Dutch mathematician, physicist and astronomer (1629–1695)
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. He is also noted for his opposition to the Newtonian corpuscular theory of light, providing a longitudinal wave theory which hypothesized propagation by spherical waves emitted along a wave front.
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One finds in this subject a kind of demonstration which does not carry with it so high a degree of certainty as that employed in geometry; and which differs distinctly from the method employed by geometers in that they prove their propositions by well-established and incontrovertible principles, while here principles are tested by inferences which are derivable from them. The nature of the subject permits of no other treatment. It is possible, however, in this way to establish a probability which is little short of certainty. This is the case when the consequences of the assumed principles are in perfect accord with the observed phenomena, and especially when these verifications are numerous; but above all when one employs the hypothesis to predict new phenomena and finds his expectations realized.