ABSTRACT
ChristiaanHuygens,bornin1629,isbestrememberedtodayforhis workonthewavenatureoflight.Hewasalso,however,thefirst persontomeasurethedistancetoastarotherthantheSun.Makingthe assumptionthatSiriushadthesameintrinsicbrightnessastheSun,he comparedtheapparentbrightnessofthetwoobjects.Usingtheinverse squarelawforbrightness,hefoundthatthedistancetoSiriuswastwo hundredthousandtimesthedistancefromtheEarthtotheSun.
