Olaus Roemer Discovering the Speed of Light Dorna Mohaghegh Feb 2, 2006 Discovering the Speed of Light Dorna Mohaghegh Feb 2, 2006

Just So You Know…  Born in Denmark 1644  Studied at the University of Copenhagen  Nine years in Royal Observatory of Paris  Edited Tycho Brahe’s manuscripts  Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy  Born in Denmark 1644  Studied at the University of Copenhagen  Nine years in Royal Observatory of Paris  Edited Tycho Brahe’s manuscripts  Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy

Discovering the Speed of Light  Galileo attempted first and failed  Roemer became curious while observing the orbit of Jupiter’s moons  Time elapsed between eclipses of Jupiter's moons became shorter as Earth moved closer to Jupiter and became longer as Earth moved farther away.

 Hypothesized a finite speed of light  Used known distances of Earth and Jupiter’s orbits to get a rough estimation  2.3 x 10 8 m/s Discovering the Speed of Light