Hindu Pride
Who determined speed of light first?
Most believe that speed of light, 186,000 miles per second, was first
determined by Roemer in 1675. Recently Dr. Subhash Kak has found
that the celebrated commentary on the Rigveda by Sayana (c. 1315-1387)
says, “it is remembered that the sun traverses 2,202 yojanas in half a
nimesha.” Now one nimesha = 16/75 second, and 1 yojana = about 9
miles. Substituting these values in Sayana’s statement we get 186,000
miles per second! So, we Hindus knew it long long time ago.
Sayana was a minister in the court of King Bukka I of Vijayanagar
Empire in south Bharat. Rigveda is a few thousand years old.
Dr. Subhash Kak is a professor of Astro-physics at Louisiana State University.
He studies ancient texts to find true history of Science. His
home page is at: http://www.ee.LSU.edu/kak. The above information
is found in his article in Hindu Vishwa, Voice of Hindus in North America,
Aug.-Sept. 1998 issue. - SV
