Nils Christofer Dunér

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Nils Christofer Dunér

Swedish astronomer

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Born:: May 21, 1839, Billeberga, Sweden

Died:: Nov. 10, 1914, Stockholm (aged 75)

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Nils Christofer Dunér (born May 21, 1839, Billeberga, Sweden—died Nov. 10, 1914, Stockholm) was a Swedish astronomer who studied the rotational period of the Sun.

Dunér was senior astronomer (1864–88) at the Royal University Observatory in Lund, Sweden. In 1867 he began his investigations of binary stars. He also performed pioneering stellar spectroscopy studies (studies of the individual characteristic wavelengths of light).

Shortly after he became professor of astronomy at the University of Uppsala and director of the Uppsala Observatory in 1888, Dunér undertook a now-classic study of the Sun’s rotation. Using the Doppler shift, he established that the Sun’s rotational period is about 25 1/2 days near the Equator but up to 38 1/2 days near the Sun’s poles.

Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.

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