Person: HUYGENS, Christiaan (1629-1695)

Person summary

Biographical summary of this person

From a painting by Caspar Netscher (1639-84)

Name

Christiaan HUYGENS

Gender

male

Relevance of this person

scientist and scholar; first person to describe a magic lantern and slide

Main period of activity

1650s-90s

Relationships to other people

son of HUYGENS, Constantijn (1596-1687)

brother of HUYGENS, Lodewijk (1631-1699)

Chronology

Date

Age

Event/activity

14 April 1629

born at

Den Haag, Netherlands

8 July 1695

died at

Den Haag, Netherlands

Slides showing image of this person

Slide set reference

image appears in: [Astronomy Sonnenborgh - box 06] (lecture: manufacturer unknown, 37 slides, in/after 1910)

References

David Robinson, Stephen Herbert and Richard Crangle (editors), Encyclopaedia of the magic lantern (London: Magic Lantern Society, 2001), p. 142

Willem Tebra, ‘[Book review: Magie lumineuse]’ in NMLJ 2.2 (January 1982), p. 12

Tony Dugdale, ‘Editorial’ in NMLJ 2.1 (January 1981), p. 1

Willem Tebra, ‘The magic lantern of Giovanni da Fontana’ in NMLJ 2.2 (January 1982), p. 11

Willem Wagenaar, ‘The origins of the lantern: the true inventor of the magic lantern -- Kircher, Walgenstein or Huygens?’ in NMLJ 1.3 (March 1980), pp. 10-12

Notes

Huygens is generally accepted as the author of the first known reference to lantern-based projection, in notes made in 1659. Whether this qualifies him as the 'inventor' of the lantern remains open to debate, and his own acknowledgement of the instrument appears to have been somewhat ambiguous.

Lucerna ID 6002385

Record created by Richard Crangle. Last updated 23 April 2014

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Person: HUYGENS, Christiaan (1629-1695)