Every secondary school today teaches the natural laws of British physicist Isaac Newton. This is partially due to the work of Leiden physicist Willem ’s Gravesande and his famous ‘’s Gravesande Experiment’, which he used to propagate Newton’s ideas on the Continent.
In his experiment, Willem ’s Gravesande heated a metal ball which he had just passed through a ring. Once heated, it no longer fit through the ring, thus demonstrating that metal expands when heated.
Excellent experiments
This by now famous test is only one of many examples of the excellent physics experiments that ’s Gravesande used in his time to propagate Newton’s ideas on the Continent.
These experiments were made possible by the famous Leiden instrument maker Johan van Musschenbroek, the brother of Pieter van Musschenbroek who invented the Leyden Jar. Thanks to his instruments, ‘s Gravesande was also the first to specifically teach experimental physics.
Law
Incidentally, ’s Gravesande did not begin his career with physics. He came to Leiden in 1705 with his two brothers to study law, and went on to establish himself as a lawyer in The Hague. He was already attracted to physics at the time, and performed regular experiments with light, such as light reflection in the human eye, the results of which he published in 1711.
In 1715, he was sent to London as the Secretary of the Dutch Delegation to negotiate the Barrier Treaty, a clause of the Treaty of Rijswijk (1697) that concluded the Nine-year War. It was on this occasion that he met Isaac Newton, following which meeting he dedicated himself entirely to physics. In 1717, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy at Leiden University.
Lectures
His standard work Physices Elementa Mathematica was the first textbook ever in experimental physics. It made him famous throughout Europe. Even Voltaire came to Leiden to follow his lectures, which were given at his home, at Rapenburg 12.
