Erik Holmberg (13 November 1908 – 1 February 2000) was a Swedish astronomer and cosmologist.
In 1941, Holmberg performed arguably the first N-body simulation on the dynamics of interacting galaxies.
[2] In order to simulate the effect, he constructed an array of 37 lightbulbs.
Using photocells, he measured the simulated force of gravity.
[3] The Holmberg radius, a measure for the size of a galaxy on the sky, is named after him.