werpt ghy se tot gerechten den dwingelanden toe, gesoden en geroost, haer' spieren uytgetanght, haer' ad'ren uytgeoost, haer' zenuwen gesnerpt op roosteren en trechten? O, Duyve siet om leegh; vlieght onse herten toe, en rucktse voor Dijn aes uyt dese sterfflickheden; en deelt de wereld mis, en laet haer niets beneden dan daer de leste pier sijn' lusten in voldoe. O die van nu af aen in 't endeloose bly zijt, weest hier, en voert ons soo van nu af aen daer ghy zijt. 7 januari 1645

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3.

(Translation © by Peter Large of Sondagh) 'Tis neither Sabbath-day nor Sunday, O my soul, with all its subservience, the Sabbath's passed away, and that sun that I see shone yesterday as today. But the Sun I do not see, Sun that can make me whole, his righteousness obscured by sin as black as coal, Son of God, who trod the earth again upon this day, is proud as a Bridegroom riding forth upon his way, through thy Wounds I perceive thine endless Sunday's goal. Though Sunday it may be, one can it God's Son-day call, God's Reconciliation-day, yet guilty we fall. God's Sun, God's Son, God's Reconciliation, how long, O Lord, wilt thou bear this desecration, that thy Reconciliation-day, thy Son-day, thy Sunday, be thanklessly made waste, disgraced, debased as Sin-day?

Is 't Sabbath-dagh, mijn Ziel, of Sondagh? geen van tween, de Sabbath is voorby met sijne dienstbaerheden; en de Sonn die ick sie scheen gisteren als heden: maer, die ick niet en sie en schijnt niet soo se scheen. Son, die ick niet en sie als door mijn' sonden heen, Soon Gods, die desen dagh het aerdtrijck weer betreedden, fier als een Bruydegom ter loop-baen ingereden, 'k sie Sondagh sonder eind door dijne Wonden heen. 't Zy dan oock Sondagh nu, men magh 't Gods Soon-dagh noemen, ja, en Gods Soen-dagh toe. Maer laet ick ons verdoemen, waar ick van dryen gae, ick vind ons in de schuld. God Son, God Soon, God Soen, hoe langh duert dijn geduld? Hoe lange lijdt ghy, Heer, dijn' Soon-dagh, Soendagh, Sondagh, ondanckbaerlick verspilt, verspeelt, verspelt in Sond-dagh? 7 januari 1645

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4.

(Translation © by Peter Large of Staying up, we called it in our childhood days, not to go soon to bed with the Sun's declining rays: `twas hard to take our rest when light had left the skies. Childhood returns once more: is that not a surprise? The older men become, the older they try to get. To stay up is a pleasure, to go to bed is yet for all the human race a thing of dread and fear, and something special's promised aft'r our sojourn here, that's worth th'experience and makes us want to stay up late to write the Epitaph of Judgement day. At last comes weariness -- Gout and Kidney-stone, here mouths without teeth, there eyes that see no sun. And eyes like those of Children, kept open by brute force: feeling and sensation less'ning and getting worse. Happy is the one who without all that can right piously, peaceably and restfully say, Good night.

Willigh Sterven) Op blijven, noemden wy 't in onse kindsche dagen, niet vroegh te bed te gaen; en 't was hard om verdragen, te moeten rusten als de Son pas onder gingh. Die kindsheit komt weerom; is't niet een wonder dingh? Hoe dat men ouder werdt, hoem' ouder soeckt te wesen. Op blijven is de vreughd, te bedde gaen, het vreesen van alle menschlickheit: 't schijnt dat de tijd hier naer yet sonderlinghs belooft, dat levens waardigh waer, en daerm'om wenschen moght noch heel langh op te blijven om 's Werelds end, misschien, en Graf-schrift te beschrijven. Ten lesten komt de vaeck, 't is hier Graveel, daer Gicht, hier monden sonder tand, daer oogen sonder licht, en oogen die haer self, gelijck die van de Kind'ren, op houden met geweld, en doorgaens voelen mind'ren. Wel hem, die, sonder dat, Godvruchtelick bedacht, heel geern' en heel gerust kan seggen, Goeden nacht. Parijs, waarschijnlijk 10 januari, 1664

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5. O let us, my Romish friend, be wise and not begin upon those things that we so sadly differ in; but let us concentrate, agree and co-operate, and against other misbeliefs together firmly stand; we've common ground enough to praise God hand-in-hand. Although we may not of two faiths a mixture make, we both at least seek Heaven, though diff'rent roads we take: Genevans with Romans go like the Austrian rivers flow. For a good deal of the way of faith our concord makes us one, as the two rivers many miles without mixing run. NOTE: This refers to the rivers Danube and Inn that after their confluence, run together without mixing.

(Translation © by Peter Large of Vriendelick Oneens) Myn Roomsch-gesinde Vriend, laet ons wijs wesen willen, en niet beginnen daer wy droevigh in verschillen; maer daer in ons verstand eens is en t'samen spant, en vrolick tegen staet all' ander mis-gelooven; wy hebben's ruym genoegh, om t'samen God te loven. Staet ons geen mengelingh van twee Gods-diensten toe, ten minsten soeckt ghy mé den Hemel als ik doe: Geneven ga met Roomen als d'Oostenrijcksche stroomen. Ons' eendracht kan soo wel een groot stuck weeghs bestaen, als daar twee onvermenght veel' mijlen t'samen gaen. 24 oktober 1667

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6.	Original in Huygens Archive Scroll down to [CH1645:124] CREDO IN DEUM, PATREM OMNIPOTENTEM, CREATOREM COELI ETC.

(Translation © by Peter Large of God spake and Nought became Ought. That's God without a peer. Almighty being, whether I ascend or descend here, I meet thee in thy work: from this footstool, earth to that high throne from which thou in thy wisdom gavest birth, all is God and full of God. The Heaven is full of tongues, which tell of all thy wonders: earth also stirs its lungs, and witnesses with heaven. What was that then, that Nought, that so much Ought arose, as heart and eye have taught, and arose in a moment, a moment seven days long, that thou hast appointed to make my impotence less strong? Nought was and Ought was not: Ought began and nought then went, so Nought was there and was not: but thou'rt omnipotent.

Begin van de Artijckelen onses Geloofs ) God sprack, en niet wert yet. Dat's God zijn sonder weergae. Almachtigh wesen, of ick op, en of ick neer gae, 'k ontmoet Dy in Dijn werk: van dese voetbanck af tot in dien hoogen throon die Dy Dijn' wijsheit gaf, is 't al God, en vol Gods. Den Hemel is vol tongen, en die vol wonderen: het aerdrijck roert sijn' longen, en tolckt daer tegen op. Wat stoffe was dat, Niet, daer soo veel Yets uyt rees als hert en ooge siet, en rees in eenen wenck, den wenck van seven dagen, die ghy soo noemt, om mijn' onmacht te leeren dragen? Niet was, en Yet was niet: Yet werd, en Niet vergingh, soo was Niet, en was niet: Maar ghy waert alle dingh. 1645



This page was created by Peter J. Large. Last modified, 14-2-2000.
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I am grateful to Marc van Oostendorp for suggesting this arrangement of the texts.

Contribution to Dutch Litterature

THE 17TH CENTURY

While the Spanish hold on the Catholic south of the Netherlands during and after the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) caused a decline in Brabant and Flanders, there was a spectacular expansion in Holland, to which artists, intellectuals, and financiers had fled from the Spanish armies. The emergence of Amsterdam and The Hague as capitals of an empire and the birth of civic pride in writers of the "Golden Age" symbolized the final passing of a medieval age belonging to Ghent, Bruges, Liège, and Antwerp.

 

The writers of the "Golden Age."

Spieghel, the greatest of a generation straddling the old and the new, wrote for both the burgher and scholar. His Nieujaarliedekens ("New Year Songs") and Lieden op 't Vader Ons ("Songs on the Lord's Prayer") continued a medieval tradition in a Renaissance style echoing Erasmian moderation; his learned Twe-spraack vande Nederduitsche letterkunst (1584; "Dialogue on Dutch Literature") was intended to popularize the use of a national language. His most scholarly work, the unfinished Hertspieghel (1614; "Mirror of the Heart"), was particularly abstruse because it represented a first attempt at philosophizing in the vernacular and in poetry.

The dichotomy inherent in the Renaissance--between popular religious revival and Humanism--was particularly marked in Holland because of the incompatibility of Calvinistic principles with the ideals of pagan antiquity. This caused a tense ambivalence in many writers of the 17th century who took both their religion and their art seriously. Daniël Heinsius, a celebrated Humanist at the University of Leiden, wrote plays in Latin, but he also contributed to the vernacular by writing Hymnus oft lof-sanck van Bacchus (1614; "Hymn in Praise of Bacchus") and an equally devout Lof-sanck van Jesus Christus (1615).

A poet, playwright, and painter, Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero took his material from the life of the commoner; his medium was the folk song, farce, or comedy. His secular songs in medieval style and devotional songs in Renaissance verse told of a passionate devotion to women and yearning for religious moderation. While his three tragicomedies were not successful, his three farces marked the zenith of the medieval genre. Contemporary life in Amsterdam provided material for his two comedies, including his masterpiece, Spaanschen Brabander (performed 1617).

Amsterdam was the home of the poet and dramatist Joost van den Vondel. Like Bredero, he was self-educated, and he resolved the conflict between artistic and religious leanings only when he entered the Roman Catholic Church at age 54. This was a courageous act of faith at a time when Catholics formed an unpopular minority. It is a measure of van den Vondel's indomitable personality that his attitude toward contemporary people and events, of which he was a fearless chronicler, still prevails even when history has recorded a different view. His plays, however, are too austere for modern readers, although, in his Sophoclean Jeptha (1659) and his Baroque masterpieces Lucifer (1654) and Adam in ballingschap (1664; Adam in Exile), he was as great an artist of the Counter-Reformation as his contemporary the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens.

The aristocratic Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft was one of a fortunate few in Holland to bring the refinements of the new art directly from Italy. He lavished an Italianate flourish on his sonnets and plays, the studied prose of his letters, and a monumental unfinished history of the war against Spain. His castle at Muyden became a thriving centre for the entertainment of artists and scholars attracted not only by a mutual interest in poetry, music, and learning but also by the charm of such gifted young women as the Roemer Visscher daughters, Anna and Maria.

Anna Visscher in verse, like her father Roemer in prose, popularized ethics in a manner that was to bring Jacob Cats unmerited fame. Cats's prolix moralizing, pedestrian doggerel, and patronizing tone forced their way into his country's literature if only because of the disastrous influence they had on the taste of their middle-class readership.

A more harmonious individual, Constantijn Huygens, had all the qualities to which Dutchmen of his day might aspire. A man of strict Calvinist principles, he was an able diplomat who wrote trenchant, shrewd, and witty verse and made excellent translations of John Donne's poetry.

 

Religious poetry.

Three clerics contributed religious verse of considerable merit. The Roman Catholic Joannes Stalpaert van der Wiele wrote Den schat der geestelycke lofsangen (1634; "The Treasury of Devotional Praise"), containing songs of medieval simplicity and devotion. Jacobus Revius, an orthodox Calvinist, was a master of the Renaissance forms and the sonnet. Ironically, Dirk Rafaëlszoon Camphuysen, removed from his parish because of his unorthodoxy, satisfied a widespread demand for personal, devotional poetry in Stichtelycke rymen (1624; "Edifying Poems"). Equally popular was the introspective mystical poetry by the ascetic Jan Luyken, a layman who began by writing hedonistic songs in De Duytse lier (1671; "The Dutch Lyre"), containing fine love lyrics.

Copyright 1994-1999 Encyclopædia Britannica

Christiaan Huygens

also spelled CHRISTIAN HUYGHENS (b. April 14, 1629, The Hague--d. July 8, 1695, The Hague), Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist, who founded the wave theory of light, discovered the true shape of the rings of Saturn, and made original contributions to the science of dynamics--the study of the action of forces on bodies.

Huygens was from a wealthy and distinguished middle-class family. His father, Constantijn Huygens, a diplomat, Latinist, and poet, was the friend and correspondent of many outstanding intellectual figures of the day, including the scientist and philosopher René Descartes. From an early age, Huygens showed a marked mechanical bent and a talent for drawing and mathematics. Some of his early efforts in geometry impressed Descartes, who was an occasional visitor to the Huygens' household. In 1645 Huygens entered the University of Leiden, where he studied mathematics and law. Two years later he entered the College of Breda, in the midst of a furious controversy over the philosophy of Descartes. Although Huygens later rejected certain of the Cartesian tenets including the identification of extension and body, he always affirmed that mechanical explanations were essential in science, a fact that later was to have an important influence on his mathematical interpretation of both light and gravitation. (see also Index: Cartesianism, quantum mechanics, mechanism)

In 1655 Huygens for the first time visited Paris, where his distinguished parentage, wealth, and affable disposition gave him entry to the highest intellectual and social circles. During his next visit to Paris in 1660, he met Blaise Pascal, with whom he had already been in correspondence on mathematical problems. Huygens had already acquired a European reputation by his publications in mathematics, especially his De Circuli Magnitudine Inventa of 1654, and by his discovery in 1659 of the true shape of the rings of Saturn--made possible by the improvements he had introduced in the construction of the telescope with his new method of grinding and polishing lenses. Using his improved telescope, he discovered a satellite of Saturn in March 1655 and distinguished the stellar components of the Orion nebula in 1656. His interest, as an astronomer, in the accurate measurement of time then led him to his discovery of the pendulum as a regulator of clocks, as described in his Horologium (1658).

In 1666 Huygens became one of the founding members of the French Academy of Sciences, which granted him a pension larger than that of any other member and an apartment in its building. Apart from occasional visits to Holland, he lived from 1666 to 1681 in Paris, where he made the acquaintance of the German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, with whom he remained on friendly terms for the rest of his life. The major event of Huygens' years in Paris was the publication in 1673 of his Horologium Oscillatorium. That brilliant work contained a theory on the mathematics of curvatures, as well as complete solutions to such problems of dynamics as the derivation of the formula for the time of oscillation of the simple pendulum, the oscillation of a body about a stationary axis, and the laws of centrifugal force for uniform circular motion. Some of the results were given without proof in an appendix, and Huygens' complete proofs were not published until after his death. (see also Index: light, wave motion)

The treatment of rotating bodies was partly based on an ingenious application of the principle that in any system of bodies the centre of gravity could never rise of its own accord above its initial position. Earlier Huygens had applied the same principle to the treatment of the problem of collisions, for which he had obtained a definitive solution in the case of perfectly elastic bodies as early as 1656, although his results remained unpublished until 1669.

The somewhat eulogistic dedication of the Horologium Oscillatorium to Louis XIV brought to a head murmurs against Huygens at a time when France was at war with Holland, but in spite of this he continued to reside in Paris. Huygens' health was never good, and he suffered from recurrent illnesses, including one in 1670 which was so serious that for a time he despaired of his own life.

A serious illness in 1681 prompted him to return to Holland, where he intended to stay only temporarily. But the death in 1683 of his patron, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who had been Louis XIV's chief adviser, and Louis's increasingly reactionary policy, which culminated in the revocation (1685) of the Edict of Nantes, which had granted certain liberties to Protestants, militated against his ever returning to Paris.

Huygens visited London in 1689 and met Sir Isaac Newton and lectured on his own theory of gravitation before the Royal Society. Although he did not engage in public controversy with Newton directly, it is evident from Huygens' correspondence, especially that with Leibniz, that in spite of his generous admiration for the mathematical ingenuity of the Principia, he regarded a theory of gravity that was devoid of any mechanical explanation as fundamentally unacceptable. His own theory, published in 1690 in his Discours de la cause de la pesanteur ("Discourse on the Cause of Gravity"), though dating at least to 1669, included a mechanical explanation of gravity based on Cartesian vortices. Huygens' Traité de la Lumière (Treatise on Light), already largely completed by 1678, was also published in 1690. In it he again showed his need for ultimate mechanical explanations in his discussion of the nature of light. But his beautiful explanations of reflection and refraction--far superior to those of Newton--were entirely independent of mechanical explanations, being based solely on the so-called Huygens' principle of secondary wave fronts.

As a mathematician Huygens had great talent rather than genius of the first order. He sometimes found difficulty in following the innovations of Leibniz and others, but he was admired by Newton because of his love for the old synthetic methods. For almost the whole of the 18th century his work in both dynamics and light was overshadowed by that of Newton. In gravitation his theory was never taken seriously and remains today of historical interest only. But his work on rotating bodies and his contributions to the theory of light were of lasting importance. Forgotten until the early 19th century, these latter appear today as one of the most brilliant and original contributions to modern science and will always be remembered by the principle bearing his name.

The last five years of Huygens' life were marked by continued ill health and increasing feelings of loneliness and melancholy. He made the final corrections to his will in March 1695 and died after much suffering later that same year. (J.He.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Christiaan Huygens, Traité de la lumière: avec, un discours de la pesanteur (1690; Treatise on Light, 1912), in which are explained the causes of that which occurs in reflexion and in refraction and particularly in the strange refraction of Iceland crystals; Oeuvres complètes (1888-1950), vol. 1-10 contains correspondence, vol. 22 biography and portraits; A.E. Bell, Christiaan Huygens and the Development of Science in the Seventeenth Century (1947); H.L. Brugmans, Le Séjour de Christian Huygens à Paris et ses relations avec les milieux scientifiques français (1935).

Related Internet Links:

Huygens, Christiaan

Copyright 1994-1999 Encyclopædia Britannica

 

Catalog of the Scientific Community
Huygens, Christiaan

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Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on genealogical questions.

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1. Dates

Born: The Hague, 14 April 1629

Died: The Hague, 8 July 1695

Dateinfo: Dates Certain

Lifespan: 66

2. Father

Occupation: Government Official

the very highest government official in the United Provinces.

Manifestly wealthy.

3. Nationality

Birth: The Hague, Netherlands

Career: France, Netherlands

Death: The Hague, Netherlands

4. Education

Schooling: Leiden

1637-1643, educated privately at home by father and private tutors. 1644, tuition in mathematics by Stampioen.

1645-1647, studied law and mathematics (privately with Frans Van Shooten), University of Leiden. According to Bell, he finshed the law course (does this imply a B.A.? Until I find otherwise, I think not.)

1647-1649, studied law at Collegium Auriacum, Breda.

1655, bought a doctorate in law in Angers.

5. Religion

Affiliation: Calvinist : Calvinist (assumed).

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Physics, Mathematics, Optics

Subordinate: Astronomy

7. Means of Support

Primary: Personal Means, Government

1649, member of a diplomatic mission to Denmark.

1650-1666, having trained for diplomatic service, and then facing the fact of no stadholder after 1650, Huygens lived at home with an allowance from his father.

1666-1681, a paid member (from 1667, 6000 livres salary) of the Académie, living at the Bibliotheque Royale. (According to the scheme I have established, correctly I think, I call this a governmental position.)

1681-1695, after Huygens initially returned home because of illness, political pressures suggested he should stay, and he did for the rest of his life, living off income from family property.

8. Patronage

Types: Court Official, Government Official

His family had a long tradition of service to the Orange stadholders. 1650-1672, there were no stadholders. When William III was reinstated in 1672, his father and brother got prominent positions, which caused some uncertainty for Huygens in France.

1664, received his first gratuity (1200 livres) from Louis XIV. In 1665, he recieved a French patent for the longitude clock and another gratuity (1500 livres) from Louis XIV.

Though he was initially approached to join the Académie by Thevenot, Colbert emerged as his real protector and sponsor at the Académie. After war broke out in 1672, Huygens stayed at the Académie under his protection, and when he died while Huygens was in Holland in 1683, Huygens did not feel it safe to return to France.

9. Technological Involvement

Types: Instruments, Navigation

1654-, ground lenses and built telescopes and microscopes.

1655, gave advice to the Dutch States General on measuring longitude at sea.

1655, invented pendulum clock, built several for the purpose of longitude determination, and sent them on sea trials (1662 & 1686). 1664 (Dutch) and 1665 (French), patents for longitude clock.

He developed a diaphragm placed inside a telescope near the focus and used it with a pendulum that counted time to measure celestial angles. He also inserted a wedge shaped piece at the focus to cover a planet, in effect a micrometer.

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: Royal Society, Académie Royal des Sciences

1663, member of Royal Society. 1666, paid member of Académie.

Corresponded with Mersenne, Gregory of St. Vincent, Wallis, Van Shooten, Sluse, Leibnitz, Roemer, Pascal, Fermat, Boulliau, and Oldenburg.

Sources

H.J.M. Bos, et al., eds., Studies on Christiann Huygens (Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger B.V., 1980). [Q143.H96 S95 1979] A.E. Bell, Chritiaan Huygens and the Development of Dutch Science in the Seventeenth Century (London, 1947). [Q143.H96 B4]

Robert McKeon, "Le debuts de l'astronomie de precision," Physis, 13 (1971), 225-88; 14 (1972), 221-42; especially 13, 236-41.

Copyright ©1995 Albert Van Helden