Galileo Galilei, Holland and the pendulum clock

Abstract

The pendulum clock was one of the most important metaphors for early modern philosophers. Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) discovered his pendulum clock in 1656 based on the principle of isochronism discovered by Galileo (1564-1642). This paper aims at exploring the broad historical context of this invention, showing the role of some key figures such as Andreas Colvius (1594-1671), Elia Diodati (1576-1661), Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) and Constantijn Huygens, the father of Christiaan Huygens. Secondly, it suggests - based on this context - that it is hard to believe that Huygens did not know about Galileo’s idea to construct a pendulum regulated clock. Finally, this article illustrates how the Dutch philosopher Spinoza (1632-1677) might have been inspired by Huygens’ discovery of the synchronization of the pendulum clocks in his views on the agreement between bodies in the universe.