| Reference number | CLP/1/13 |
| Level | File |
| Title | Paper, 'Problema alhasein' [alhasein problem] by Christian Huygens at Paris |
| Date | 26 June 1669 |
| Description | On the ibn al-Haytham / alhasein / alhazen problem.
This paper was enclosed in a letter to Henry Oldenburg dated at Paris [France] on 26 June 1669. The problem attributed to Alhazen (the Latinized name of Ibn al-Haytham (965-1045) is to find a point of reflection on the surface of a spherical mirror in relation to two points, the eye and the visible object.
The diagram and text are printed using a method that Huygens claimed he had invented, making the acid bite all the way through the plate and inking over it, as with a stencil.
Christopher Wren had come up with a similar copying method earlier in 1662.
Subject: Geometry
Published in Philosophical Transactions as 'Excerpta ex epistolis non-nullis, ultrò citróque ab illustrissimis viris, Slusio & Hugenio, ad editorem scriptis, de famigerato albazeni problemate circa punctum reflexionis in speculis cavis aut convexis; & primò quidem ex prima Hugenii'. |
| Extent | 1p |
| Format | Manuscript |
| Physical description | Ink on paper |
| Digital images | View item on Science in the Making |
| Access status | Open |
| Related material | DOI: 10.1098/rstl.1673.0045
Printed in 'Philosophical Transactions', vol 8, no 97, p 6119, (1673) under the title 'albazeni problemate' |
| Related records in the catalogue | CLP/1/13/1 |
| CLP/1/13/2 |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | Name | Dates |
| NA8062 | Huygens; Christiaan (1629 - 1695); natural philosopher | 1629 - 1695 |
| NA8001 | Oldenburg; Henry (c1619 - 1677); scientific correspondent | c1619 - 1677 |