This work made him the leading figure among the European mathematicians of the mid-seventeenth century. These were all problems that later were to be solved by general differential and integral calculus methods, but before the invention of the infinitesimal calculus, they had to be tackled individually. Huygens' work in those days mainly concerned the problems of rectification, quadrature and cubature, determination of the center of gravity, determination of tangents of curves, and extrema. Huygens' 1654 work De Circuli Magnitudine Inventa was a major work on similar topics. The 1651 publication Theoremata de Quadratura Hyperboles, Ellipsis et Circuli showed that Gregorius a Sancto-Vincentio, who had claimed to have squared the circle, was mistaken.

In the first part of his career Huygens was mostly engaged in mathematics his first publications (16) considered mathematical problems. (Doctor of Law) degree, as was not unusual in those days, but he never used the title. In 1655 Huygens went to Angers, France, to buy an LL.D. Through his father's contact with Marin Mersenne, a correspondence between Huygens and Mersenne began around this time, and although this correspondence did not last long-Mersenne died in 1648- it was of great importance to the young Huygens. From 1647 until 1649 he continued to study law and mathematics but now at the Collegium Arausiacum (College of Orange) at Breda. Frans van Schooten, one of the prominent mathematicians of his time, tutored him in mathematics while he was in Leiden. His mathematical education was clearly influenced by Descartes.Ĭhristiaan Huygens studied law and mathematics at the University of Leiden from 1645 until 1647. Tutored at home by his father and private teachers until he was 16 years old, Christiaan learned arithmetic, Euclidean geometry, classical and modern languages, and music. In particular, Constantijn had many contacts in England and was a personal friend of René Descartes, who resided in the Netherlands from 1629 until 1648. When Christiaan grew up his father gained him access to the top scientific circles of the times. His father, Constantijn, was a Secretary and Counsellor to two Princes of Orange, Frederik Hendrik and Willem II, and his mother, Suzanna Van Baerle, came from one of the richest burgher families in Amsterdam. Christiaan was born in The Hague to a patrician family.

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