De kleurentheorie van Christiaan Huygens

Abstract

SUMMARY: This article deals with Huygens' view on the theories of colours, as proposed by Hooke and Newton. The opinion of Huygens was dominated by mechanistic conception of physical theories, especially on light, and his particular vision on the relation between hypothesis and experiment. Huygens was much more occupied with experimental work on coulours than usually is accepted. This article is indicating that Huygens was the first to find the relation between the colours of interference and the thickness of the plates. The definition of colours by their frequency, as proposed by Newton, was not accepted by Huygens because of his special conception of light.