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Horologium Oscillatorium

Horologium Oscillatorium: Sive de Motu Pendulorum ad Horologia Aptato Demonstrationes Geometricae (English: The Pendulum Clock: or Geometrical Demonstrations Concerning the Motion of Pendula as Applied to Clocks) is a book published by Dutch mathematician and physicist Christiaan Huygens in 1673 and his major work on pendula and horology.[1][2] It is regarded as one of the three most important works on mechanics in the 17th century, the other two being Galileo’s Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences (1638) and Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687).[3]

Author

Christiaan Huygens

Latin

Physics, Horology

1673

Much more than a mere description of clocks, Huygens's Horologium Oscillatorium is the first modern treatise in which a physical problem (the accelerated motion of a falling body) is idealized by a set of parameters then analyzed mathematically and constitutes one of the seminal works of applied mathematics.[4][5][6] The book is also known for its strangely worded dedication to Louis XIV.[7] The appearance of the book in 1673 was a political issue, since at that time the Dutch Republic was at war with France; Huygens was anxious to show his allegiance to his patron, which can be seen in the obsequious dedication to Louis XIV.[8]

Legacy[edit]

Huygens’s most lasting contribution in the Horologium Oscillatorium is his thorough application of mathematics to explain pendulum clocks, which were the first reliable timekeepers fit for scientific use.[4] Throughout this work Huygens showed not only his mastery of geometry and physics but also of mechanical engineering.[28]


His analysis of the cycloid in Parts II and III would later lead to the studies of many other such curves, including the caustic, the brachistochrone, the sail curve, and the catenary.[9] Additionally, Huygens's exacting mathematical dissection of physical problems into a minimum of parameters provided an example for others (such as the Bernoullis) on work in applied mathematics that would be carry on in the following centuries, albeit in the language of the calculus.[8]

First publication. Horologium Oscillatorium, Sive De Motu Pendulorum Ad Horologia Aptato Demonstrationes Geometricae. Latin. Paris: F. Muguet, 1673. [14] + 161 + [1] pages..

[1]

Later edition by W.J. ’s Gravesande. In Christiani Hugenii Zulichemii Opera varia, 4 vols. Latin. Leiden: J. vander Aa, 1724, 15–192. [Repr. as Christiani Hugenii Zulichemii opera mechanica, geometrica, astronomica et miscellenea, 4 vols., Leiden: G. Potvliet et alia, 1751].

Standard edition. In Oeuvres Complètes, vol. 18. French and Latin. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1934, 68–368.

German translation. Die Pendeluhr (trans. A. Heckscher and A. von Oettingen), Leipzig: Engelmann, 1913 (, no. 192).

Ostwalds Klassiker der exakten Wissenschaften

Italian translation. L’orologio a pendolo (trans. C. Pighetti), Florence: Barbèra, 1963. [Also includes an Italian translation of ].

Traité de la Lumière

French translation. L’Horloge oscillante (trans. J. Peyroux), Bordeaux: Bergeret, 1980. [Photorepr. Paris: Blanchard, 1980].

English translation. Christiaan Huygens’ The Pendulum Clock, or Geometrical Demonstrations Concerning the Motion Of Pendula As Applied To Clocks (trans. R.J. Blackwell), Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1986.

Dutch translation. Christiaan Huygens: Het Slingeruurwerk, een studie (transl. J. Aarts), Utrecht: Epsilon Uitgaven, 2015.

Huygens’s own manuscript of the book is missing, but he bequeathed his notebooks and correspondence to the Library of the University of Leiden, now in the Codices Hugeniorum. Much of the background material is in Oeuvres Complètes, vols. 17-18.[8]


Since its publication in France in 1673, Huygens’s work has been available in Latin and in the following modern languages: