Astronomer: Ole Røemer

Ole Røemer was born September 25, 1644 in Aarhus, Denmark and would soon be known as the discoverer of the speed of light. Røemer was born to father Christen Pedersen Røemer, a small merchant who would die in 1663 leaving his son navigational tools and books in which he would later use to toy with scientific discovery.  Røemer went on to school at University of Copenhagen where he studied mainly astronomy while dabbling with physics, working with Thomas and Erasmus Bartholin before going on to the Paris Observatory where he would soon make an unexpected discovery. He died in Copenhagen, Denmark on September 19, 1710 at age 66.

While studying one of Jupitor's satellites at the Paris Observatory, Røemer unexpectedly discovered the mathematical speed of light. In trying to calculate the satellite orbit of Jupitor using mathematics, he came across a continual number pattern which he then discovered was the speed of light and was able to discover its use in astronomy. He is now known as the first person to measure the speed of light.

 Without Røemer's discovery of the speed of light, today astronomers, scientists, and physicists would be unable to calculate things such as wavelength, frequencies, and distance from Earth and other spacial objects. This lack of knowledge would be the cause living in a world where most discoveries in astronomy made after Røemer's would be incapable without knowing the speed of light for calculations and discoveries of the unknown.