Huygens

or Huy·ghens

[ hahy-guhnz, hoi-; Dutch hoi-gens ]

noun

Chris·tian [kris-chuhn; Dutch kris-tee-ahn], /ˈkrɪs tʃən; Dutch ˈkrɪs tiˌɑn/, 1629–95, Dutch mathematician, physicist, and astronomer.

Words Nearby Huygens

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Huygens in a sentence

For that matter, Huygens believed much hotter Mercury to be populated as well, and that the Mercurians would no doubt consider Earth much too cold and dark to support life.
Hope for life on Venus survives for centuries against all odds | Tom Siegfried | September 25, 2020 | Science News
That mission included the Huygens lander, which delivered observations from the atmosphere and surface of Titan before going offline just 90 minutes after touchdown.
The 5 best places to explore in the solar system—besides Mars | Neel Patel | August 17, 2020 | MIT Technology Review
The attention of the world thus once awakened, Huygens and Cassini applied themselves to ascertain the figure of the earth.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXLII. Vol. LV. April, 1844 | Various
His father, Christiaan Huygens, was secretary to the state council, and a man of great political importance.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 1 | Various
It is a disgrace to Dutch scholarship that no complete collection of the writings of Huygens exists.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 1 | Various

Huygens is the grand seigneur of the republic, the type of aristocratic oligarchy, the jewel and ornament of Dutch liberty.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 1 | Various
Constantijn Huygens is the most brilliant figure in Dutch literary history.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 1 | Various

British Dictionary definitions for Huygens

Huygens

/ (ˈhaɪɡənz, Dutch ˈhœixəns) /

noun

Christiaan (ˈkristiːˌaːn). 1629–95, Dutch physicist: first formulated the wave theory of light

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for Huygens

Huygens

[ hī′gənz, hoi′gĕns ]

Dutch physicist and astronomer who in 1655 discovered Saturn's rings and its fourth satellite, using a telescope he constructed with his brother. In 1657 he built the first pendulum clock. Huygens also proposed that light consists of transverse waves that vibrate up and down perpendicular to the direction in which the light travels. This theory, which explained some properties of light better than Newton's theory, was made public in 1690.

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