The Book Club | 7 October 2020 | 0h 33m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Hugh Aldersey-Williams about his book Dutch Light: Christaan Huygens and the Making of Science in Europe. Discusses the life and work of Christiaan Huygens. Argues that this half-forgotten figure was the most important scientist between Galileo and Newton. Describes his advances in optics, geometry, probability, mathematics, astronomy – as well as the invention of the pendulum clock and the discovery of the rings of Saturn – against the backdrop of a turbulent post-Reformation Europe and the beginnings of an international scientific community.