#ole worm

Not much, I fear. The hyperfixation passed before I succeeded in learning an entirely new language.

From the comments on my video, I learned that his name is tragically not pronounced like Ol', but rather Oh-Ley (more or less). I also accidentally said 15th century instead of 17th century because I'm dumb, and physicist instead of physician, also because I'm dumb.

I also sort of intentionally misrepresented the unicorn thing for comedy's sake....he fed animals ground up Narwhal horn but they didn't get better BECAUSE of the horn, they got better because he did not give them very much poison and also like, treated them after the Narwhal horn did nothing.

He also had a Great Auk, which is technically a penguin, but not exactly a penguin. They're extinct now, but his drawing of his pet is the only known illustration of one drawn from life. All the other drawings we have were made from dead/stuffed/preserved ones.

He was a very interesting guy. I think Museum Wormianum is mostly just a list of curiousities he collected, but he had other writings that I was not able to find in English, and I couldn't find much information about what they contained. Although one of them, "Runes: the oldest Danish literature" (Runir seu Danica literatura antiquissima), was a compilation of transcribed runic texts, and I am DESPERATE to find a translation of that one, it seems really interesting. If anyone knows where I could find one I will happily owe you a nebulous favor, a la the fae.

Some more things I didn't include in the video:

His wife's name was Dorothea Fincke, and she looks like a bad bitch.

Her father Thomas Fincke invented the mathematical term 'tangent'.

He also proved Birds-Of-Paradise have feet, because I guess people thought they didn't.

Ole Worm – Scientist of the Day

Ole Worm, a Danish physician, naturalist, antiquarian, and collector, was born in Aarhus on May 13, 1588.

was a real doctor, in the sense of being a practicing physican; on the other hand he only had a master's degree so you could argue that he was not a real doctor.

was not a real worm, per his picture (but he also wrote his name Olaus Wormius, which is pretty cool)

was interested in things, which he collected and catalogued in the Museum Wormianum 

had a drum in his museum collection, though it is unclear if he liked to play it (and given that it was a Sámi ceremonial drum this is all sort of uncomfortable cultural appropriation).

(Stephen A. Mitchell, Old Norse Folklore: Tradition, Innovation and Performance in Medieval Scandinavia, p. 11)