Piet Hein (scientist)

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Piet Hein in front of the HC Andersen statue in Copenhagen (1983)

Piet Hein (born December 16, 1905 in Copenhagen , † April 18, 1996 on Funen ) was a Danish scientist, mathematician , inventor and man of letters.

He completed his studies at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen (later the Niels Bohr Institute ) and at Denmark's Technical University . The Yale University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1972.

Piet Hein was a direct descendant of Piet Pieterszoon Heyn , the Dutch national hero of the 16th century.

Services

Piet Hein became famous through works such as the games Hex , Tangloids , Morra , Tower , Polytaire , TacTix , Nimbi and the Somawürfel as well as thousands of self-illustrated short poems called Gruks .

Piet Hein SUPERELLIPSE®
"Super egg" made of brass
Sergels Torg (Stockholm) with the fountain as a superellipse by Piet Hein

In 1959 he was commissioned by the Stockholm City Council to create the ideal shape of a roundabout on a square ( Sergels Torg ) that was to be redesigned. Looking for a compromise between a rectangle (the sides of which would be parallel to the boundary of the square) and a circle (where the flow of traffic would be optimized), he achieved a combination of both using a mathematical formula by Gabriel Lamé : the superellipse and as Special case of it the supercircle .

He also promoted the use of the superellipse (also called Lamé's curve) in architecture, urban planning and (furniture) design ( Superellipse table (1964) in collaboration with Bruno Mathsson , Super Egg ). In this context he created the brand SUPERELLIPSE®.

The American science journalist Martin Gardner wrote about Piet Hein in one of his articles for Scientific American in 1965 :

Let's look at this ... Super Egg ... An equation with the exponent 2½ and a height-width ratio of 4: 3 is sufficient. It looks like it's going to tip over, but it doesn't. This ghostly stability that the super egg possesses on both sides can be seen as a symbolism of the superelliptical balance between the rectangular and the round and is in turn a beautiful symbol for the balanced nature of people like Piet Hein who is a successful link between CP Snows create “two cultures”.

Personal

Piet Hein was married four times and had five sons from his last three marriages. [3]

  • 1937: Married to Gunver Holck, divorced.
  • 1942: Married to Gerda Ruth (Nena) Conheim, divorced.
    • Sons: Juan Alvaro Hein, born January 9, 1943; Andrés Humberto Hein, born on December 30, 1943.
  • 1947: Married to Anne Cathrina (Trine) Krøyer Pedersen, divorced.
    • Son: Lars Hein, born on May 20, 1950.
  • 1955: Married to Gerd Ericsson, died on November 3, 1968.
    • Sons: Jotun Hein, born on July 19, 1956; Hugo Piet Hein, born on November 16, 1963.

Works

See also

literature

  • Jim Hicks: A poet with a slide rule: Piet Hein bestrides art and science. In: Life Magazine. 61/1966, pp. 55-66.
  • Jim Hicks: Piet Hein bestrides Science and Arts. In: Life. 1966, pp. 210-244.
  • Anne Chamberlin: King of Supershape. In: Esquire. 1/1967, pp. 111-115.
  • Martin Gardner: Piet Hein's super ellipse. In: Martin Gardner: Mathematical Carnival . Ullstein, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-550-07675-4 .
  • Johan Gielis: Inventing the Circle. The geometry of nature . Geniaal Press, Antwerp 2003, ISBN 90-807756-1-4 .

Web links

Commons : Piet Hein  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Hein, Piet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish scientist, mathematician, inventor and man of letters
DATE OF BIRTH December 16, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen , Denmark
DATE OF DEATH April 18, 1996
Place of death Funen , Denmark