> Beeckman understood that, lacking lasers, the basis of any good scientific experiment should always involve explosions of some kind; thus, his experiment involved detonating gunpowder.
Incidentally, it's quite interesting to me that the most accurate measurements of c are actually indirect measurements. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light
> Beeckman understood that, lacking lasers, the basis of any good scientific experiment should always involve explosions of some kind; thus, his experiment involved detonating gunpowder.
Incidentally, it's quite interesting to me that the most accurate measurements of c are actually indirect measurements. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light