Christiaan Huygens

Christiaan Huygens, Lord of Zeelhem, was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor who is regarded as a key figure in the Scientific Revolution. In physics, Huygens made seminal contributions to optics and mechanics, while as an astronomer he studied the rings of Saturn and discovered its largest moon, Titan. As an engineer and inventor, he improved the design of telescopes and invented the pendulum clock, the most accurate timekeeper for almost 300 years. A talented mathematician and physicist, his works contain the first idealization of a physical problem by a set of mathematical parameters, and the first mathematical and mechanistic explanation of an unobservable physical phenomenon.

14 April 1629

Born on the same birth day (14 April): Adam Gib • Anne Sullivan • Arnold Burns • Arnold J. Toynbee • Atef Ebeid • Brian Adams (wrestler) • Carlos Pérez (pitcher) • Dany Robin • Greg Maddux • Henry Corbin • Joseph de Villèle • Mireille Guiliano • Richard Thompson (physician) • Robert Doisneau • V. Gordon Childe

Born in the same month (April 1629): Jean-Henri d'Anglebert