Ole Rømer

“Rømer” redirects here. For other uses, see Romer merchant and skipper, Christen Pedersen (died Septem-
(disambiguation). ber 19,1663), and Anna Olufsdatter Storm (c. 1610-
1690), daughter of a well-to-do alderman.[1] Since 1642,
Ole Christensen Rømer (Danish pronunciation: [ˈo(ː)lə Christen Pedersen had taken to using the name Rømer,
which means that he was from the Danish island of
ˈʁœːˀmɐ]; 25 September 1644 – 19 September 1710) was
a Danish astronomer who in 1676 made the first quanti- Rømø, to distinguish himself from [2]
a couple of other peo-
ple named Christen Pedersen. There are few records
tative measurements of the speed of light. Rømer also
invented the modern thermometer showing the tempera- of Ole Rømer before 1662, when he graduated from
ture between two fixed points, namely the points at which the old Aarhus
[3][4]
Katedralskole (the Cathedral school of
water respectively boils and freezes. In scientific litera- Aarhus), moved to Copenhagen and matriculated at
ture alternative spellings such as “Roemer”, “Römer”, or the University of Copenhagen. His mentor at the Uni-
“Romer” are common. versity was Rasmus Bartholin, who published his discov-
ery of the double refraction of a light ray by Iceland spar
(calcite) in 1668, while Rømer was living in his home.
Rømer was given every opportunity to learn mathematics
1 General biography and astronomy using Tycho Brahe's astronomical obser-
vations, as Bartholin had been given the task of preparing
them for publication.[5]
Rømer was employed by the French government: Louis
XIV made him tutor for the Dauphin, and he also took
part in the construction of the magnificent fountains at
Versailles.
In 1681, Rømer returned to Denmark and was appointed
professor of astronomy at the University of Copenhagen,
and the same year he married Anne Marie Bartholin,
the daughter of Rasmus Bartholin. He was active also
as an observer, both at the University Observatory at
Rundetårn and in his home, using improved instruments
of his own construction. Unfortunately, his observations
have not survived: they were lost in the great Copenhagen
Fire of 1728. However, a former assistant (and later an
astronomer in his own right), Peder Horrebow, loyally de-
scribed and wrote about Rømer’s observations.
In Rømer’s position as royal mathematician, he intro-
duced the first national system for weights and mea-
sures in Denmark on 1 May 1683.[6][7] Initially based on
the Rhine foot, a more accurate national standard was
adopted in 1698.[8] Later measurements of the standards
fabricated for length and volume show an excellent de-
gree of accuracy. His goal was to achieve a definition
based on astronomical constants, using a pendulum. This
would happen after his death, practicalities making it too
inaccurate at the time. Notable is also his definition of
Rundetårn, or round tower, in Copenhagen, on top of which the the new Danish mile of 24,000 Danish feet (circa 7,532
university had its observatory from the mid 17th century until m).[9]
the mid 19th century, when it was moved to new premises. The
current observatory there was built in the 20th century to serve In 1700, Rømer persuaded the king to introduce the
amateurs. Gregorian calendar in Denmark-Norway — something
Tycho Brahe had argued for in vain a hundred years
Rømer was born on 25 September 1644 in Århus to a

1
2 2 RØMER AND THE SPEED OF LIGHT

earlier.[10] The determination of longitude is a significant practi-

cal problem in cartography and navigation. Philip III of
Spain offered a prize for a method to determine the longi-
tude of a ship out of sight of land, and Galileo proposed
a method of establishing the time of day, and thus lon-
gitude, based on the times of the eclipses of the moons
of Jupiter, in essence using the Jovian system as a cos-
mic clock; this method was not significantly improved
until accurate mechanical clocks were developed in the
eighteenth century. Galileo proposed this method to the
Spanish crown (1616–1617) but it proved to be imprac-
tical, because of the inaccuracies of Galileo’s timetables
and the difficulty of observing the eclipses on a ship.
However, with refinements the method could be made to
work on land.
After studies in Copenhagen, Rømer joined the obser-
vatory of Uraniborg on the island of Hven, near Copen-
hagen, in 1671. Over a period of several months, Jean Pi-
card and Rømer observed about 140 eclipses of Jupiter’s
moon Io, while in Paris Giovanni Domenico Cassini ob-
served the same eclipses. By comparing the times of the
eclipses, the difference in longitude of Paris to Uranien-
borg was calculated.
Cassini had observed the moons of Jupiter between 1666
and 1668, and discovered discrepancies in his measure-
Ole Rømer at work ments that, at first, he attributed to light having a fi-
nite speed. In 1672 Rømer went to Paris and continued
observing the satellites of Jupiter as Cassini’s assistant.
Rømer developed one of the first temperature scales while
Rømer added his own observations to Cassini’s and ob-
convalescing from a broken leg.[11] Fahrenheit visited him
served that times between eclipses (particularly those of
in 1708 and improved on the Rømer scale, the result being
Io) got shorter as Earth approached Jupiter, and longer as
the familiar Fahrenheit temperature scale still in use today
Earth moved farther away. Cassini made an announce-
in a few countries.[12][13][14]
ment to the Academy of Sciences on 22 August 1676:
Rømer also established navigation schools in several Dan-
ish cities.[15] This second inequality appears to be due
In 1705, Rømer was made the second Chief of the to light taking some time to reach us from the
Copenhagen Police, a position he kept until his death satellite; light seems to take about ten to eleven
in 1710.[16] As one of his first acts, he fired the entire minutes [to cross] a distance equal to the half-
force, being convinced that the morale was alarmingly diameter of the terrestrial orbit.[23]
low. He was the inventor of the first street lights (oil
lamps) in Copenhagen, and worked hard to try to control Oddly, Cassini seems to have abandoned this reasoning,
the beggars, poor people, unemployed, and prostitutes of which Rømer adopted and set about buttressing in an ir-
Copenhagen.[17][18] refutable manner, using a selected number of observa-
In Copenhagen, Rømer made rules for building new tions performed by Picard and himself between 1671
houses, got the city’s water supply and sewers back in or- and 1677. Rømer presented his results to the French
der, ensured that the city’s fire department got new and Academy of Sciences, and it was summarised soon after
better equipment, and was the moving force behind the by an anonymous reporter in a short paper, Démonstra-
planning and making of new pavement in the streets and tion touchant le mouvement de la lumière trouvé par M.
on the city squares.[19][20][21] Roemer de l'Académie des sciences, published 7 Decem-
ber 1676 in the Journal des sçavans. Unfortunately the
Rømer died at the age of 65 in 1710.[22] paper bears the stamp of the reporter failing to under-
stand Rømer’s presentation, and as the reporter resorted
to cryptic phrasings to hide his lack of understanding, he
2 Rømer and the speed of light obfuscated Rømer’s reasoning in the process. Unfortu-
nately Rømer himself never published his results.[24]
Main article: Rømer’s determination of the speed of light Assume the Earth is in L, at the second quadrature with
Jupiter (i.e. ALB is 90°), and Io emerges from D. After

Illustration from the 1676 article on Rømer’s measurement of
the speed of light. Rømer compared the duration of Io’s orbits as
Earth moved towards Jupiter (F to G) and as Earth moved away
from Jupiter (L to K).
several orbits of Io, at 42.5 hours per orbit, the Earth is in
K. Rømer reasoned that if light is not propagated instan-
taneously, the additional time it takes to reach K, that he
reckoned about 3½ minutes, would explain the observed
delay. Rømer observed immersions in C from the sym-
metric positions F and G, to avoid confusing eclipses (Io
shadowed by Jupiter from C to D) and occultations (Io
hidden behind Jupiter at various angles). In the table be-
low, his observations in 1676, including the one on Au-
gust 7, believed to be in opposition H,[25] and the one
observed at Paris Observatory to be 10 minutes late, on
November 9.[26]
By trial and error, during eight years of observations 4 Ole Romer Medal
Rømer worked out how to account for the retardation of
light when reckoning the ephemeris of Io. He calculated
the delay as a proportion of the angle corresponding to a The Ole Rømer Medal is given annually by the Dan-
given Earth’s position with respect to Jupiter, Δt = 22·( ish Natural Science Research Council for outstanding
α
⁄₁₈₀°)[minutes]. When the angle α is 180° the delay be- research.[38]
3
comes 22 minutes, which may be interpreted as the time
necessary for the light to cross a distance equal to the di-
ameter of the Earth’s orbit, H to E.[26] (Actually, Jupiter
is not visible from the conjunction point E.) That inter-
pretation makes it possible to calculate the strict result of
Rømer’s observations: The ratio of the speed of light to
the speed with which Earth orbits the sun, which is the
ratio of the duration of a year divided by pi as compared
to the 22 minutes
365·24·60
⁄π·₂₂ ≈ 7,600.
299,792 km s−1
In comparison the modern value is circa ⁄₂₉.₈
₋₁
≈ 10,100.[27]
Rømer neither calculated this ratio, nor did he give a value
for the speed of light. However, many others calculated
a speed from his data, the first being Christiaan Huygens;
after corresponding with Rømer and eliciting more data,
Huygens deduced that light travelled 16 2 ⁄3 Earth diame-
ters per second.[28]
Rømer’s view that the velocity of light was finite was
not fully accepted until measurements of the so-called
aberration of light were made by James Bradley in 1727.
In 1809, again making use of observations of Io, but this
time with the benefit of more than a century of increas-
ingly precise observations, the astronomer Jean Baptiste
Joseph Delambre reported the time for light to travel from
the Sun to the Earth as 8 minutes and 12 seconds. De-
pending on the value assumed for the astronomical unit,
this yields the speed of light as just a little more than
300,000 kilometres per second. The modern value is
8 minutes and 19 seconds, and a speed of 299,792.458
km/s.
A plaque at the Observatory of Paris, where the Dan-
ish astronomer happened to be working, commemorates
what was, in effect, the first measurement of a universal
quantity made on this planet.
3 Inventions
In addition to inventing the first street lights in
Copenhagen,[29][30] Rømer also invented the meridian
circle,[31][32][33] the altazimuth,[34][35] and the Passage
Instrument.[36][37]
4 8
5 The Ole Rømer Museum
The Ole Rømer Museum is located in the municipal-
ity of Høje-Taastrup, Denmark,[39] at the excavated
site of Rømer’s observatory Observatorium Tusculanum
at Vridsløsemagle.[40][41][42] The observatory opened in
1704, and operated until about 1716, when the remaining
instruments were moved to Rundetårn in Copenhagen.[43]
There is a large collection of ancient and more recent as-
tronomical instruments on display at the museum.[44] The
museum opened in 1979, and has since 2002 been a part
of the museum Kroppedal at the same location.[45][46][47]
6 Honours
In Denmark, Ole Rømer has been honoured in various
ways through the ages. He has been portrayed on bank
notes,[48] the eponymous Ole Rømer’s Hill is named af-
ter him,[49] as are streets in both Aarhus and Copenhagen
(Ole Rømers Gade and Rømersgade respectively).[50][51]
Aarhus University’s astronomical observatory is named
The Ole Rømer Observatory (Ole Rømer Observatoriet)
in his honour, and a Danish satellite project to measure
the age, temperature, physical and chemical conditions
of selected stars, was named The Rømer Satellite. The
satellite project stranded in 2002 and was never realised
though.[52][53]
The Römer crater on the Moon is named after him.[54]
6.1 In popular culture
In the 1960s, the comic-book superhero The Flash on a
number of occasions would measure his velocity in “Roe-
mers” [sic], in honour of Ole Rømer’s “discovery” of the
speed of light.[55]
In Larry Niven's 1999 novel Rainbow Mars, Ole Rømer is
mentioned as having observed Martian life in an alternate
history timeline.
Ole Rømer features in the 2012 game Empire: Total War
as a gentleman under Denmark.
7 General references
• MacKay, R. Jock; Oldford, R. Wayne (2000).
“Scientific Method, Statistical Method and the
Speed of Light”. Statistical Science. 15 (3): 254–
278. doi:10.1214/ss/1009212817. (Mostly about
A.A. Michelson, but considers forerunners including
Rømer.)
• Axel V. Nielsen (1944). Ole Romer, en Skildring af
hans Liv og Gerning (in Danish). Nordisk Forlag.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
8 Notes and references
[1] Niels Dalgaard (1996). Dage med Madsen, eller, Livet i
Århus: om sammenhænge i Svend Åge Madsens forfatter-
skab (in Danish). Museum Tusculanum Press. pp. 169–.
ISBN 978-87-7289-409-6. ... skipper og handelsmand i
Århus, gift med Anne Olufsdatter Storm (død 1690) og
far til astronomen Ole Rømer (1644-1710).
[2] Friedrichsen, Per; Tortzen, Chr. Gorm (2001). Ole
Rømer – Korrespondance og afhandlinger samt et udvalg
af dokumenter (in Danish). Copenhagen: C. A. Reitzels
Forlag. p. 16. ISBN 87-7876-258-8.
[3] Bogvennen (in Danish). 1–9. Fischers forlag. 1971. pp.
66–. Denne antagelse tiltrænger en nærmere redegørelse:
Ole Rømer udgik som student fra Aarhus Katedralskole
i 1662. Ole Rømer Skolens rektor på den tid var Niels
Nielsen Krog, om hvem samtidige kilder oplyser, at »hans
studium ...
[4] Olaf Lind; Poul Ib Henriksen (2003). Arkitektur For-
taellinger/Building of Aarhus University (in Danish).
Aarhus Universitetsforlag. pp. 21–. ISBN 978-87-7288-
972-6. Ole Rømer tog i øvrigt studentereksamen fra
Latinskolen i Ãrhus (Katedralskolen) i 1662.
[5] Friedrichsen; Tortzen (2001), pp. 19–20.
[6] Mai-Britt Schultz; Rasmus Dahlberg (31 October 2013).
Det vidste du ikke om Danmark (in Danish). Gyldendal.
pp. 53–. ISBN 978-87-02-14713-1. I 1683 udarbejd-
ede Ole Rømer en forordning, der fastsatte den danske
mil samtenrækkeandre mål,hvilketvar hårdt tiltrængt, for
indtil da havde derhersketet sandtenhedskaosi Danmar-
kNorge. Eksempelvis var en sjællandsk alen 63 centime-
ter, ...
[7] Poul Aagaard Christiansen; Povl Riis; Eskil Hohwy
(1982). Festskrift udgivet i anledning af Universitetsbib-
liotekets 500 års jubilæum 28. juni 1982 (in Danish).
Lægeforeningen. pp. 87–. En studie i Ole Rømers efter-
ladte optegnelser, Adversaria, som hans enke Else Magda-
lene ... at give Christian V’s kongelige mathematicus Ole
Rømer (1644-1710) æren for udformningen af forordnin-
gen af 1.V.1683 ...
[8] Alastair H. Thomas (10 May 2010). The A to Z of Den-
mark. Scarecrow Press. pp. 422–. ISBN 978-0-8108-
7205-9. ... although uniformity throughout the country
was not achieved until statutes of 1683 and 1698, un-
der the leadership of Ole Romer. The metric system was
adopted in 1907 and is universal, though colloquially units
such as tomme, tande land, ...
[9] Niels Erik Nørlund (1944). De gamle danske længdeen-
heder (in Danish). E. Munksgaard. pp. 74–. ... Maj
1683 gennemførte Reform af Maal og Vægt fastsatte Ole
Rømer den danske Mils Længde til 12 000 danske Alen.
[10] K. Hastrup; C. Rubow; T. Tjørnhøj-Thomsen (2011).
Kulturanalyse — kort fortalt (in Danish). Samfundslitter-
atur. pp. 219–. ISBN 978-87-593-1496-8. I Danmark
blev den gregorianske kalender indført den 1. marts 1700
efter forarbejde af Ole Rømer. Man stoppede med brug

af den julianske kalender den 18. februar, og sprang sim-
pelthen de næste 11 dage over. så man landede direkte på
...
[11] Tom Shachtman (12 December 2000). Absolute Zero and
the Conquest of Cold. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp.
48–. ISBN 0-547-52595-8. ... down to an almost myth-
ical point, an absolute zero, the end of the end. Around
1702, while Amontons was doing his best work in Paris,
in Copenhagen the astronomer Ole Romer, who had cal-
culated the finite speed of light, broke his leg. Confined to
his home for some time, he took the opportunity of forced
idleness to produce a thermometer having two fixed points
...
[12] Don Rittner (1 January 2009). A to Z of Scientists in
Weather and Climate. Infobase Publishing. pp. 54–.
ISBN 978-1-4381-0924-4. Fahrenheit’s first thermome-
ters, from about 1709 to 1715, contained a column of al-
cohol that directly expanded and contracted, based on a
design made by Danish astronomer Ole Romer in 1708,
which Fahrenheit personally reviewed. Romer ...
[13] Popularization and People (1911-1962). Elsevier. 22 Oc-
tober 2013. pp. 431–. ISBN 978-0-08-046687-3. ...
letter from Fahrenheit to his Dutch colleague Hermann
Boerhaave (1668–1738) dated 17 April 1729 in which
Fahrenheit describes his experience at Rømer’s laboratory
in 1708.
[14] Neil Schlager; Josh Lauer (2001). Science and Its Times:
1700-1799. Gale Group. pp. 341–. ISBN 978-0-7876-
3936-5. In 1708 Fahrenheit visited Ole Romer (1644-
1710). Since at least 1702 Romer had been making alco-
hol thermometers with two fixed points and a scale divided
into equal increments. He impressed upon Fahrenheit the
scientific importance of ...
[15] Carl Sophus Petersen; Vilhelm Andersen; Richard Jakob
Paulli (1929). Illustreret dansk litteraturhistorie: bd. Den
danske littterature fra folkevandringstiden indtil Holberg,
af C.S. Petersen under medvirkning af R. Paulli (in Dan-
ish). Gyldendai. pp. 716–. ... Det var paa hans Tilskyn-
delse, at de første Navigationsskoler (i København og
Stege) oprettedes, og Bestyrerpladserne besatte han med
de bedste ...
[16] A. Sarlemijn; M.J. Sparnaay (22 October 2013). Physics
in the Making: Essays on Developments in 20th Century
Physics. Elsevier Science. pp. 48–. ISBN 978-1-4832-
9385-1. The other, Ole Rømer, was Bartholin’s amanu-
ensis, later his son-inlaw. ... man, became the Danish
king’s mathematician (mathematicus regius), professor of
astronomy at the University of Copenhagen, and eventu-
ally chief of police of that city.
[17] Denmark. Udenrigsministeriet. Presse- og information-
safdelingen (1970). Denmark. An official handbook.
Krak. pp. 403–. ISBN 978-87-7225-011-3. It was per-
haps fortunate that Ole Romer (1644-1710) was called
home to Denmark after he had achieved world fame by ...
of Copenhagen and oblige him to devote time and energy
to thinking out measures against prostitution and begging.
[18] Gunnar Olsen; Finn Askgaard (1985). Den unge
enevaelde: 1660 - 1721 (in Danish). Politikens Forl. pp.
5
368–. ISBN 978-87-567-3866-8. Det var et held, at Ole
Rømer først blev kaldt tilbage til den danske hovedstad,
efter at han i Paris havde opnået ... Men at denne geniale
forsker som Københavns politimester skulle beskæftige sig
med forholdsregler mod prostitution og betleri, ..
[19] Danmarks Naturvidenskabelige Samfund (1914).
Ingeniørvidenskabelige skrifter (in Danish). Danmarks
naturvidenskabelige samfund, i kommission hos G.E.C.
Gad. pp. 108–. I de følgende Aar udstedtes der en
Række Forordninger om Gaderne; de skyldes uden Tvivl
Ole Rømer. Snart er det Brolægningen, det gælder,
snart et omhyggeligt Reglement for Færdslen i Gaderne.
Brolægningen havde medført store ...
[20] Svend Cedergreen Bech (1967). Københavns historie gen-
nem 800 år (in Danish). Haase. pp. 246–. 1705-10 bek-
lædtes politime- politimester ster-embedet af fysikeren
Ole Rømer, i hvis embedstid mange reformer forsøgtes.
Brolægning og belysning forbedredes, vandforsyning og
vandafledning blev taget op til revision, men heller ikke
en så ...
[21] Axel Kjerulf (1964). Latinerkvarteret; blade af en gem-
mel bydels historie (in Danish). Hassings forlag. pp. 44–.
Ole Rømer vendte i 1681 tilbage til København, hvor han
blev professor i astronomi ved universitetet og giftede sig
med Rasmus ... justering af mål og vægt, blev ham be-
troet foruden ordning af byggeforhold, gaders brolægning
og belysning.
[22] Virginia Trimble; Thomas R. Williams; Katherine
Bracher; Richard Jarrell; Jordan D. Marché; F. Jamil
Ragep (18 September 2007). Biographical Encyclopedia
of Astronomers. Springer Science & Business Media. pp.
983–. ISBN 978-0-387-30400-7.
[23] Bobis, Laurence; Lequeux, James (2008). “Cassini,
Rømer and the velocity of light” (PDF). J.
Astron. Hist. Heritage. 11 (2): 97–105.
Bibcode:2008JAHH...11...97B.
[24] Teuber, Jan (2004). “Ole Rømer og den bevægede Jord –
en dansk førsteplads?". In Friedrichsen, Per; Henningsen,
Ole; Olsen, Olaf; Thykier, Claus; et al. Ole Rømer –
videnskabsmand og samfundstjener (in Danish). Copen-
hagen: Gads Forlag. p. 218. ISBN 87-12-04139-4.
[25] Point H had occurred about one month earlier, according
to Dieter Egger (1997-02-24). “Visualize Solar System at
a given Epoch”. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
[26] Saito, Yoshio (June 2005). “A Discussion of Roemer’s
Discovery concerning the Speed of Light”. AAPPS Bul-
letin. 15 (3): 9–17.
[27] Knudsen, Jens Martin; Hjorth, Poul G. (1996) [1995].
Elements of Newtonian Mechanics (2nd ed.). Berlin:
Springer Verlag. p. 367. ISBN 3-540-60841-9.
[28] Huygens, Christiaan (8 January 1690) Treatise on Light.
Translated into English by Silvanus P. Thompson, Project
Gutenberg etext, p. 11. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
[29] Litteraturens Perioder (in Danish). Gyldendal Uddan-
nelse. 2005. pp. 27–. ISBN 978-87-02-01832-5. En
af deltagerne i enevældens storstilede forsøg på at skabe
6 8
orden var Ole Rømer, der ikke blot var ... og i en peri-
ode borgmester i København, hvor han bl.a. fik skabt et
effektivt brandvæsen og en ordentlig gadebelysning.
[30] Bent Rying (1974). Denmark: An Official Handbook.
Press and Cultural Relations Department, Royal Dan-
ish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. pp. 661–. About the
year 1700, the astronomer Ole Romer (1644-1710) dis-
played considerable technical activities as a public offi-
cial ... knowledge to improving Danish streets and roads,
harbours and bridges, water supplies, street lighting, and
sewers.
[31] Meddelelser fra Ole Rømer-observatoriet i Aarhus. Ob-
servatoriet. 1958. pp. 177–. This extract from Ramus’s
thesis, together with his plate, shows clearly that Romer’s
Rota Meridiana was a meridian circle, taking this term in
its modern meaning. The meridian circle was the final step
in his series of instruments, in which ...
[32] William F. van Altena (22 November 2012). Astrometry
for Astrophysics: Methods, Models, and Applications.
Cambridge University Press. pp. 299–. ISBN 978-0-521-
51920-5. The pursuit of better accuracy led Ole Romer to
develop the meridian circle in 1690 which, with modifi-
cations, is still in use today. The meridian circle or transit
circle (conceived at the end of the seventeenth century)
was a combination of a ...
[33] Neil English (28 September 2010). Choosing and Using
a Refracting Telescope. Springer Science & Business Me-
dia. pp. 6–. ISBN 978-1-4419-6403-8. With a similar
telescope, the Danish astronomer Ole Romer, witnessing a
timing glitch in the eclipse of a Jovian satellite, ... Romer
is also credited for inventing the meridian transit circle
telescope (usually just called the meridian circle), ...
[34] Frank Moore Colby; George Sandeman (1913). Nelson’s
Encyclopaedia: Everybody’s Book of Reference ...
Thomas Nelson. pp. 193–. The altazimuth (invented
by Olaus Romer of Copenhagen in 1690) is available for
measurements in all parts of the sky; and it was with a
combination of this type, completed by Ramsden in 1789,
that Piazzi made the observations for his great ...
[35] Hugh Chrisholm (1911). The Encyclopaedia Britannica:
A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General In-
formation. At the University Press. pp. 814–. Cassini,
moreover, set up an altazimuth in 1678, and employed
from about a " parallactic machine,” provided with clock-
work to enable it to follow the diurnal motion. Both in-
ventions have been ascribed to Olaus Romer, who used
but did ...
[36] Siegfried Schoppe (2012). Heinrich der Seefahrer, Kolum-
bus und Magellan: Planung, Versuch und Irrtum bei der
Entdeckung der Neuen Welt durch Portugal und Spanien
vor 500 Jahren (in German). BoD – Books on Demand.
pp. 271–. ISBN 978-3-8482-0910-1. Der dänische As-
tronom Ole Römer (1644 – 1710) misst am Pariser Obser-
vatorium die Lichtgeschwindigkeit mit ... Das “Passage-
Instrument” setzt sich nicht durch, weil es für die Kapitäne
zu kompliziert und nur bei klarer Sicht und ganz ...
[37] Nederlands Natuur- en Geneeskundig Congres (1927).
Handelingen (in Dutch). 21-22. pp. 70–. ... slingeruur-
werk van Huygens veranderde de zaak echter, en nu kon
NOTES AND REFERENCES
Ole Römer, de geniale Deensche astronoom, in 1689 een
passage-instrument construeeren, dat in 1704 omgebouwd
werd
[38] http://universitetsavisen.ku.dk/dokument2/dokument2/
dokument7/Uni10.01.pdf/
[39] John S. Rigden; Roger H Stuewer (29 May 2009).
The Physical Tourist: A Science Guide for the Traveler.
Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 62–. ISBN 978-
3-7643-8933-8. Danish astronomer Ole Rømer (1644–
1710) studied at the University of Copenhagen. ... from
his home in Kannikestræde and at a new observatory built
to the west of Copenhagen, now the site of the Ole Rømer
Museum
[40] Nordisk universitets-tidskrift (in Danish). 1854. pp. 6–
. ... den længe forhen af den Danske berömle Astronom
Ole Römer forfærdigede Cirkel, hvilken han kaldte rota
meridiana, ... Ophold paa hans saakaldte Observatorium
Tusculanum i Landsbyen Wridslöse-Magte, nogle Mile fra
Kjöbenhavn.
[41] Historiske meddelelser om København (in Danish).
Københavns Kommune. 1936. pp. 316–. Trods
Observatoriets nu saa fortrinlige og moderne Indretning
synes Rømer dog ikke at have været helt tilfreds med
Forholdene. Det er, saa vidt det ... Hvis vi undersøger
de fleste af vore borgerlige Indretningers Historie, vil
vi støde paa Ole Rømers Navn. ... Hans Elever har
sikkert ogsaa observeret baade her og i det andet private
»Observatorium tusculanum«, som han byggede sig i
Vridsløsemagle.
[42] Carl Sophus Petersen; Vilhelm Andersen; Richard Jakob
Paulli (1929). Illustreret dansk litteraturhistorie: bd. Den
danske littterature fra folkevandringstiden indtil Holberg,
af C.S. Petersen under medvirkning af R. Paulli (in Dan-
ish). Gyldendai. pp. 716–. ... København og Roskilde,
sit “Observatorium Tusculanum”, som han med en klas-
sisk Vending symbolsk kaldte det.
[43] København (in Danish). Gyldendal A/S. 2004. pp. 133–.
ISBN 978-87-02-03645-9. Allerede Ole Rømer ( 1644
- 1710 ) var mere ambitiøs. Han syntes, der var alt for
meget lys og røg i byen til, at man kunne se ordentligt, så
han byggede sit eget observatorium i Vridsløsemagle langt
uden for København.
[44] Skalk, nyt om gammelt (in Danish). Forhistorisk Museum.
1999. pp. xiv–.
[45] Historisk tidsskrift (in Danish). 106. Den Danske Foren-
ing. 2006. pp. 743–. Det var astronomen Claus Thykier,
der havde fået den idé, at han ville finde det sted, hvor Ole
Rømer (1644-1710) i 1704 ... I 1979 kunne Ole Rømer
Museet åbne i lokaler på gården Kroppedal få hundrede
meter fra fundstedet med Claus ...
[46] “Kroppedal | Gyldendal — Den Store Danske”. Den-
storedanske.dk. Retrieved 2015-10-05.
[47] Camilla Stockmann (2014-11-23). “Tycho Brahe-maleri
er forsvundet” (in Danish). Politiken.dk. Retrieved 2015-
10-05.
 7

[48] Grethe Jensen; Benito Scocozza (1996). Politikens bog

om danskerne og verden: hvem, hvad, hvornår i 50 år (in
Danish). Politikens forlag. pp. 253–. ISBN 978-87-567-
5697-6.

[49] Mads Lidegaard (1 January 1998). Danske høje fra sagn

og tro (in Danish). Busck. pp. 86–. ISBN 978-87-17-
06754-7. Ole Rømers Høj (oprindelig Kongehøj) er den
største høj i hele området, 6 m høj med stejle sider og
en hel flad top. Den menes bygget i jernalderens sidste
århundreder eller vikingetiden og ligger lige øst for Vrid-
sløsemagle syd for ...

[50] http://gis.aarhus.dk/kommuneatlas/gadebeskrivelser/
Gade_Ole_Roemers_Gade.htm

[51] Bent Zinglersen (1972). Københavnske gadenavne og

deres historie (in Danish). Politiken. pp. 185–. ISBN
978-87-567-1651-2.

[52] “The Roemer satellite”. Astro.phys.au.dk. 2001-02-14.

Retrieved 2015-10-05.

[53] “Satellit fra Århus i rummet i 2003 - Aarhus” (in Danish).

Jyllands-posten.dk. Retrieved 2015-10-05.

[54] Peter Zamarovský (18 November 2013). Why is it dark

at night?: Story of dark night sky paradox. AuthorHouse.
pp. 157–. ISBN 978-1-4918-7881-1. ... the homeless
and prostitutes. In 1705 he became mayor of Copenhagen
and a year later, Chairman of the Danish State Council.
He died shortly before his sixtieth birthday. The Römer
Crater is located in the north-east section of the Moon.

[55] “Rebuilding Civilization: The Ultimate Time Ma-

chine 1: The Cosmic Treadmill”. rebuildingciviliza-
tion.blogspot.dk.

9 External links
• Roemer, Ole Christensen (at the Galileo Project)
• Obs.univ-lyon1.fr, Démonstration touchant le mou-
vement de la lumière (The 1676 paper on the speed
of light, in old French, as ordinary text)

• Rømer and the Doppler Principle. (further details

on Rømer’s result)

• (Danish) Fysikeren Ole Rømer (in Danish)

• Kroppedal Museum
• Ole Rømer on the 50 Danish Kroner banknote
8 10 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

10 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

10.1 Text
• Ole Rømer Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_R%C3%B8mer?oldid=751958350 Contributors: Magnus Manske, Brion VIB-
BER, Bryan Derksen, Sjc, Andre Engels, XJaM, Sfdan, Lir, Michael Hardy, Egil, Looxix~enwiki, Glenn, Rl, Pizza Puzzle, Dysprosia,
Zoicon5, Maximus Rex, Twang, Robbot, Smallweed, Wile E. Heresiarch, ManuelGR, Zigger, Curps, Csmiller, Kuralyov, DanielDe-
maret, Icairns, Sam Hocevar, Urhixidur, D6, Perey, Guanabot, Vsmith, Roo72, Nvj, Byrial, Uppland, Bender235, RJHall, Kwamik-
agami, Hayabusa future, Jojit fb, Polylerus, Nsaa, Jumbuck, Gene Nygaard, Miaow Miaow, Tabletop, Twthmoses, Ulcph, Kesla, Ketil-
trout, The wub, FlaBot, Physchim62, Valentinian, Chobot, Jaraalbe, Bgwhite, YurikBot, Alexmillar, Terfili, Jbourj, Anclation~enwiki,
SmackBot, KocjoBot~enwiki, Eskimbot, Yamaguchi , Gilliam, Enkyklios, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, SashatoBot, Hestemand, John,
Demicx, Hemmingsen, Joseph Solis in Australia, CmdrObot, Renamed user abcedarium, WeggeBot, Iokseng, Myasuda, CMG, Cydebot,
Pascal.Tesson, Thijs!bot, Trevyn, Glj1952, Escarbot, .anacondabot, Magioladitis, Connormah, Mxracer1778, Mxracer1779, MartinDK,
Kroppedal, Klausok, Rettetast, Michael Daly, M-le-mot-dit, Plindenbaum, Ale2006, Hugo999, Spinningspark, SieBot, Portalian, Ger-
akibot, RSStockdale, BenoniBot~enwiki, Parkjunwung, Saddhiyama, Manishearth, DragonBot, Alexbot, Addbot, CanadianLinuxUser,
SamatBot, Norbert Dragon, 84user, Lightbot, ‫דוד שי‬, Ibrahim-saeed, Meisam, Luckas-bot, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Citation bot, Xqbot,
Brooklyn Eagle, GrouchoBot, Omnipaedista, Ramblersen, RibotBOT, SassoBot, Krscal, Cannolis, Citation bot 1, Elockid, LittleWink,
Tom.Reding, RedBot, Fixer88, PrinceRegentLuitpold, Jauhienij, Lotje, EmausBot, John of Reading, The Nut, Y-barton, Jschreve, Clue-
Bot NG, El Roih, Widr, Dampbarn, Bibcode Bot, BG19bot, Turtlesilove93, ChrisGualtieri, SBareSSomErMig, Ybidzian, DavidLeighEllis,
Sam Sailor, RhinoMind, Abitslow, Monkbot, Jim Carter, SaraJONeill, Demagur, KasparBot, Fedelmid, Aizaz Arif and Anonymous: 95

10.2 Images
• File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contribu-
tors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:Illustration_from_1676_article_on_Ole_Rømer’{}s_measurement_of_the_speed_of_light.jpg Source: https://upload.
wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Illustration_from_1676_article_on_Ole_R%C3%B8mer%27s_measurement_of_the_speed_
of_light.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Olaf (Ole) Roemer, “Demonstration tovchant le mouvement de la lumiere trouvé par M.
Römer de l' Academie Royale des Sciences,” December 7, 1676. Original artist: Ole Rømer
• File:Ole_Rømer_Signature.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Ole_R%C3%B8mer_Signature.svg Li-
cense: Public domain Contributors: Traced in Adobe Illustrator from http://www.ub.uu.se/Global/Kulturarvsmaterial/Handskrifter/
Waller%20Russin%20Roemer%201a.jpg Original artist: Ole Rømer
• File:Ole_Rømer_at_work.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Ole_R%C3%B8mer_at_work.jpg Li-
cense: Public domain Contributors: Horrebows Basis Astronomiæ Original artist: Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718'
title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20' height='11' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='1050' data-file-height='590' /></a>
• File:Question_book-new.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0
Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007
• File:Rundetårn_over_rooftops.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Rundet%C3%A5rn_over_
rooftops.JPG License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: SFDan

10.3 Content license

• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0