Polymath scientist, poet, and furniture designer Piet Hein was a true Renaissance man, a versatile figure whose interests embraced both the sciences and the humanities. He was also one of the few contemporary Danes who achieved world renown. Throughout his long, illustrious career, Hein invented games and puzzles, created designs and artifacts, and promoted international peace. He secured his place in Danish literature, however, with his pithy poems and aphorisms, well known in Denmark as gruk (translated as grooks). These elliptical poems recall the epigrammatic verses of Old Norse. To this day, Hein's more than seven thousand gruk--printed in newspapers and in many other sources--are still being collected for publication. With growing recognition in Denmark and abroad, through his grooks, designs, and games, Hein came to embody the character of his country and to represent it in an official capacity.

Piet Hein was born on 16 December 1905 in...