  ole worm (13 may 1588 â 31 august 1655), who often went by the latinized form of his name olaus wormius, was a danish physician and antiquary. ==life== worm was the son of willum worm who served as the mayor of aarhus, and was made a rich man by the inheritance from his father. ole worm's grandfather johan worm, a magistrate in aarhus, was a lutheran who had fled from arnhem in gelderland while it was under catholic rule. he married dorothea fincke, the daughter of a friend and colleague, thomas fincke, a mathematician who invented the terms 'tangent' and 'secant'. ole worm was something of a perpetual student: after attending the grammar school of aarhus, he continued his education at the university of marburg in 1605, received his doctor of medicine degree from the university of basel in 1611, and received a master of arts degree from the university of copenhagen in 1617. the rest of his academic career was spent in copenhagen, where he taught latin, greek, physics, and medicine. he was personal physician to king christian iv of denmark. somewhat remarkable for a physician of the time, he remained in the city of copenhagen to minister to the sick during an epidemic of the black death. ==scientific and cultural significance==  in medicine, worm's chief contributions were in embryology. the wormian bones (small bones that fill gaps in the cranial sutures) are named after him. worm is also known to have been a collector of early literature in the scandinavian languages. he also wrote a number of treatises on runestones and collected texts that were written in runic. worm received letters of introduction to the bishops of denmark and norway from the king of denmark due to the king's interest and approval. in 1626 worm published his fasti danici, or "danish chronology," containing the results of his researches into runic lore; and in 1636 runir seu danica literatura antiquissima, "runes: the oldest danish literature," a compilation of transcribed runic texts. in 1643 his danicorum monumentorum, viewable via the johannes gutenberg university of mainz website {{dead link|date=no
1588_births 1655_deaths 17th-century_Latin-language_writers Danish_antiquarians Danish_scientists University_of_Basel_alumni University_of_Copenhagen_alumni University_of_Marburg_alumni