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The Celestial Worlds Discovered: Or Conjectures Concerning the Inhabitants, Plants and Productions of the Worlds in the Planets
First published in 1698
162 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1698
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About the author
Christiaan Huygens
187 books58 followersChristiaan Huygens, FRS (/ˈhaɪɡənz/ or /ˈhɔɪɡənz/; Dutch: [ˈɦœy̆ɣə(n)s] (Latin: Hugenius) (14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) was a prominent Dutch mathematician and scientist. He is known particularly as an astronomer, physicist, probabilist and horologist.
Huygens was a leading scientist of his time. His work included early telescopic studies of the rings of Saturn and the discovery of its moon Titan, the invention of the pendulum clock and other investigations in timekeeping. He published major studies of mechanics and optics, and a pioneer work on games of chance.
Christiaan Huygens was born on 14 April 1629 in The Hague, into a rich and influential Dutch family, the second son of Constantijn Huygens. Christiaan was named after his paternal grandfather. His mother was Suzanna van Baerle. She died in 1637, shortly after the birth of Huygens' sister. The couple had five children: Constantijn (1628), Christiaan (1629), Lodewijk (1631), Philips (1632) and Suzanna (1637).
Constantijn Huygens was a diplomat and advisor to the House of Orange, and also a poet and musician. His friends included Galileo Galilei, Marin Mersenne and René Descartes. Huygens was educated at home until turning sixteen years old. He liked to play with miniatures of mills and other machines. His father gave him a liberal education: he studied languages and music, history and geography, mathematics, logic and rhetoric, but also dancing, fencing and horse riding.
In 1644 Huygens had as his mathematical tutor Jan Jansz de Jonge Stampioen, who set the 15-year-old a demanding reading list on contemporary science. Descartes was impressed by his skills in geometry.
Shortly before his death in 1695, Huygens completed Cosmotheoros, published posthumously in 1698. In it he speculated on the existence of extraterrestrial life, on other planets, which he imagined was similar to that on Earth.
Such speculations were not uncommon at the time, justified by Copernicanism or the plenitude principle. But Huygens went into greater detail. The work, translated into English in its year of publication, has been seen as in the fanciful tradition of Francis Godwin, John Wilkins and Cyrano de Bergerac, and fundamentally Utopian; and also to owe in its concept of planet to cosmography in the sense of Peter Heylin.
Huygens wrote that availability of water in liquid form was essential for life and that the properties of water must vary from planet to planet to suit the temperature range. He took his observations of dark and bright spots on the surfaces of Mars and Jupiter to be evidence of water and ice on those planets. He argued that extraterrestrial life is neither confirmed nor denied by the Bible, and questioned why God would create the other planets if they were not to serve a greater purpose than that of being admired from Earth. Huygens postulated that the great distance between the planets signified that God had not intended for beings on one to know about the beings on the others, and had not foreseen how much humans would advance in scientific knowledge.
It was also in this book that Huygens published his method for estimating stellar distances. He made a series of smaller holes in a screen facing the sun, until he estimated the light was of the same intensity as that of the star Sirius. He then calculated that the angle of this hole was 1/27,664th the diameter of the Sun, and thus it was about 30,000 times as far away, on the (incorrect) assumption that Sirius is as bright our sun. The subject of photometry remained in its infancy until Pierre Bouguer and Johann Heinrich Lambert.
Huygens was a leading scientist of his time. His work included early telescopic studies of the rings of Saturn and the discovery of its moon Titan, the invention of the pendulum clock and other investigations in timekeeping. He published major studies of mechanics and optics, and a pioneer work on games of chance.
Christiaan Huygens was born on 14 April 1629 in The Hague, into a rich and influential Dutch family, the second son of Constantijn Huygens. Christiaan was named after his paternal grandfather. His mother was Suzanna van Baerle. She died in 1637, shortly after the birth of Huygens' sister. The couple had five children: Constantijn (1628), Christiaan (1629), Lodewijk (1631), Philips (1632) and Suzanna (1637).
Constantijn Huygens was a diplomat and advisor to the House of Orange, and also a poet and musician. His friends included Galileo Galilei, Marin Mersenne and René Descartes. Huygens was educated at home until turning sixteen years old. He liked to play with miniatures of mills and other machines. His father gave him a liberal education: he studied languages and music, history and geography, mathematics, logic and rhetoric, but also dancing, fencing and horse riding.
In 1644 Huygens had as his mathematical tutor Jan Jansz de Jonge Stampioen, who set the 15-year-old a demanding reading list on contemporary science. Descartes was impressed by his skills in geometry.
Shortly before his death in 1695, Huygens completed Cosmotheoros, published posthumously in 1698. In it he speculated on the existence of extraterrestrial life, on other planets, which he imagined was similar to that on Earth.
Such speculations were not uncommon at the time, justified by Copernicanism or the plenitude principle. But Huygens went into greater detail. The work, translated into English in its year of publication, has been seen as in the fanciful tradition of Francis Godwin, John Wilkins and Cyrano de Bergerac, and fundamentally Utopian; and also to owe in its concept of planet to cosmography in the sense of Peter Heylin.
Huygens wrote that availability of water in liquid form was essential for life and that the properties of water must vary from planet to planet to suit the temperature range. He took his observations of dark and bright spots on the surfaces of Mars and Jupiter to be evidence of water and ice on those planets. He argued that extraterrestrial life is neither confirmed nor denied by the Bible, and questioned why God would create the other planets if they were not to serve a greater purpose than that of being admired from Earth. Huygens postulated that the great distance between the planets signified that God had not intended for beings on one to know about the beings on the others, and had not foreseen how much humans would advance in scientific knowledge.
It was also in this book that Huygens published his method for estimating stellar distances. He made a series of smaller holes in a screen facing the sun, until he estimated the light was of the same intensity as that of the star Sirius. He then calculated that the angle of this hole was 1/27,664th the diameter of the Sun, and thus it was about 30,000 times as far away, on the (incorrect) assumption that Sirius is as bright our sun. The subject of photometry remained in its infancy until Pierre Bouguer and Johann Heinrich Lambert.
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April 19, 2026Iz ovog relativno kratkog teksta isijava neverovatna ljubav - prema nauci (posebno astronomiji) i spoznaji generalno, prema svemu živom i svemu postojećem, i jedno čvrsto, temeljno uverenje da je svemir divan i da su svi vidovi života na Zemlji toliko sjajni da, mora biti, postoje i drugde.
Hajgens aktuelna naučna saznanja svoga doba o ustrojstvu Sunčevog sistema koristi da bi nam, najpre, razložio svoje uverenje kako na drugim planetama ima života; potom, izneo neke pretpostavke o tome kako ta živa bića mogu izgledati i čime se bave (naravno! astronomijom!) i konačno, detaljno postulirao kakav vidik se tim bićima verovatno pruža sa njihovih planeta, kako oni mogu videti Sunce ili Zemlju. (Jedan odlomak opisuje kako se sigurno sa Meseca pruža divan pogled na Zemlju, i bilo mi je toplo oko srca što to čitam baš u danima kad su se članovi misije Artemis II lično uveravali u to.)
Uopšte uzev: čitanje Kosmoteorosa danas je korisno pre svega jer nas podseća na to koliko je otkrivački i radoznali duh ključna osobina naučnika i koliko ga današnje ustrojstvo akademskog sistema ne podržava. Hajgens s gnušanjem odbacuje prigovore neznalica i zajedljivaca i kliče "u tako veličanstvenim i uzvišenim istraživanjima kao što je ovo, pobeda je doći do makar verovatnog!"
Pojam "verovatnog" se, međutim, ispostavlja kao vrlo rastegljiv: Hajgens od srazmerno uverljivih analogija (druge planete su takođe u čvrstom stanju, imaju gravitaciju, imaju vodu ili neku drugu tečnost) glatko napreduje do toga da je logično i da su živa bića na drugim planetama umereno slična zemaljskim (da poseduju čula i čulne organe, da im je voda neophodna za život itd) ali i do toga da je verovatno da su i druge planete, pre svih Jupiter i Venera, nastanjene razumnim bićima, jer naprosto ne bi bilo pravedno da je samo naša Zemlja obdarena njima. I onda čini jedan prekrasni logički skok iz kog će reverznim inženjeringom izvesti mnogo toga o "planetarijancima": oni sigurno imaju astronomiju! Samo i jedino naša ljudska (danas bismo rekli: antropocentrična) gordost i sujeta mogla bi nas navesti na zaključak da se druga razumna bića ne bi bavila astronomijom! To onda znači da su sigurno > razvili alate poput teleskopa > i veštinu pisanja > i nauke poput geometrije i optike > i da imaju udove poput ruku i nogu, koji im omogućavaju takve delatnosti > i uspravno hodaju, jer je to naročito zgodno kad imate ruke i noge > da nisu mnogo manji od nas, jer bi im to vrlo otežalo pravljenje adekvatnih teleskopa > i sigurno žive u organizovanom društvu > i uživaju u tome > kao i u muzici, nezamislivo je da nemaju prekrasnu muziku!
Pa ipak, dodaje Hajgens ozbiljno i pronicljivo, to ne znači da bismo mi planetarijance doživeli kao sebi slične: "smešno je mišljenje koje deli običan svet, kako je nemoguće da duša koja misli nastanjuje oblik drugačiji od našeg (...) Ovo može izvirati samo iz slabosti, neznanja i predrasuda čovečjih; isto važi i za stav da je ljudska figura najbolja i najlepša od svih, a reč je zapravo samo o tome da smo na tu figuru naviknuti, dakle o uobraženosti koju sve životinje u prirodi dele, da nijedan oblik, nijedna boja ne može biti jednako dobra kao njihova" ali i priznaje (utoliko simpatičnije) "no, rekao bih da je ta misao uzela kontrolu i nad mojim umom, te i sam primećujem, ne bez doze straha i nestrpljenja, da mi je teško zamisliti neko drugo obličje u koje bih nastanio dušu sa razumom".
Konačno, reč o našem izdanju - ovo je srazmerno redak slučaj da je rani naučni tekst prevela stručna osoba, konkretno naš fizičar Aleksandar Bogojević, a Hajgensovo delo uokviruje nekoliko različitih propratnih tekstova više autora koji ga dodatno kontekstualizuju za današnje čitaoce. Baš je lepo kad se tako nešto desi.
Hajgens aktuelna naučna saznanja svoga doba o ustrojstvu Sunčevog sistema koristi da bi nam, najpre, razložio svoje uverenje kako na drugim planetama ima života; potom, izneo neke pretpostavke o tome kako ta živa bića mogu izgledati i čime se bave (naravno! astronomijom!) i konačno, detaljno postulirao kakav vidik se tim bićima verovatno pruža sa njihovih planeta, kako oni mogu videti Sunce ili Zemlju. (Jedan odlomak opisuje kako se sigurno sa Meseca pruža divan pogled na Zemlju, i bilo mi je toplo oko srca što to čitam baš u danima kad su se članovi misije Artemis II lično uveravali u to.)
Uopšte uzev: čitanje Kosmoteorosa danas je korisno pre svega jer nas podseća na to koliko je otkrivački i radoznali duh ključna osobina naučnika i koliko ga današnje ustrojstvo akademskog sistema ne podržava. Hajgens s gnušanjem odbacuje prigovore neznalica i zajedljivaca i kliče "u tako veličanstvenim i uzvišenim istraživanjima kao što je ovo, pobeda je doći do makar verovatnog!"
Pojam "verovatnog" se, međutim, ispostavlja kao vrlo rastegljiv: Hajgens od srazmerno uverljivih analogija (druge planete su takođe u čvrstom stanju, imaju gravitaciju, imaju vodu ili neku drugu tečnost) glatko napreduje do toga da je logično i da su živa bića na drugim planetama umereno slična zemaljskim (da poseduju čula i čulne organe, da im je voda neophodna za život itd) ali i do toga da je verovatno da su i druge planete, pre svih Jupiter i Venera, nastanjene razumnim bićima, jer naprosto ne bi bilo pravedno da je samo naša Zemlja obdarena njima. I onda čini jedan prekrasni logički skok iz kog će reverznim inženjeringom izvesti mnogo toga o "planetarijancima": oni sigurno imaju astronomiju! Samo i jedino naša ljudska (danas bismo rekli: antropocentrična) gordost i sujeta mogla bi nas navesti na zaključak da se druga razumna bića ne bi bavila astronomijom! To onda znači da su sigurno > razvili alate poput teleskopa > i veštinu pisanja > i nauke poput geometrije i optike > i da imaju udove poput ruku i nogu, koji im omogućavaju takve delatnosti > i uspravno hodaju, jer je to naročito zgodno kad imate ruke i noge > da nisu mnogo manji od nas, jer bi im to vrlo otežalo pravljenje adekvatnih teleskopa > i sigurno žive u organizovanom društvu > i uživaju u tome > kao i u muzici, nezamislivo je da nemaju prekrasnu muziku!
Pa ipak, dodaje Hajgens ozbiljno i pronicljivo, to ne znači da bismo mi planetarijance doživeli kao sebi slične: "smešno je mišljenje koje deli običan svet, kako je nemoguće da duša koja misli nastanjuje oblik drugačiji od našeg (...) Ovo može izvirati samo iz slabosti, neznanja i predrasuda čovečjih; isto važi i za stav da je ljudska figura najbolja i najlepša od svih, a reč je zapravo samo o tome da smo na tu figuru naviknuti, dakle o uobraženosti koju sve životinje u prirodi dele, da nijedan oblik, nijedna boja ne može biti jednako dobra kao njihova" ali i priznaje (utoliko simpatičnije) "no, rekao bih da je ta misao uzela kontrolu i nad mojim umom, te i sam primećujem, ne bez doze straha i nestrpljenja, da mi je teško zamisliti neko drugo obličje u koje bih nastanio dušu sa razumom".
Konačno, reč o našem izdanju - ovo je srazmerno redak slučaj da je rani naučni tekst prevela stručna osoba, konkretno naš fizičar Aleksandar Bogojević, a Hajgensovo delo uokviruje nekoliko različitih propratnih tekstova više autora koji ga dodatno kontekstualizuju za današnje čitaoce. Baš je lepo kad se tako nešto desi.
April 3, 2015
I found this book on Google Books and read it out of historical interest. Huygens spends much of the book speculating about what life might be like on other planets. This is the least interesting part of the book, I think, to the modern reader, because it consists largely of speculating that life will be very much like the life on Earth on theological (perhaps teleological would be a better word?) grounds. It becomes much more interesting when he starts speculating about what those extraterrestrial astronomers would see: The brightness of the sun, the positiions and appearances of the other planets and moons, etc. He also brings his astronomical knowledge to bear on the scale of the universe: The sizes and relative positions of the Sun, planets and moons, and estimating a lower limit of the distances to the stars. I was particularly interested in his effort to relate the scales of the universe to more concrete experience. Huygens talks about the scale of the universe in terms of a scale model built with an Earth the size of a millet seed and a sun four inches across, and several times talks about distances in terms of how long it would take a bullet to traverse the same interval of space.
It drags a bit, and the translation is clearly quite old, but if you want a window into 17th Century astronomy and don't mind having to work distinguish tall s's from f's, it's worth a read.
It drags a bit, and the translation is clearly quite old, but if you want a window into 17th Century astronomy and don't mind having to work distinguish tall s's from f's, it's worth a read.
November 27, 2020
It's a fascinating book written by a fascinating man who scored so many victories for humanity. You can't read it without being emotional and without feeling the joy of entering the mind of a brilliant man who lived many centuries ago and left so many gifts for us. Absolutely loved it!
March 15, 2025
Fascinating to read the thoughts of a 17th century scientist about our solar system and beyond. At times genuinely funny because of the roasting of other scientists at the time, dissing their conjectures as "obviously" flawed.
June 29, 2016
En Cosmotheoros, Huygens muestra no solo su creatividad al imaginar cómo es la vida en el resto del universo sino también su forma del ver el mundo; se pregunta sobre el desarrollo de la ciencia, sobre la convivencia entre las personas, y se encarga de darle a Dios un rol concreto, el de creador. No es un dios que juzga, sino uno que da libertad a los hombres para investigar e intentar comprender cómo es que todo funciona.
Por otra parte, esta edición es preciosa y tiene una cuidada biografía de Huygens al final del libro que merece crítica aparte: un trabajo muy bien hecho, acucioso, y de extensión suficiente para saber lo necesario de su vida.
Las ilustraciones de Alejandra Acosta y los desplegables del libro son el almíbar de este dulce de libro. Recomendable por donde se le mire.
PD: Todo aquel que quiera estudiar física o astronomía debería leer este libro (y más de una vez).
Por otra parte, esta edición es preciosa y tiene una cuidada biografía de Huygens al final del libro que merece crítica aparte: un trabajo muy bien hecho, acucioso, y de extensión suficiente para saber lo necesario de su vida.
Las ilustraciones de Alejandra Acosta y los desplegables del libro son el almíbar de este dulce de libro. Recomendable por donde se le mire.
PD: Todo aquel que quiera estudiar física o astronomía debería leer este libro (y más de una vez).
April 18, 2017
Un libro singular (estudio realizado por Huygens en pleno siglo XVII conjeturando sobre la existencia de vida extraterrestre) aunque a día de hoy peque de ingenuo. En todo caso, una buena muestra más del buen hacer de Jekill & Jil (magnífica e impecable edición, con láminas de Alejandra Acosta), una pequeña editorial a la que hay que seguir de cerca.
April 7, 2017
Un poco de tratado científico aliñado con otro poco de especulación imaginativa. Una lectura reconfortante que te traslada a tiempos ilusionantes en los que todo estaba por descubrir.
Nota aparte para la edición y las ilustraciones. Espectacular.
Nota aparte para la edición y las ilustraciones. Espectacular.
August 31, 2024
In de vertaling van P. Rabus online te vinden.
Dit werk weerspiegeld het wetenschappelijk beeld van het universum aan het eind van de 17e eeuw. Huygens beschouwd de aannames en stellingen van figuren als Copernicus, Galilei, Decartes, Newton, Brahe et cetera kritisch en probeert een beeld van het zonnestelsel en de rest van het universum te vormen.
Een centrale aanname van Huygens is dat God al die planeten niet geschapen zou hebben zonder ze te bevolken met (intelligent) leven, en zodoende probeert Huygens een educated guess te maken over het het eraan toe gaat op die verre planeten.
Het leest niet heel vlot, en het idee dit als een vroeg science fiction boek te zien is nogal vergezocht.
Dit werk weerspiegeld het wetenschappelijk beeld van het universum aan het eind van de 17e eeuw. Huygens beschouwd de aannames en stellingen van figuren als Copernicus, Galilei, Decartes, Newton, Brahe et cetera kritisch en probeert een beeld van het zonnestelsel en de rest van het universum te vormen.
Een centrale aanname van Huygens is dat God al die planeten niet geschapen zou hebben zonder ze te bevolken met (intelligent) leven, en zodoende probeert Huygens een educated guess te maken over het het eraan toe gaat op die verre planeten.
Het leest niet heel vlot, en het idee dit als een vroeg science fiction boek te zien is nogal vergezocht.
July 12, 2022
When you imbue all Earth's creatures with divine purpose and design, then all planets must have the same kinds of creatures: seed plants, herbivores, reverent "higher" animals, etc. Huygen's constraining teleology seems at odds with the creativity required to imagine alien worlds.
April 6, 2024
The old English can be challenging to decipher but the vast scope of Huygen's ideas and imagination radiate down the centuries. There's no substitute for reading his own worlds.
November 25, 2024
Versie van Daphne Stam gelezen. Interessant boek waar Huygens iedereen door het slijk haalt.
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November 23, 201515/09/17
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