Historical Measurements

Before the 17th century scientists believed that there was no such thing as the "speed of light". They thought that light
could travel any distance in no time at all. Later, several attempts were made to measure that speed. In 1667, Galileo is
often credited with being the first scientist to try to determine the speed of light. His method was quite simple. He and an
assistant each had lamps which could be covered and uncovered at will. Galileo would uncover his lamp, and as soon as
his assistant saw the light he would uncover his. By measuring the elapsed time until Galileo saw his assistant's light and
knowing how far apart the lamps were, Galileo reasoned he should be able to determine the speed of the light.

1667 Galileo: at least 10 times faster than sound.  

In 1667, Galileo is often credited with being the first scientist to try to determine the speed of light. His method was quite
simple. He and an assistant each had lamps which could be covered and uncovered at will. Galileo would uncover his
lamp, and as soon as his assistant saw the light he would uncover his. By measuring the elapsed time until Galileo saw his
assistant's light and knowing how far apart the lamps were, Galileo reasoned he should be able to determine the speed of
the light. His conclusion: "If not instantaneous, it is extraordinarily rapid". Most likely he used a water clock, where the
amount of water that empties from a container represents the amount of time that has passed. Galileo just deduced that
light travels at least ten times faster than sound.
1675 Ole Roemer: 200,000 Km/sec  
In 1675, the Danish astronomer Ole Roemer noticed, while observing Jupiter's moons, that the times of the eclipses of the
moons of Jupiter seemed to depend on the relative positions of Jupiter and Earth. If Earth was close to Jupiter, the orbits
of its moons appeared to speed up. If Earth was far from Jupiter, they seemed to slow down. Reasoning that the moons
orbital velocities should not be affected by their separation, he deduced that the apparent change must be due to the extra
time for light to travel when Earth was more distant from Jupiter. Using the commonly accepted value for the diameter of
the Earth's orbit, he came to the conclusion that light must have traveled at 200,000 Km/s.
1728 James Bradley: 301,000 Km/s
In 1728 James Bradley, an English physicist, estimated the speed of light in vacuum to be around 301,000 km/s. He used
stellar aberration to calculate the speed of light. Stellar aberration causes the apparent position of stars to change due to
the motion of Earth around the sun. Stellar aberration is approximately the ratio of the speed that the earth orbits the sun to
the speed of light. He knew the speed of Earth around the sun and he could also measure this stellar aberration angle.
These two facts enabled him to calculate the speed of light in vacuum.
1849 Hippolyte Louis Fizeau: 313,300 Km/s
A French physicist, Fizeau, shone a light between the teeth of a rapidly rotating toothed wheel. A mirror more than 5
miles away reflected the beam back through the same gap between the teeth of the wheel. There were over a hundred teeth
in the wheel. The wheel rotated at hundreds of times a second; therefore a fraction of a second was easy to measure. By
varying the speed of the wheel, it was possible to determine at what speed the wheel was spinning too fast for the light to
pass through the gap between the teeth, to the remote mirror, and then back through the same gap. He knew how far the
light traveled and the time it took. By dividing that distance by the time, he got the speed of light. Fizeau measured the
speed of light to be 313,300 Km/s.
1862 Leon Foucault 299,796 Km/s
Another French physicist, Leon Foucault, used a similar method to Fizeau. He shone a light to a rotating mirror, then it
bounced back to a remote fixed mirror and then back to the first rotating mirror. But because the first mirror was rotating,
the light from the rotating mirror finally bounced back at an angle slightly different from the angle it initially hit the
mirror with. By measuring this angle, it was possible to measure the speed of the light. Foucault continually increased the
accuracy of this method over the years. His final measurement in 1862 determined that light traveled at 299,796 Km/s.
Today: 299792.458 km/s
299,792.458 km/s is the nominal speed of light in vacuum. But 1400 years ago it was stated in the Quran (Koran, the book
of Islam) that angels travel in one day the same distance that the moon travels in 1000 lunar years, that is,  12000 Lunar
Orbits / Earth Day. Outside gravitational fields 12000 Lunar Orbits / Earth Day turned out to be the known speed of light!
See proof: SPEED OF LIGHT. Can anyone prove us wrong?

Variable Speed of Light

An observer outside gravitational fields measures the speed of light locally (in his location) at 299792.458 km/s but when
he looks towards a black hole he sees the speed of light there to be as slow as a few meters/s. At the same time an
observer freefalling into that black hole measures the speed of light locally (in his location) at 299792.458 km/s; when he
looks towards the black hole he sees the speed of light there much slower; when he looks away from the black hole he
sees the speed of light there much faster. When he looks towards outside gravitational fields he sees the speed of light
there a zillion km/s. In 1915 (10 years after Special Relativity) Einstein developed another theory called General
Relativity that deals with gravitational fields and according to this latest theory the speed of light appears to vary with the
intensity of the gravitational field.
Effect of gravity on measured Speed of Light
Recalling the very famous second postulate of Special Relativity declared by Einstein (1905):
“The velocity c of light in vacuum is the same in all inertial frames of reference in all directions and depend neither on
the velocity of the source nor on the velocity of the observer”
Einstein's theory of special relativity says that the speed of light in vacuum is always measured the same (at 299,792.458
km/s) however this is only true locally for systems that are inertial, which means not accelerating. From Newton's second
law: if forces exist implies acceleration exists; this means that if you are in a spaceship and fire your rockets then you are
not inertial. 

The other factor besides acceleration is gravity. Albert Einstein himself emphasized in his paper in 1917:
“The results of the special relativity hold only so long as we are able to disregard the influence of gravitational fields on
the phenomena”
In 1915 (10 years after Special Relativity) Einstein developed another theory called General Relativitythat deals with
gravitational fields and according to this latest theory the velocity of light appears to vary with the intensity of the
gravitational field. For example, an observer outside gravitational fields measures the speed of light locally (in his
location) at 299792.458 km/s but when he looks towards a black hole he sees the speed of light there to be as slow as a
few meters/sec. At the same time an observer freefallinginto that black hole (zero-g) measures the speed of light locally
(in his location) at 299792.458 km/s; when he looks towards the black hole he sees the speed of light there much slower;
when he looks away from the black hole he sees the speed of light there much faster. If he tries to resist his freefall into
that black hole (by firing his rockets for example) he will not measure the speed of light locally anymore at 299792.458
km/s; instead the stronger the g-force that he feels the faster light appears to him. Again when he looks towards the black
hole he sees the speed of light there much slower; when he looks away from the black hole he sees the speed of light there
much faster. In any case, freefalling or not, he will never see the speed of light outside gravitational fields at 299792.458
km/s. Finally, there is no difference between the effects of g-forces experienced from these rockets and the effects of g-
forces experienced when standing on planets, stars... hence an observer standing on a black hole measures the speed of
light locally (in his location) much faster than 299792.458 km/s; when he looks towards outside gravitational fields he
sees the speed of light there a zillion km/s. 

To see the steps how Einstein theorized that the measured speed of light in a gravitational field is actually not a constant,
but rather a variable depending upon the reference frame of the observer:

Einstein wrote this paper in 1911 in German. It predated the full formal development of general relativity by about four
years. You can find an English translation of this paper in the Dover book 'The Principle of Relativity' beginning on page
99; you will find in section 3 of that paper Einstein's derivation of the variable speed of light in a gravitational potential,
eqn (3). The result is:

Where is the gravitational potential relative to the point where the speed of light co is measured. Simply put: Light
appears to travel slower in stronger gravitational fields (near bigger mass). 

You can find a more sophisticated derivation later by Einstein (1955) from the full theory of general relativity in the weak
field approximation: 

'The Meaning of Relativity', A. Einstein, Princeton University Press (1955). 

See pages 92-93, eqn (107); the variable velocity of light expressed in coordinates is:

Simply put: Light appears to travel slower near bigger mass (in stronger gravitational fields). A non-mathematical
discussion of this can be found in: 

Bergmann takes the deflection of light by the gravitational field of a star as evidence of the decreased speed of light in a
gravitational field. You can also find modern direct derivations that lead to the same results by Einstein: 

'Relativity, Gravitation, and Cosmology', T. Cheng, Oxford University Press (2005). 

 For the 1911 results see pages 48-49, eqn (3.39):

For the 1955 results but not in coordinates see page 93, eqn (6.28):

Namely the 1955 approximation shows a variation in km/sec twice as much as first predicted in 1911. 

Km/sec is a scalar, however gravitational length contraction and time dilation make it impossible to represent the speed of
light by a scalar.

Contrary to Special Relativity, the measured speed of light in a gravitational field is not a constant, but rather a variable
depending upon the reference frame of the observer; what one observer sees as true another observer sees as false. The
only observers that can actually agree that the speed of light outside gravitational fields is 299792.458 km/s are those who
are themselves outside gravitational fields.

Since only in "local inertial frames" does the measured speed of light equals the nominal speed of light (299792.458
km/s) then it becomes important to learn about the types of non-inertial frames:
1. If you are in a spaceship and fire your rockets then you are not inertial.
2. If you are orbiting the sun then a gravitational force is accelerating you towards the sun; hence you are
not inertial either (even if your tangential speed around the sun remains constant).
 You can find the answer in: 

"General Relativity", Lewis Ryder, Cambridge University Press (2009).

Page 7: “There are, however, two different types of such [non-inertial] motion; it may for instance be acceleration in a
straight line, or circular motion with constant speed. In the first case the magnitude of the velocity vector changes but its
direction remains constant, while in the second case the magnitude is constant but the direction changes. In each of these
cases the motion is non-inertial, but there is a conceptual distinction to be made.”
Hence in General Relativity, as long as Earth is orbiting the sun then Earth is a non-inertial frame of reference. Earth can
only be a local inertial frame if it exits the solar system, or it enters a gravitational freefall towards the sun (straight in
from afar). 

Similarly in classical orbital mechanics, as long as Earth is orbiting the sun then Earth is non-inertial (influenced by the
sun). However we discovered that outside the gravitational field of the sun 12000 Lunar Orbits/Earth Day becomes
equivalent to the local speed of light. An observer near a black hole for example sees the speed of light outside
gravitational fields a zillion km/s, but still equal to 12000 Lunar Orbits/Earth Day! This means that if the local speed of
light (or the local speed of any object) were defined in km/sec then it will appear to vary for observers in different
gravitational fields; however if this speed were defined in Lunar Orbits/Earth Day then it would never appear to vary to
anyone because12000 Lunar Orbits/Earth Day is common to all observers. It also turned out to be a constant forever.
Effective Speed of Light
Scientists just confirmed the existence of "Dark Energy", a mysterious repulsive force that acts in opposite to gravity.
Scientists today do not know what this "Dark Energy" is but they know that it is causing the entire universe to expand at
an increasing rate. This Dark Energy is even causing distant galaxies to recede from us faster than our local speed of light.
This expansion is causing light en route to be dragged away from us. This makes observers to see distant inbound light at
effective speeds less than 299792.458 km/s and to see distant outbound light at effective speeds greater than 299792.458
km/s. However every inertial observer measures the speed of light locally (in his location) at 299792.458 km/s in any
direction.

Effect of Dark Energy on the measured Speed of Light

The universe is 13.7 bln years old, however in every direction we look we see objects 47 bln light years away, that is, light
should have needed 47 bln years to reach us. So you might ask how could light travel 47 bln light years in just 13.7 bln
years? Well this is just a consequence of the expansion of the universe: Light gets dragged away from us.
The expansion of the universe is causing light en route to be dragged away from us. This makes observers to see distant
inbound light at effective speeds less than 299792.458 km/sec and to see distant outbound light at effective speeds greater
than 299792.458 km/sec. However every non-accelerating observer measures the speed of light locally (in his location) at
299792.458 km/sec in any direction.
Scientists just confirmed the existence of "Dark Energy", a mysterious repulsive force that acts in opposite to gravity. As
the distance increases, the attractive gravitational force decreases but this mysterious repulsive force increases. This
repulsive force is pushing galaxies apart; the greater the distance the greater the repulsion. Scientists today do not know
what this "Dark Energy" is, but they know that it is causing the entire universe to expand at an increasing rate. For the first
7 bln years after the Big Bang the expansion of the universe slowed down because the attractive gravitational forces were
stronger than this repulsive force. However as the distances between the galaxies increased the attractive gravitational
forces weakened while this repulsive force became dominant. This made the expansion of the universe to enter an
accelerating phase:
Do you remember how a rose opens up? That is, the outer petals move outwards more than the inner petals? Imagine that
those petals have galaxies on them and that we are at the center of the rose. Now imagine this rose opening up; the farther
out the petals are the faster their recession away from the center (where we are). Well this is exactly how the universe
expands around us; the farther galaxies are from us the faster their recession away from us. 

Do you remember how an ambulance siren sounds like when it approaches you? And how it sounds like when it recedes
from you? The sound pitch changes, right? Similarly when a light source approaches you or recedes from you its colors
change. If it is approaching you the colors shift towards the blue, and if it is receding from you its colors shift towards the
red. Today we know that galaxies are rushing away from us from redshifting of their light. The more distant galaxies are
the more reddish their colors appear to us. 

All observers anywhere in the universe also see the universe expanding away from them the same way (like a rose).
Hence everyone in the universe thinks that he is at the center of the Big Bang!!! This is because the Big Bang did not have
a center. See, if you continue walking on Earth in the same direction you will circle Earth and eventually come back to
where you started, right? Similarly if you continue traveling through the universe in the same direction you might come
back to where you started; we still don't know this for sure but what we are sure of is that every observer in the universe
thinks that he is at the center of the Big Bang; every observer in the universe sees the universe expanding away from him
like a rose. 
The future of the universe has three possible scenarios depending on this dark energy: The first scenario is if this dark
energy is constant over time; then the expansion of the universe would continue accelerating forever. After a hundred
billion years or so from now most of today's observable galaxies will not be visible (they will disappear from our sight but
they will continue to exist). This is called the Big Chill (cold & lonely): 
The second scenario is if this dark energy increases with time then the universe will experience a catastrophic runaway
expansion. Within 100 billion years or so from now every galaxy, star and atom in the universe will be ripped apart!!!
This is called the "Big Rip":

The third scenario is if this dark energy decreases with time. This eventually leads to a slowing of the expansion of the
universe followed by a recollapse. This is called the "Big Crunch". In some ways this scenario resembles the Big Bang in
reverse: 

NASA recently ruled out the second scenario. This leaves the universe with only two possible endings: Big Chill or Big
Crunch, depending on what this Dark Energy turns out to be. 
Today we can observe galaxies 13 billion years old, that is, light already traveled 13 billion years before it reached us. If
the universe were not expanding then light from those galaxies would have only needed 13 million years to reach us (ratio
of distances might be 1000 times). If the expansion of the universe suddenly stops today then light emitted today from
those galaxies would need 47 billion years to reach us. This is because the expansion of the universe is causing inbound
light to be dragged away from us en route. Hence for an observer on Earth the effective displacement of light is different
than the total distance traveled by light (different than 13 billion years multiplied by 299792.458 km/sec).

When those distant galaxies (13 billion light years away) first emitted this light they were receding from us at speeds
greater than 299792.458 km/sec (faster than our local speed of light). However the expansion of the universe slowed
down for the first 7 billion years. This gave light a chance to approach Earth. However the expansion of the universe has
been accelerating for the last 7 billion years. This made those galaxies to recede away from us today at speeds again
greater than 299792.458 km/sec. 

We are sure that galaxies 13 billion light years away today have recessional speeds greater than our local speed of light. If
the universe continues to expand forever (first two scenarios) then light emitted today from those galaxies will not reach
us in the future anymore (they will disappear from our sight). No observer anywhere in the universe feels any acceleration
because this Dark Energy is causing spacetime itself to expand. This Dark Energy is creating space everywhere each
second. If this created space each second between a certain point and Earth measures more than 299792.458 km then light
from that point traveling at 299792.458 km/sec can never reach Earth. An observer today 13 billion light years away sees
light locally (at his location) to travel towards Earth at 299792.458 km/sec, however this light will never reach Earth. This
distant light heading towards us is actually being displaced away from us (negative effective speed). 

The expansion of the universe causes observers to see distant inbound light at effective speeds less than 299792.458
km/sec and to see distant outbound light at effective speeds greater than 299792.458 km/sec. However every non-
accelerating observer measures the speed of light locally (in his location) at 299792.458 km/sec in any direction. 

Since the effective speed of light varies with distance and direction then this means that if the local speed of light (or the
local speed of any object) were defined in km/sec then this definition will be wrong for distant observers. By using
classical orbital mechanics we discovered that outside the gravitational field of the sun 12000 Lunar Orbits/Earth
Day becomes equivalent to our local speed of light. This definition will never be wrong to any distant observer
because 12000 Lunar Orbits/Earth Day is independent of direction, co-moving with the expanding universe and common
to all observers. It also turned out to be a constant forever.