2. Was born 25
September 1644 in
Århus, Denmark
Died 19 September
1710 in Copenhagen,
Denmark
In scientific literature
alternative spellings
such as "Roemer",
"Römer", or "Romer"
3.
4. His Greatest
Accomplishment was the
first quantitative
measurements of the speed
of light.
(Giovanni Cassini said about
Rømer’s work: “This second
inequality appears to be due to
light taking some time to reach
us from the satellite; light seems
to take about ten to eleven
minutes [to cross] a distance
equal to the half-diameter of the
terrestrial orbit.”)
5.
6. Is Danish (from Denmark)
Parents are Christen Pedersen and Anna
Olufsdatter Storm.
His father took the name Rømer, which means
that he was from Rømø, to distinguish himself
from a couple of other people with the same
name as his.
7. Before his time at
the University of
Copenhagen, Rømer
was living in the
home of his mentor
Rasmus Bartholin, in
1668. In 1681, Rømer
married Anne Marie
Bartholin, the
daughter of Rasmus
Bartholin.
8. University of Copenhagen
employed by the French government: Louis XIV made
him teacher for the Dauphin (heir)
Rømer returned to Denmark and was appointed
professor of astronomy at the University of Copenhagen
in 1681
In 1700, Rømer managed to get the king to introduce the
Gregorian calendar in Denmark-Norway — something
Tycho Brahe had argued for in vain a hundred years
earlier.
In 1705, Rømer was made the second Chief of the
Copenhagen Police, a position he kept until his death in
1710.
He didn’t get any awards