Willebrord van Royen Snell -Famous for his discovery of the laws of refraction
Willebrord van Royen Snell
Willebrord van Royen Snell

Willebrord van Royen Snell was a prominent mathematician and astronomer. His name and works had been associated with the law of refraction for centuries in the west. However, later it was discovered that the law was actually formulated by Ibn Sahl and that Snell only rediscovered it. Snell was a mathematical genius and developed a new method to calculate the mathematical function, ‘Pi’, which brought about a significant development in the field of mathematics. He made several theories on the law of refraction, on the basis of the work which he rediscovered in 1621. Snell also published various works that defined new boundaries in mathematical and scientific research. Two of his most celebrated works are ‘Eratosthenes Batavus’ and ‘Tiphys Batavus’. As his career reached its peak, Snell travelled extensively all around Europe to study and discuss astronomy. Here, he collaborated and worked with some of the best minds in the field of astronomy, such as Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe. Scroll down to know more about this interesting personality.

Childhood & Early Life
Though, there is no definitive record regarding the date of birth of Willebrord van Royen Snell but, it is believed that he was born in Leiden in around 1580. His father, Rudolph Snell van Royen, was a professor of mathematics at the University of Leiden, which explains Snell’s interest in the subject. Willebrord Snell was the eldest of the three children born to his parents, but his two siblings died in their childhood. Snell’s father wanted him to study law at the university; however, Snell followed his father’s footsteps and decided to opt for mathematics. By 1600, Willebrord Snell was a full-fledged mathematics teacher and took over his father’s position at the University of Leiden after his death in 1613.

Career
By 1615, Snell was intrigued about the geometry and the dimensions of the earth and thus, decided to carry out a new method of finding out the radius of the planet. He concluded that he would do this by determining the distance of one point on the earth’s surface and the latitude of another point, by the means of ‘triangulation’. He published the results of this research in a famous book, ‘Eratosthenes Batavus’ in 1617. At the university, Snell introduced his students to the works of Ramus, Stevin and Van Ceulen.

Snell made significant contributions in the field of mathematics. He was instrumental in the restoration of the works by Apollonius on the subject of ‘plane loci’ and the works of Pappus. He republished these two great works under the title ‘The Revived Geometry of Cutting off of a Ration and Cutting off of an Area’. He did further research into the works of Apollonius and published a reconstruction called ‘Apollonius Batavus’.

Snell’s Astronomical Interests
Throughout his career, Snell had been interested in the field of astronomy and published several works on the same. However, Snell was often ridiculed for not having made observations on his own as he was using the works of other famous astronomers. It is believed that one of Snell’s astronomical works, ‘Observationes Hassiacae (1618)’ was in fact, written based on the observations recorded by Tycho Brahe and Joost Burgi. Soon, Snell decided to publish a book containing his own observations and thus, came up with ‘Descriptio Cometae’ in 1619 that studied the movements of comets.

According to certain historical accounts, Snell strongly criticized the works of Aristotle and Copernicus and stated that their works would lay a negative impact on science if other astronomers and scientists followed them with so much reverence. However, he did believe in the theory of the earth’s centered system and agreed with the works of Ramus.

Snell’s Discoveries
Snell also improved the classical version of calculating the approximate value of ‘Pi’ by polygons which he published in 1621, named ‘Cyclometricus’. Using this method, 96 sided polygons branched to 7 theorems in pi, whereas the classical method yielded only 2 theorems. This theory appeared in Snell’s publication for the first time and was widely accepted by his successors. Willebrord Snell is also credited for having discovered the law of refraction in 1621, which was published in 1703 in ‘Dioptrica’. A manuscript with a treatise on the study of optics was also included in these works which helped him come up with Snell’s Law.

Apart from the study on optics, Pi and the law of refraction, Snell was also credited for having contributed generously to the subject of the ‘loxodrome’—the path on the sphere that makes a constant angle with the meridians. The result of this study was published in another one of this famous works, ‘Tiphys Batavus’, published in 1624.

Death
In 1626, at the age of 46, Snell passed away from a condition called ‘colic’, which paralyzed his arms and legs.

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