Determining the centre of oscillation
Date
3 December 1664
Creator
Henry Oldenburg (1612 - 1677, German) , Scientific correspondent
After
Christiaan Huygens (1629 - 2006, Dutch) , Natural philosopher
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p3
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 195mm
width (page): 151mm
width (page): 151mm
Subject
Description
A diagram illustrating Christian Huygens's way of determining the centre of the oscillation of a body suspended by a cord of any length. This constituted part of Huygens's design for a 'universal measure' using a pendulum, which was read to the meeting of the Royal Society on 23 November 1664. The Society's secretary, Henry Oldenburg, included an extract in his letter to Robert Boyle dated 3 December 1664, asking Boyle to send it on to John Wallis.
Huygens's original diagram can be found at EL/H1/40/005. The image in Oldenburg's transcription in French can be found at EL/H1/41/003. There are other copies in LBO/1/227 and LBC/1/264.
Huygens's original diagram can be found at EL/H1/40/005. The image in Oldenburg's transcription in French can be found at EL/H1/41/003. There are other copies in LBO/1/227 and LBC/1/264.
Object history
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 23 November 1664, ‘The president gave the Society an account of a new way for making a universal measure, proposed in a letter to Sir Robert Moray by Mons. Huygens, as being his own invention; which is as follows: The distance of the center of the bullet from the point of suspension, as the first term (the semediameter of the bullet being the second term) added to two fifths of the third proportional term, equals the distance of the center of vibration from the point of suspension: To apply which to an universal measure, take a bullet of any metal, and hang it by a very fine string, which make of that length, that it may vibrate just seconds or half-seconds; and when you have the exact measure of time, according to this rule, you have the certain length of the center of vibration, which is the universal measure. The length Mons. Huygens finds to be 9½ Rhynland inches, the vibrations being half-seconds. It was ordered, that against the next meeting there be prepared two pendulums vibrating half-seconds, with balls having diameters one considerably bigger than the other; and that they be adjusted before, to see whether the proportion held’ (Birch 1:495).
7 December 1664, ‘The experiment of the verifying of Monsieur Huygens’s rule concerning the universal measure was made twice’ (Birch 1:500).
7 December 1664, ‘The experiment of the verifying of Monsieur Huygens’s rule concerning the universal measure was made twice’ (Birch 1:500).
Related fellows
Henry Oldenburg (1612 - 1677, German) , Scientific correspondent
Robert Boyle (1627 - 1691, British) , Natural philosopher
Christiaan Huygens (1629 - 2006, Dutch) , Natural philosopher
Robert Boyle (1627 - 1691, British) , Natural philosopher
Christiaan Huygens (1629 - 2006, Dutch) , Natural philosopher
Associated place