Huygens’ Wavelets

See how light behaves when it meets a surface at an angle in this annotated animation. The laws of reflection and refraction according to the Huygens’ Principle.

With thanks to The Physics Blog.

• Visit this page by Walter Fendt for an applet which allows you to control the variables as well as explaining each step of the animation.
• And for the mathematically inclined, go here to see how Huygens’ Principle has been expanded upon.

Golden Age Mathematics

Robyn at Docudharma examines the Dutch branch of her mathematical roots in the post, Cafe Discovery: Dutch History.

Van Schooten, professor of mathematics at Leiden University.
Christiaan Huygens was one of his students.

Leeuwenhoek’s Birthday!

Should this be Van Leeuwenhoek Day?

The Netherlands Christiaan Huygens Science Award

From Gemini Observatory:

Astronomer Dr. Mariska Kriek has been selected for The Netherlands Christiaan Huygens Science Award for 2008 in the discipline of Space Science. The jury awarded the prize for her dissertation ‘The Many Phases of Massive Galaxies, a Near-Infrared spectroscopic study of Galaxies in the Early Universe,’ which she defended on September 26, 2007 at Leiden University. Kriek will receive the award on October 16, 2008. It will be presented by R.H.A. Plasterk the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science.

Read the whole article here.

Her Open Access paper, The many phases of massive galaxies: a near-infrared spectroscopic study of galaxies in the early universe, is published by Leiden Observatory, Faculty of Science, Leiden University, and can be found here.

Leuuwenhoek a Freemason?

The Masonic Regalia Lodge ponders Leeuwenhoek and Vermeer on the speculation that Leeuwnhoek was the model for the Vermeer paintings, The Geographer and The Astronomer. See the article Masonic Symbols Cast Light on Art Mystery.

(De Geograaf, by Johannes Vermeer, 1669. Go to Essential Vermeer for an interactive analysis of the painting.)