1-150-150 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Christiaan Huygens, Dutch physicist, c1670. Huygens was responsible for two great advances in horology: the application of both the pendulum to the clock and the balance spring to the watch. The clockmaker, Salomon Coster of the Hague, made Huygen's first pendulum clock, and a patent was issued in Coster's name in 1657.