It's the birthday of Ole Rømer, who was born in 1644 in Århus, Denmark. Rømer studied at the University of Copenhagen and served for a while as tutor to French King Louis XIV's heir. He returned to Denmark 1681 to become a mathematician in the Danish court. Rømer is best known for his determination in 1676 of the speed of light using careful observations of the eclipses by Jupiter of its moon Io. Although his value - 220,000 km/s - is about 26% lower than the modern value, Rømer nevertheless demonstrated that the speed of light is finite.
Πηγή: Physics Today
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