Huygens at work: Annotations in his rediscovered personal copy of Hooke's Micrographia

References

• Hooke's . 1665 . Micrographia London was first published, in
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• See, for example Sabra A.I. Theories of Light from Descartes to Newton Cambridge 1981 first published 1967), 185–97. Pardies is named as the second forerunner; see § 4 of this paper.
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• 1888–1950 . “ Projet du Contenu de la Dioptrique [hereafter Projet] ” . In Œeuvres compl`etes de Christiaan Huygens Vol. 22 , The Hague XII, facs II, 742, editor's note I. A detailed interpretation of this paper is in Sabra (note 2), 198–230.
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• The book was sent to Huygens by Moray R. Œuvres compl`etes de Christiaan Huygens v 1362 1362 letters 1348
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• Huygens , C. 1690 . Traité de la Lumi`ere … Leiden [hereafter Traité].
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• van Maanen , J.A. 1980 . Chronology . Studies on Christiaan Huygens: Invited Papers from the Symposium on … Christiaan Huygens, Amsterdam, 22–25 August 1979 . 1980 , Lisse. Edited by: Bos , H.J.M. , Rudwick , M.J.S. , Snedlder , H.A.M. and Visser , R.P.W.
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• Huygens refers to the colours of thin plates, a similar topic, in his letter to Moray of 10 April 1665 Œuvres compl`etes de Christiaan Huygens The Hague 1888–1950 22 V, letter 1385—after having read Micrographia.
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• See Projet du Contenu de la Dioptrique [hereafter Projet] Œeuvres compl`etes de Christiaan Huygens The Hague 1888–1950 22
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• For details, see Sabra Theories of Light from Descartes to Newton Cambridge 1981 187 197 251–64.
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• Micrographia , 54 – 54 . In (54) Huygens describes another experiment, made by himself, that confirms Hooke's claim.
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• Micrographia , 64 – 64 .
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• Strangely enough, later on in Micrographia 219 219 the term ‘density’ is used in reverse by Hooke without any reference to this change.
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• Shapiro , Alan E. 1980 . Huygens's kinematic theory of light . Studies on Christiaan Huygens: Invited Papers from the Symposium on … Christiaan Huygens, Amsterdam, 22–25 August 1979 . 1980 , Lisse. Edited by: Bos , H.J.M. , Rudwick , M.J.S. , Snedlder , H.A.M. and Visser , R.P.W. pp. 200 – 220 . This problem remained common for all wave-theories until Kirchhoff's theory of diffraction in 1887.
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• Huygens partly succeeded in explaining double refraction in 1677–letter to Colbert, 14 October 1977, quoted in Sabra Theories of Light from Descartes to Newton Cambridge 1981 222 222 reaching a complete theory around 1679 (letter to Leibnitz 22 November 1979, ibid.).
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• Sabra . 1981 . Theories of Light from Descartes to Newton 268 – 272 . Cambridge
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• Descartes R. Meteors Œuvres de Descartes Adam C. Tannery P. Paris1897–1913 12 325 325 VI For details, see Sabra (note 2), 60–8.
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• Huygens to Oldenburg, 24 June 1973, quoted in Sabra Theories of Light from Descartes to Newton Cambridge 1981 195 195
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• Ango , Pierre . 1682 . L'Optique divesée en trois livres Paris [hereafter L'Optique]. For details, see Sabra (note 2), 196.
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• An uninterpreted transcription of this marginalia is in Hess Heinz-Jürgen Bücher aus dem Besitz von Christiaan Huygens Studia Leibnitiana 1980 26 28
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• Hess . 1682 . L'Optique divesée en trois livres Paris reads ‘matiere’ instead of ‘mienne’, marked as doubtful. Though the note is very hard to decipher, ‘mienne’ seems to be more consistent in content as well as in the style of handwriting. I am very grateful to Dr O'Hara for this hint.
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• Sabra . 1981 . Theories of Light from Descartes to Newton 269 – 269 . Cambridge 293.
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• On this prejudice, see Westman R.S. Huygens and the Problem of Cartesianism Studies on Christiaan Huygens: Invited Papers from the Symposium on … Christiaan Huygens, Amsterdam, 22–25 August 1979 Bos H.J.M. Rudwick M.J.S. Snedlder H.A.M. Visser R.P.W. Lisse Bos H.J.M. Rudwick M.J.S. Snedlder H.A.M. Visser R.P.W. Lisse 1980 Bos H.J.M. Rudwick M.J.S. Snedlder H.A.M. Visser R.P.W. 83 103 and A. R. Hall, ‘Summary of the Symposium’, ibid., 302–13, passim.
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• An interesting exception shows Micrographia 154 154 where Huygens adds beside a religious speculation the word ‘visions’, coupled with an seemingly angrily drawn line. This fits in nicely with his known ‘liberal attitude towards religion’, as H. Bos puts it, in Studies (note 6), 16, indicating, furthermore, that Huygens read more parts of Micrographia, but found them not interesting enough to comment on.
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