Christiaan Huygens 1690
The Wave Surfers 1
Huygens grew up in an open-minded parental home where he was introduced to some of the leading artists and philosophers of his time, such as Rembrandt, Rubens and Descartes. His acquaintance with Antony van Leeuwenhoek, leading manufacturer of microscopes, aroused his interest for optics. He started to polish lenses himself and became an expert. However, his interest was rather directed to building telescopes. Huygens concluded f his optical experiments that light spreads in waves, which enabled him to improve his telescopes. Thus, he discovered among others Titan, the moon of Saturn. Furthermore, he built the first pendulum clocks whose precision was unmet for over a century.