Variable speed of light with Einstein and stated both speed and direction of light change in a gravity field first published 1923 in English, 1920 in German. Born expressed the magnitude of light speed as the square root of (−"g"/"g") gravity components in general relativity to leave no doubt about his intent. Richard Tolman also agreed with Einstein and expressed the radial speed of light as "dr"/"dt" in a gravity field. where "m" is "MG"/"c" and where natural units are used such that "c" is equal to one. Robert Dicke, in 1957, developed a related VSL theory of gravity. In contrast to Einstein, Dicke
Speed of light can take minutes to hours for a message to get from Earth to the spacecraft, or vice versa. The light seen from stars left them many years ago, allowing the study of the history of the universe by looking at distant objects. The finite speed of light also limits the theoretical maximum speed of computers, since information must be sent within the computer from chip to chip. The speed of light can be used with time of flight measurements to measure large distances to high precision. Ole Rømer first demonstrated in 1676 that light travels at a finite speed (as