Ole Rømer was born in Aarhus in 1644. He graduated from Aarhus Cathedral School in 1662.
His last name is often spelled Roemer, because foreigners cannot type the Danish letter ø.
After graduation he moved to the capital Copenhagen where he studied astronomy at the University. While he was there, he worked with the French astronomer Jean Picard (1620-1682).
In 1672, he travelled to France with Jean Picard. He stayed for nine years. While he was there, he had an amazing career:
** King Louis XIV invited him to teach the crown prince (le dauphin).
** He became a member of l'Académie Royale des Sciences which was established in 1666.
** He was invited to work on the creation and development of the fountains in the park behind the Palace of Versailles.
All these things happened, even though France was a Catholic country, while Ole Rømer was a Protestant.
** He continued astronomical observations which he had started in Denmark in 1671.
His purpose was to determine the speed of light. His observations continued until 1675. The result of his observations was announced in 1676.
He was the first astronomer in the world to determine that light has a certain speed.
According to Ole Rømer, the speed of light is somewhere between 212,000 and 230,000 km per second. This estimate is too low.
In 1728, the English astronomer James Bradley made a calculation which was closer to the correct figure. According to Bradley, the speed of light is 301,000 km per second.
The correct figure is 300,000 km per second (using round figures).
In 1681, Ole Rømer returned to Denmark where he settled down in Copenhagen. When he was back in Denmark, he had an amazing career:
** He became a professor of astronomy at Copenhagen University
** He was instrumental in a national project to measure the size of Denmark
** He became a member of the Supreme Court
** He became chief of the police force in Copenhagen.
As chief of police, he arranged for installing lights in the streets of the capital
** He convinced the Danish king that it was time to abandon the Julian calendar and switch to the Gregorian calendar, which had been introduced in Catholic lands in 1582. The switch was made in the year 1700.
** He invented a thermometer where the scale was based on two fixed points: the low point where salt water freezes. The high point where water is boiling.
In 1708, the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) was in Copenhagen. While he was there, he had a meeting with Ole Rømer who showed him his thermometer.
Fahrenheit was fascinated with Rømer's thermometer. He began to work on the case. In 1724, he presented his own thermometer with the scale which is named after him: the Fahrenheit scale, which is based on two fixed points.
Ole Rømer was a busy man who had many lines of work. He was a very practical person who accomplished many important and useful things in his life.
He died in Copenhagen in 1710.
What made him famous beyond the borders of Denmark is the fact that he was the first astronomer to determine that light has a certain speed.
PS. Aarhus Cathedral School is old. Nobody knows exactly how old but it is known that it was operating in 1195.
In 1995, the school celebrated the 800-year anniversary of the school. It is not the oldest school in Denmark but it is certainly one of the oldest schools in Denmark.
I graduated from this school in 1969, more than 300 years after Ole Rømer. Ten years later I returned to the school as a teacher. I was a teacher of History and Latin at this school for more than twenty-five years (1979-2006).
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This small memorial plaque is placed on the wall next to the entrance of the school from which he graduated in 1662. The Danish text says:
Han målte lysets tøven
In English:
“He measured the speed of light.”
The text of the memorial plaque on the wall next to the entrance of the school
** Ole Rømer
** 1644-1710
** He measured the speed of light
** Graduated from Aarhus Cathedral School in 1662
This memorial relief on the wall of the city hall in Aarhus shows the famous astronomer Ole Rømer with some of the instruments which he used to observe the movements of the planets
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