Portrait of Christian Huygens
SPL/Photo Researchers
Christian Huygens
Christian Huygens was a Dutch physicist and astronomer who lived between 1629-1695. He found new methods for grinding and polishing lenses, making telescopes more powerful. Using a telescope he had made, Huygens first identified Saturn's rings and Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
In 1656, Huygens invented the first pendulum clock and greatly increased the accuracy of timekeeping devices, which had previously used springs. He also studied momentum and centrifugal force, and proposed the original wave theory of light.
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