7)
CHRISTIAAN HUYGENS (1629 – 1695)
Christiaan Huygens
(1629 – 1695) Dutch
physicist, astronomer,
mathematician and the
founder of the wave
theory of light His book,
Treatise on light, makes
fascinating reading even
today He brilliantly
explained the double
refraction shown by the
mineral calcite in this
work in addition to
reflection and refraction He was the first to
analyse circular and
simple harmonic motion
and designed and built
improved clocks and
telescopes