In 1681, Roemer returned to Denmark and was appointed professor of astronomy at the University of Copenhagen, and the same year he married Anne Marie Bartholin, Rasmus' daughter. He was an active observer, both at the University Observatory at Rundetårn and in his home, using improved instruments of his own construction. Unfortunately, his observations did not survive because they were lost in the great Copenhagen Fire of 1728 which was the largest fire in the history of Copenhagen. Luckily his assistant, Peder Horrebow, loyally described and wrote about Roemer's observations.
While Roemer held the position of royal mathematician, he introduced the first national system for weights and measures in Denmark on May 1 1683. Initially based on the Rhine foot, a more accurate national standard was adopted in 1698. Soon after this in 1700 Roemer managed to get the king to introduce the Gregorian Calender in Denmark and Norway, something that Tyco Brahe unsuccessfully argued decades ago. Roemer also developed one of the first temperature scales. Fahrenheit visited him in 1708 and improved on the Rømer scale, the result being the familiar Fahrenheit temperature scale which is still used today in some countries. Roemer also established numerous navigation schools in Danish cities. In 1705, Roemer was made the second Chief of the Copenhagen Police, a position he kept until his death in 1710. As one of his first acts, he fired the entire force, because he was convinced that the morale was alarmingly low. He was also the inventor of the first street lights in Copenhagen, and maintained social order within. This was the start of a social reform. In Copenhagen, Roemer made rules for building new houses, got the city's water supply and sewers back in order, ensured that the city's fire department got new and better equipment, and was the moving force behind the planning and making of new pavement in the streets and on the city squares.
Among all of Ole Roemer's accomplishments and contributions to his city, his most noted achievement was being the first person to quantify the speed of light. By 1675 Roemer was 31 and working in Paris with Jean Picard. He was interested in the movement of Jupiter's nearest moon. He tracked it as it orbited in and out of Jupiter's shadow. It entered the shadow, then reemerged 42 hours, 28 minutes, and 35 seconds later. It moved with metronomic regularity. In one hundred transits, Jupiter's moon could be relied on to emerge once more, right on schedule. Six months and 100 laps later, Roemer set his clock and focused his telescope on Jupiter. Minutes passed but there was no moon for him to observe. About 15 minutes later Roemer presumably theorized what was happening. Earth had swung hundreds of millions of miles away from Jupiter during the long winter months. Light had to travel that vast distance. It'd obviously taken the extra time to do so. He put pencil to paper and concluded that light had to move 192,500 miles per second to lose just fifteen minutes. Roemer was within three percent of the right value. Which was only about 70 years after telescopes made it onto the scene.
Overall it is apparent that Ole Roemer had an impressive impact on not only his own community and society but for the rest of the world up to the present. His achievements have earned him much recognition and awards such as a plaque at the Observatory of Paris which commemorates what was, in effect, the first measurement of a universal quantity made on this planet. There is also an Ole Roemer Museum on the island of Zealand in Denmark which contains the works and observations of Roemer and contains a large collection of ancient and more recent astronomical instruments.
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