page_title: Culture of Denmark
section_title: Science
hierarchical_section_title: Culture of Denmark / Science
caption_attribution_description: Tycho Brahe
context_page_description: The culture of Denmark has a rich intellectual and artistic heritage. The astronomical discoveries of Tycho Brahe, Ludwig A. Colding's neglected articulation of the principle of conservation of energy, and the foundational contributions to atomic physics of Niels Bohr; in this century Lene Vestergaard Hau in quantum physics involving the stopping of light, advances in nano-technology, and contributions to the understanding of Bose-Einstein Condensates, demonstrate the range and endurance of Danish scientific achievement. The fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, the philosophical essays of Søren Kierkegaard, the short stories of Karen Blixen, penname Isak Dinesen, the plays of Ludvig Holberg, modern authors such as Herman Bang and Nobel laureate Henrik Pontoppidan and the dense, aphoristic poetry of Piet Hein, have earned international recognition, as have the symphonies of Carl Nielsen. From the mid-1990s, Danish films have attracted international attention, especially those associated with Dogme 95 like those of Lars Von Trier. Denmark has had a strong tradition of movie making and Carl Theodor Dreyer has been recognised as one of the world's greatest film directors.
context_section_description: Denmark has a long tradition for scientific engagement in all fields, often with fundamental discoveries. The intelligentsia was involved in the European scientific revolution of the renaissance early on, with prominent scientists such as Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), Ole Worm (1588–1655), Nicolas Steno (1638–1686) and Ole Rømer (1644–1710).
  The contributions to science has steadily continued through the ages, with the fundamental discoveries of Hans Christian Ørsted (1777–1851), the contributions to linguistics by Rasmus Rask (1787–1832), the neglected articulation of the principle of conservation of energy by Ludwig A. Colding's (1815–1888), Vilhelm Thomsen (1842–1927), Otto Jespersen (1860–1943) and others, into modern times with the brilliant contributions to atomic physics of Niels Bohr (1885–1962).
  Niels Bohr founded several institutions in relation to quantum physics and both attracted and stimulated an important international and lasting scientific milieu in the country. This has since produced many important discoveries and advancements in physics, astrophysics, chemistry, mathematics and engineering, particularly in the areas of quantum physics, quantum optics and lately nano-technology. Although an international environment, notable Danish scientists from this milieu includes Bengt Strömgren (1908–1987), Aage Bohr (1922–2009), Holger Bech Nielsen (born 1941) and Lene Vestergaard Hau (born 1959).
  The sciences of geology and geophysics has benefited from Danish scientists who have been - and are - heavily involved in the description and understanding of the geology of Greenland, one of the most important regions in the world to study the geological evolution of Earth. The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) was founded in 1888 and Inge Lehmann (1888–1993) revealed that Earth have a solid inner core in 1936, by the use of seismology. In the 1960s, Willi Dansgaard was the first to understand and describe how to use ice core drills to gain knowledge about Earth's paleoclimate, now a widely used method to understand climate changes. Lately, Greenland-born geologist Minik Rosing and his team, unravelled groundbreaking knowledge about the early evolution of life through studies of Greenland's geology in the 2000s.
  The young science of archaeology, has also benefited from many Danish contributions, with prominent scholars such as Sophus Müller (1846-1934), Georg F.L. Sarauw, J.J.A. Worsaae and Peter Glob. The contributions have often been of a fundamental nature, such as the discoveries of kitchen middens or bog bodies and their great potential for advancing archaeology. Christian Jürgensen Thomsen refined and introduced the now universally recognized three-age system, dividing eras of prehistory into the well-known Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age respectively. Danish archaeologists have contributed with many defining archaeological discoveries, such as the Kongemose culture, Maglemosian culture and the Ertebølle culture of the Nordic Stone Age and of course the Viking Age. With a great international engagement and a long tradition for interdisciplinary collaborations with anthropologists, geologists, zoologists, botanists, antiquarians and historians, Danish archaeologists have been, and still are, involved with all kinds of cultural archaeology around the globe, including the Middle East (Peter Glob, Peter Rowley-Conwy), the Mediterranean region (Peter Oluf Brøndsted, Jörgen Zoega) the Americas (Peter Wilhelm Lund, Frans Blom, Rane Willerslev) and the Arctic region (Therkel Mathiassen, Erik Holtved, Eigil Knuth).
  Danes have made significant contributions to the field of computer science. Some notable figures include: Per Brinch Hansen, known for concurrent programming theory; Bjarne Stroustrup, who invented the C++ programming language; Janus Friis, the co-inventor of Skype; Jens and Lars Rasmussen, the co-founders of Google Maps; and Peter Naur, a contributor to ALGOL 60 and a recipient of the Turing Award.
caption: Tycho Brahe was well known in his lifetime as an astronomer, astrologer and alchemist, and has been described more recently as "the first competent mind in modern astronomy to feel ardently the passion for exact empirical facts."[36]
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