Speed Of Light Calculation Experiment Done By Danish Astronomer Ole Rømer, Honored By Google Via Google Doodle

Google launched an awesome Google Doodle yesterday as homage to Danish astronomer Ole Rømer, who was the first person to successfully calculate the speed of light. The Google Doodle marked the 340th anniversary of successful calculation of speed of light and its profound effects on all the subsequent astronomical and space research explorations.

How Ole Rømer Determined the Speed of Light

Ole Rømer and Galileo Galilei were two of the few scientific researchers who refused to believe that the speed of light is infinite. In 1675-1676, Danish astronomer Ole Rømer was busy studying the time variations between the eclipses of "Lo," Jupiter's moon. He found that the time was actually dependent on the relative position and distance between Earth and Jupiter, which varies while the Earth revolves in its orbit, reports Tech2.

Using the diameter of the Earth, Ole Rømer calculated the speed of light. The calculation was further refined by many astronomers and the exact value of the speed of light, as people know it now, was calculated.

Google Doodle Represented Ole Rømer's Experiment

Google tried to depict the experiment of Ole Rømer in the Google Doodle launched yesterday. The Google Doodle represented the Sun, Earth and Jupiter with its two "Os" and Ole Rømer is shown to be looking at the sky and calculating the speed of light. The Google Doodle commemorated 340 years of the publication of original findings of Ole Rømer, as per The Independent.

This Google Doodle can also be considered as a sign of relentless scientific research, which may or may not turn out to be rewarding for the researchers. This is said so, because when Ole Rømer published his findings in the Journal des sçavans scientific journal, it faced criticism and rejection from the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris and the church. After two decades of his death, scientific researchers started accepting his theories and he was given the credit of the first person in the world to successfully calculate the speed of light.