Jan Cornets De Groot or Johan Hugo De Groot Latinized as Janus Grotius (8 March 1554 – 3 May 1640) was a Dutch nobleman and scholar who conducted experiments in physics and explored natural philosophy. Along with

Simon Stevin Simon Stevin (; 1548–1620), sometimes called Stevinus, was a Flemish mathematician, scientist and music theorist. He made various contributions in many areas of science and engineering, both theoretical and practical. He also translated vario ...

he experimented on the time taken for lead of different weights to fall to the ground to prove Aristotle wrong in the famous

Delft tower experiment In 1586, scientists Simon Stevin and Jan Cornets de Groot conducted an early scientific experiment on the effects of gravity. The experiment, which established that objects of identical size and different mass fall at the same speed, was conducted ...

. De Groot was born at Kraayenburg near

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

, son of Hugo Cornelisz and of Elselinge Van Heemskerck, and was possibly educated in the newly created

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

. He also went to the

University of Douai The University of Douai (french: Université de Douai) ( nl, Universiteit van Dowaai) is a former university in Douai, France. With a medieval heritage of scholarly activities in Douai, the university was established in 1559 and lectures started ...

and studied arts and philosophy and following the high positions held by the Cornets de Groot family of Rotterdam who were a part of the Delft ruling class, he became alderman in 1589, a councillor and served as a mayor from 1591 to 1595. He became curator of the Leiden University where he also received a degree in law in 1596, and after 1617 became an advisor to the Count of

Hohenlohe The House of Hohenlohe () is a German princely dynasty. It ruled an immediate territory within the Holy Roman Empire which was divided between several branches. The Hohenlohes became imperial counts in 1450. The county was divided numerous time ...

. He was involved in the construction of windmills and collaborated with

, and was well read in the works of

Euclid Euclid (; grc-gre, Wikt:Εὐκλείδης, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the ''Euclid's Elements, Elements'' trea ...

Ibn al-Haytham Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham, Latinized as Alhazen (; full name ; ), was a medieval mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age from present-day Iraq.For the description of his main fields, see e.g. ("He is one of the prin ...

and other scholars. He also took an interest in mathematics, translating some of the works of

Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse (;; ) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists ...

from Greek to Dutch. He also wrote some poetry. De Groot married Alida Borren in 1582 and they had five children including the jurist

Hugo Grotius Hugo Grotius (; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Huig de Groot () and Hugo de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, poet and playwright. A teenage intellectual prodigy, he was born in Delft ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Groot, Jan Cornets De 1554 births 1640 deaths Dutch nobility