Editing Piet Hein (scientist)

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{{Short description|Danish polymath (1905–1996)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox person
 | name             = Piet Hein
 | image            = Piet Hein and H.C. Andersen (cropped).jpg
 | image_size       = 250px
 | caption          = Piet Hein (Kumbel) in front of the [[Hans Christian Andersen|H.C. Andersen]] statue in [[Kongens Have]], [[Copenhagen]], 1983
 | birth_name       = 
 | birth_date       = {{birth date|1905|12|16|df=y}}
 | birth_place      = [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]]
 | death_date       = {{death date and age|1996|04|17|1905|12|16|df=y}}
 | death_place      = [[Funen]], [[Denmark]]
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 | known_for        = Puzzles, poems
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'''Piet Hein''' (16 December 1905 – 17 April 1996) was a [[Danish people|Danish]] [[polymath]] (mathematician, inventor, designer, writer and poet), often writing under the [[Old Norse]] pseudonym '''Kumbel''', meaning "[[tombstone]]". His short poems, known as ''[[grook|gruks]]'' or grooks ({{langx|da|gruk}}), first started to appear in the daily newspaper ''[[Politiken]]'' shortly after the German [[occupation of Denmark]] in April 1940 under the pseudonym "Kumbel Kumbell".<ref>[http://www.piethein.com/usr/piethein/HomepagUK.nsf/webdocs/2e8962af9e1fffeac1256c860039c7eb?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=1 piethein.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100804202919/http://www.piethein.com/usr/piethein/HomepagUK.nsf/webdocs/2e8962af9e1fffeac1256c860039c7eb?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=1 |date=4 August 2010 }} "For a long time they appeared under the signature Kumbel Kumbell. Here is the reason why: Piet is the Dutch form of the name Peter or Petrus, which means rock, stone, and Hein is a way of spelling 'hen', the old Danish word for a whetstone. 'Kumbel', or 'kumbl' as it strictly speaking should be written, also means stone, though more a grave monument. In other words, Piet Hein, or Stone Stone can, in a way, be translated by Kumbel Kumbel. He originally wrote the second word with two Ls, also later the signature became just Kumbel – the name he is at least as well known by as his own."</ref> He also invented the [[Soma cube]] and the board game [[Hex (board game)|Hex]].

==Biography==
Hein, a direct descendant of [[Piet Pieterszoon Hein]], the 17th century Dutch naval figure, was born in [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]]. He studied at the Institute for Theoretical Physics (later to become the [[Niels Bohr Institute]]) of the [[University of Copenhagen]], and [[Technical University of Denmark]]. [[Yale]] awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1972. He died in his home on [[Funen]], [[Denmark]] in 1996.

==Resistance==
Piet Hein, who, in his own words, "played mental ping-pong" with [[Niels Bohr]]<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA64
|title=LIFE|first=|last=|date=14 October 1966
|publisher=[[Time Inc.]]
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230710173633/https://books.google.com/books?id=lFYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA64#v=onepage&q&f=false
|archive-date=2023-07-10
}}</ref> in the inter-War period, found himself confronted with a dilemma when the Germans occupied Denmark. He felt that he had three choices: Do nothing, flee to neutral Sweden or join the [[Danish resistance movement]]. As he explained in 1968, "Sweden was out because I am not Swedish, but Danish. I could not remain at home because, if I had, every knock at the door would have sent shivers up my spine. So, I joined the Resistance."<ref>{{Cite web
|url=http://www.pamono.com/designers/piet-hein
|title=Peit Hein biography
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210091251/http://www.pamono.com/designers/piet-hein
|archive-date=2022-12-10
|publisher=
|date=
|accessdate=}}</ref>

Taking as his first weapon the instrument with which he was most familiar, the pen, he wrote and had published his first "[[grook]]" ({{langx|da|gruk}}). It passed the censors who did not grasp its real meaning. The ''Consolation Grook'' reads:<ref name="grooks">{{cite web |url=https://www.phys.ufl.edu/~thorn/grooks.html |title=My favorite Grooks by Piet Hein |first=Piet |last=Hein |quote=All text and illustrations are owned by Piet Hein's estate. }}</ref>

<poem>
CONSOLATION GROOK

Losing one glove
is certainly painful,
but nothing 
   compared to the pain,
of losing one,
throwing away the other,
and finding 
   the first one again.
</poem>

The Danes, however, understood its importance and soon it was found as graffiti all around the country. The deeper meaning of the grook was that even if you lose your freedom ("losing one glove"), do not lose your patriotism and self-respect by collaborating with the Nazis ("throwing away the other"), because that sense of having betrayed your country will be more painful when freedom has been found again someday.{{fact|date=July 2024}}

One of Hein's best-known grooks is ''A Maxim for Vikings'':<ref name="grooks"/>

<poem>
A MAXIM FOR VIKINGS

Here is a fact
   that should help you fight
      a bit longer:
Things that don't act-
   ually kill you outright
      make you stronger.
</poem>

==Recreational mathematics==
[[Image:Superaeg.jpg|right|thumb|Piet Hein's [[superegg]] in brass]]
In 1959, city planners in [[Stockholm]], [[Sweden]] announced a design challenge for a [[roundabout]] in their city square [[Sergels Torg]]. Piet Hein's winning proposal was based on a [[superellipse]].<ref name=gardner>{{Citation | last=Gardner | first=Martin | author-link=Martin Gardner | chapter=Piet Hein’s Superellipse | year=1977 | title=Mathematical Carnival. A New Round-Up of Tantalizers and Puzzles from Scientific American | location=New York | publisher=[[Vintage Press]] | pages=[https://archive.org/details/mathematicalcarn00gard/page/240 240–254] | isbn=978-0-394-72349-5 | chapter-url-access=registration | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/mathematicalcarn00gard/page/240 }}</ref> He went on to use the superellipse in the design of furniture and other artifacts. He also invented a [[perpetual calendar]] called the Astro Calendar and marketed [[List of food preparation utensils|houseware]]s based on the superellipse and its three-dimensional analog, the [[superegg]].

He invented the [[Soma cube]] and devised the games of [[Hex (board game)|Hex]], [[Tangloids]], Tower, Polytaire, [[TacTix]], Nimbi, Qrazy Qube, and Pyramystery.

Hein was a close associate of [[Martin Gardner]] and his work was frequently featured in Gardner's [[Mathematical Games column]] in [[Scientific American]].{{refn|The game of Hex (July 1957), the Soma cube (Sep 1958), the game of Tangloids (Dec 1959), and The Superellipse (Sep 1965)}} At the age of 95, Gardner wrote his autobiography and titled it ''Undiluted Hocus-Pocus''.  Both the title and the dedication of this book come from one of Hein's grooks.<ref>{{Cite web
|url=https://www.queenslandreviewerscollective.com/2017/01/18/undiluted-hocus-pocus-the-autobiography-of-martin-gardner/
|title=Undiluted Hocus-Pocus: The Autobiography of Martin Gardner
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206174921/https://www.queenslandreviewerscollective.com/2017/01/18/undiluted-hocus-pocus-the-autobiography-of-martin-gardner/
|archive-date=2022-12-06
|publisher=Queensland Reviewers Collective
|date=
|accessdate=}}</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Poetry}}
*[[Flipism]]

==Personal==
Piet Hein was married four times and had five sons from his last three marriages.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fam-bundgaard.dk/SOMA/HISTORY.HTM|title=Thorleif's SOMA page|last=Thorleif|access-date=4 December 2016}}</ref>
# (1937) married Gunver Holck, divorced
# (1942) married Gerda Ruth (Nena) Cohnheim, divorced
#: Sons: Jan Alvaro Hein, born 9 January 1943; Anders Humberto Hein, born 30 December 1943
# (1947) married Anne Cathrina (Trine) Krøyer Pedersen, divorced
#: Son: Lars Hein, born 20 May 1950
# (1955) married Gerd Ericsson, who died 3 November 1968
#: Sons: [[Jotun Hein]], born 19 July 1956; Hugo Piet Hein, born 16 November 1963

==Bibliography==
* ''Grooks'' – 20 volumes, originally published between 1940 and 1963, all currently [[Out-of-print book|out-of-print]].
* ''Grooks'' (1966)<ref>{{cite book 
|date=November 15, 1966 
|author=[[Piet Hein (scientist)|Hein, Piet]]
|translator=Jens Arup
|title=Grooks 
|publisher=The MIT Press
|volume=
|accessdate=
|isbn= 978-0262580076}}</ref>
* ''Grooks 2'' (1968)<ref>{{cite book 
|date=January 1, 1968 
|author=[[Piet Hein (scientist)|Hein, Piet]]
|translator=Jens Arup
|title=Grooks 2
|publisher= [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]
|volume=
|accessdate=
|isbn= 978-8741810942}}</ref>
* ''Grooks 3'' (1970)<ref>{{cite book 
|date=January 1, 1970 
|author=[[Piet Hein (scientist)|Hein, Piet]]
|translator=Jens Arup
|title=Grooks 3
|publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]
|volume=
|accessdate=
|isbn=978-0773610040}}</ref>
* ''Grooks 4'' (1972)<ref>{{cite book 
|date=January 1, 1972 
|author=[[Piet Hein (scientist)|Hein, Piet]]
|translator=  Jens Arup
|title=Grooks 4
|publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]
|volume=
|accessdate=
|isbn=978-0385006590}}</ref>
* ''Grooks 5'' (1973)<ref>{{cite book 
|date=   January 1, 1973 
|author=[[Piet Hein (scientist)|Hein, Piet]]
|translator=Jens Arup
|title=Grooks 5
|publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]
|volume=
|accessdate=
|isbn=9780385029681}}</ref>
* ''Grooks 6'' (1978)<ref>{{cite book 
|date=January 1, 1978 
|author=[[Piet Hein (scientist)|Hein, Piet]]
|translator=    Jens Arup
|title=Grooks VI
|publisher=Borgen's Pocketbooks
|volume=
|accessdate=
|isbn= 978-8741846811}}</ref>
* ''Grooks 7'' (1984)<ref>{{cite book 
|date=January 1, 1984 
|author=[[Piet Hein (scientist)|Hein, Piet]]
|translator=Jens Arup
|title=Grooks VII
|publisher=Borgen's Pocketbooks
|volume=
|accessdate=
|isbn=978-8741871639}}</ref>

The following books of grooks are available on this subpage<ref name="pietheinbooks">{{Cite web
|url=https://piethein.com/shop/34-books-in-other-language/
|title=Books in other languages
|publisher=piethein.com
|date=
|accessdate=2023-07-04}}</ref> of the website {{Cite web
|url=https://piethein.com
|title=Piet Hein
|publisher=
|date=
|accessdate=}}
* Collected Grooks I<ref name="Collected GrooksI">{{cite book 
|date=January 1, 2002 
|author=[[Piet Hein (scientist)|Hein, Piet]]
|editor=Hugo Piet Hein   
|title=Collected Grooks I
|publisher=Borgen
|edition=2
|volume=
|accessdate=
|isbn=87-21-01859-6}}</ref>
* Collected Grooks II<ref name="Collected GrooksII">{{cite book 
|date=January 1, 2002
|author=[[Piet Hein (scientist)|Hein, Piet]]
|editor=Hugo Piet Hein   
|title=Collected Grooks II
|publisher=Borgen
|edition=2
|volume=
|accessdate=
|isbn=87-21-01861-8}}</ref>
* Runaway Runes: Short Grooks I<ref>{{cite book 
|date=January 1, 1968
|author=[[Piet Hein (scientist)|Hein, Piet]]
|editor= Jens Arup   
|title=Runaway Runes: Short Grooks I
|publisher=Borgen
|edition=   
|volume=
|accessdate=
|isbn= 87-418-2620-5}}</ref>
* Viking Vistas: Short Grooks II<ref>{{cite book 
|date=January 1, 1968
|author=[[Piet Hein (scientist)|Hein, Piet]]
|editor=Jens Arup   
|title=Viking Vistas: Short Grooks II
|publisher=Borgen
|edition=   
|volume=
|accessdate=
|isbn= 87-418-5639-2}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|50em}}

==Other References==
* [[Martin Gardner|Gardner, Martin]]: ''Piet Hein's Superellipse.'' – in Gardner, Martin: ''Mathematical Carnival. A New Round-Up of Tantalizers and Puzzles from [[Scientific American]]''. New York: Vintage, 1977, pp.&nbsp;240–254.
* Johan Gielis: ''Inventing the circle. The geometry of nature''. – Antwerpen : Geniaal Press, 2003. – {{ISBN|90-807756-1-4}}
* "A Poet with a Slide Rule: Piet Hein Bestrides Art and Science," by Jim Hicks, ''[[Life Magazine]]'', Vol. 61 No. 16, 10/14/66, pp.&nbsp;55–66
*"Piet Hein Biographical Details", by Nils Aas, tr. by Roger Stevenson. ''The Papers of the Medford Educational Institute 3''.
*"To and by Piet Hein on the Occasion of Piet Hein's Election as the Student Organization's Twelfth Honorary Member", tr. by Roger Stevenson. ''The Papers of the Medford Educational Institute 2''.

==External links==
{{Wikiquotepar|Piet Hein}}
{{Commons category|Piet Hein}}
{{Library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooks=no|onlinebooksby=no}}
*{{Official website|http://www.piethein.com/}}
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050305223250/http://www.ctaz.com/~dmn1/hein.htm |date=5 March 2005 |title=Notes on Piet Hein }}, including several sample grooks
*[http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Superellipse.html Superellipse] at [[MathWorld]]
*[https://mypoeticside.com/poets/piet-hein-poems Grooks] at My Poetic Side
*[http://www.archimedes-lab.org/grooks.html Hein's Grooks] at Archimedes' Lab

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hein, Piet}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Danish inventors]]
[[Category:20th-century Danish poets]]
[[Category:Danish male poets]]
[[Category:Recreational mathematicians]]
[[Category:Danish furniture designers]]
[[Category:20th-century Danish mathematicians]]
[[Category:Puzzle designers]]
[[Category:University of Copenhagen alumni]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:Designers from Copenhagen]]
[[Category:Writers from Copenhagen]]
[[Category:Danish people of Dutch descent]]
[[Category:20th-century Danish male writers]]
[[Category:Grut Hansen family]]