Jens Olsen's World Clock

Last updated
The front of Jens Olsen's World Clock Jens Olsens front.jpg
The front of Jens Olsen's World Clock
The back of Jens Olsen's World Clock Jens Olsens back.jpg
The back of Jens Olsen's World Clock

Jens Olsen's World Clock or Verdensur is an advanced astronomical clock which is displayed in Copenhagen City Hall. [1] [2]

Contents

The clock was designed and calculated by Jens Olsen (1872–1945), who was a skilled locksmith, and later learned the trade of clockmaking. He also took part in the beginning of the clock's construction, and died in 1945, 10 years before the clock was completed. [3]

The clock consists of 12 movements which together have 15,448 parts. [4] [5] The clock is mechanical and must be wound once a week. [6] Displays include lunar and solar eclipses, positions of the stellar bodies, and a perpetual calendar, in addition to the time. [1] The fastest gear completes a revolution every ten seconds and the slowest every 25,753 years. [1] [5]

The calculations for the clock were made up until 1928, after which they were supervised by the astronomer Elis Strömgren. [5] The drawings for the clock were made between 1934 and 1936, [7] and the actual production of the clock took place from 1943 until 1955. [8] The clock was started on 15 December 1955 by King Frederik IX and Jens Olsen's youngest grandchild Birgit. [1] [7]

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ole Rømer</span> Danish astronomer (1644–1710)

Ole Christensen Rømer was a Danish astronomer who, in 1676, first demonstrated that light travels at a finite speed. Rømer also invented the modern thermometer showing the temperature between two fixed points, namely the points at which water respectively boils and freezes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Theodor Zahle</span> Prime Minister of Denmark (1866–1946)

Carl Theodor Zahle, was a Danish lawyer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1909 to 1910 and again from 1913 to 1920. In 1895, he was elected as a member of the lower chamber of the Danish parliament, the Folketing, for the Liberal Party (Venstrereformpartiet). A campaigner for peace, in 1905 he co-founded the Social Liberal Party together with other disgruntled members of Venstrereformpartiet. He continued on as a member of the Folketinget for Det Radikale Venstre until 1928, when he became a member of the upper chamber of parliament (Landsting). In 1929 he became Justice Minister, a post which he held until 1935.

Jens Olsen was a clockmaker, locksmith and astromechanic who built the famous world clock located in the city hall of Copenhagen, the Rådhus. He was born in Ribe, Denmark. Ever since he was a small child, Olsen was interested in clocks and other mechanical devices. After hearing of the broken clock in Carsten Hauch's A Polish Family, he dreamed of fixing that clock. Later, he envisioned a clock that would show every conceivable type of time, from sidereal time to the rotation of the planets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Søren Gyldendal</span> Danish bookstore owner (1742–1802)

Søren Gyldendal was a Danish bookstore owner who founded Gyldendal which became Denmark's largest publishing house.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danish National Archives</span>

The Danish National Archives is the national archive system of Denmark. Its primary purpose is to collect, preserve and archive historically valuable records from central authorities, such as ministries, agencies and national organisations and make them available to the public. The archive is part of the Ministry of Culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of Copenhagen</span> Historical museum in Copenhagen, Denmark

The Museum of Copenhagen is the official museum of Copenhagen, Denmark, documenting the city's history from the 12th century to the present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Zealand</span> North-east parts of Zealand

North Zealand, also North Sealand, refers to the northern part of the island of Zealand in Denmark proper that is not clearly defined but generally covers the area north of Copenhagen. The Danish tourist authorities have recently introduced the term Danish Riviera to cover the area in view of its increasing importance for tourism. The area has three royal castles and offers resorts with beaches, as well as lakes and forests. In addition to Kronborg Castle, three of the North Zealand forest areas used for royal par force hunting are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amager Vest</span> District of Copenhagen

Amager Vest is one of the ten administrative districts of Copenhagen Municipality, Denmark. It located on in the north-western part of the island of Amager, the largest island in the Øresund. The district is bordered by Amager Øst to the east along Amagerbrogade, the main shopping street and thoroughfare of the part of Copenhagen. Amager Vest is the largest of the ten new official administrative districts of Copenhagen, but has at the same time the smallest population. Only the most northern part can be considered as "urban area".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kastrupgård</span> Former manor house in Kastrup, Copenhagen, Denmark

Kastrupgård is a former manor house in Kastrup, a suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark. Dating from the mid 18th century, it is now a museum housing the Kastrupgård Collection (Kastrupgårdsamlingen) of modern art, which is owned and operated by Tårnby Municipality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Cock-Clausen</span> Danish architect

Alf Cock-Clausen was a Danish architect. He was active during the transition from Neoclassicism to Functionalism and many of his works show influence from Art Deco. His factory for the distillery De Danske Spritfabrikker at Aalborg's harbour front was declared a Danish Industrial Heritage Site in 2009.

Jens Pedersen Høysgaard was a Danish philologist, caretaker at the University of Copenhagen from 1737–1759, and bell-ringer at Trinitatis Church. In spite of never holding an academic post, he wrote several highly insightful treatises on Danish and Latin. Today, his work on Danish is considered the best of the early grammatical analyses of the Danish language. In 1743, he was the first to describe the stød, an important aspect of Danish phonology, in his Concordia res parvæ crescunt, eller Anden Prøve af Dansk Orthographie, in which he also introduced the letter Å å to the Danish alphabet.

Morten Piil was a Danish writer and film critic. He received a Bodil Honorary Award in 2002 for his "long-standing contribution to Danish film literature".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olaf H. Olsen</span> Danish historian and archaeologist

Olaf Heymann Olsen was a Danish historian and archaeologist. He is known to have primarily worked in medieval and Viking Age archaeology.

Events from the year 1631 in Denmark.

Hans Hartvig Otto Seedorff Pedersen eller Hans Hartvig Seedorff was a Danish lyricist and poet. Seedorff debuted with Hyben in 1918 and over the following 7 decades he wrote songs, screenplays and books. He received numerous awards including Ingenio et Arti (1933), the Order of the Dannebrog (1947) and the Holberg Medal (1950).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chief of the Royal Danish Navy</span>

The Chief of the Royal Danish Navy is the professional head of the Royal Danish Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chief of the Royal Danish Army</span>

The Chief of the Army Command is the service chief of the Royal Danish Army. The current chief is Major general Peter Harling Boysen.

Karen Else Caroline Berg was a Danish actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hegnslund</span>

Hegnslund, formerly Tipperary, is the former summer residence of Gyldendal CEO Frederik Hegel at Springforbi, between Taarbæk and Strandmøllen, Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality, some 15 km north of centra Copenhagen, Denmark. The house was built in 1914–15 to a design by Henning Hansen and with interior decorations by Valdemar Andersen. A 1995 revision of the so-called Springforbi Plan from the 1930s listed Hegnslund as one of 12 buildings in the otherwise open green belt not intended for demolition. The house was listed in the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 2001.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Welin, Charlotte (15 December 2005). "Det kan gå i 520.000 år endnu". Berlingske (in Danish). Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  2. "Jens Olsen's World Clock". Museum of Copenhagen. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  3. Pedersen, Olaf (18 July 2011). "Jens Olsen". Den Store Danske . Gyldendal . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  4. "The Story of The Astronomical Clock". ateliera.dk. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 "Astromekaniker Jens Olsen" (in Danish). kagaard.dk. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  6. Pedersen, Marie Carsten (19 November 2013). "Smuk guide åbner verdensurets univers". Politiken . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  7. 1 2 "15. december 1955 Et forældet mesterværk tages i brug". Dagbladet Arbejderen . 15 December 2011. Archived from the original on 20 August 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  8. Rasmussen, Gunner (15 December 2012). "Jens Olsens Verdensur". Den Store Danske . Gyldendal . Retrieved 1 October 2016.

55°40′32″N12°34′10″E / 55.67556°N 12.56944°E / 55.67556; 12.56944