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1629–1695 Netherlands
Christiaan Huygens (14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) was a Dutch mathematician, astronomer, physicist, probabilist and horologist. His 1673 scientific masterpiece was Horologium Oscillatorium, a treatise on the mathematical theory and applications of the isochronous pendulum clock, which led to improved accuracy in the measurement of time.
Netherlands Astronomers Mathematicians Physicists Also known as: Christian Huygens, Huygens, Christian
Random Christiaan Huygens quote
17 quotes
There are many degrees of Probable, some nearer Truth than others, in the determining of which lies the chief exercise of our Judgment.
Cosmotheoros (1695)
I do not mind at all that [Newton] is not a Cartesian provided he does not offer us suppositions like that of attraction.
I believe that we do not know anything for certain, but everything probably.
Here we may mount from this dull Earth, and viewing it from on high, consider whether Nature has laid out all her Cost and Finery upon this small Speck of Dirt.
Cosmotheoros (1695)
...the power of this line [the cycloid] to measure time.
Horologium Oscillatorium (1673)
I had not thought of this regular decrease of gravity, namely that it is as the inverse square of the distance; this is a new and highly remarkable property of gravity.
It's evident God had no design to make a particular Enumeration in the Holy Scriptures, of all the Works of his Creation.
Cosmotheoros (1695)
I esteem his [Newton's] understanding and subtlety highly, but I consider that they have been put to ill use in the greater part of this work, where the author studies things of little use or when he builds on the improbable principle of attraction.
I can't say they are exactly of the same nature with our Water; but that they should be liquid their use requires, as their beauty does that they be clear. For this Water of ours, in Jupiter or Saturn, would be frozen up instantly by reason of the vast distance of the Sun.
We shall be less apt to admire what this World calls Great, shall nobly despise those Trifles the generality of Men set their Affections on, when we know that there are a multitude of such Earths inhabited and adorned as Well as our own.
Cosmotheoros (1695)
These Gentlemen must be told, that they take too much upon themselves when they pretend to appoint how far and no farther Men shall go in their Searches, and to set bounds to other Mens Industry; as if they knew the Marks that God has placed to Knowledge...
Cosmotheoros (1695)
Now since in so many Things they... agree, what can be more probable than that in others they agree too; and that the other Planets are as beautiful and as well stock'd with Inhabitants as the Earth? Or what shadow of Reason can there be why they should not?
Cosmotheoros (1695)
If the Moon is not inhabited, as observations suggest based on the absence of water and an atmosphere, this says little about life on other worlds, save for those of similar rank, i.e., other moons. Which means that other planets, especially those superior and majestic worlds, such as Saturn and Jupiter, should be equal in all ways to the Earth, intelligent inhabitants included.
What a wonderful and amazing Scheme have we here of the magnificent Vastness of the Universe! So many Suns, so many Earths, and every one of them stock’d with so many Herbs, Trees and Animals, and adorn’d with so many Seas and Mountains! And how must our wonder and admiration be encreased when we consider the prodigious distance and multitude of the Stars?
Cosmotheoros (1695)
To the ancient eye, without the use of spyglass, only seven of these ‘wanderers’ or ‘planets’ as they were known, could be seen among the thousands of lights that bejewelled the firmament. The 'Wanderers' were different. True, like the fixed stars, the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn all seemed to revolve once a day around the Earth. But the Plants also had a peculiar motion.
A Man that is of Copernicus’s Opinion, that this Earth of ours is a Planet, carry’d round and enlighten’d by the Sun, like the rest of the Planets, cannot but sometimes think, that it’s not improbable that the rest of the Planets have their Dress and Furniture, and perhaps their Inhabitants too as well as this Earth of ours...
Cosmotheoros (1695)
The world is my country, to promote science is my religion.
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