Ingeborg Brun facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ingeborg Brun Globe
Hand-painted globe of Mars by Ingeborg Brun
Born	Emmy Ingeborg Brun 27 June 1872 Copenhagen, Denmark
Died	May 19, 1929 Svendborg, Denmark
Nationality	Danish
Other names	Ingeborg Brun
Occupation	astronomer, globe maker

Ingeborg Brun (born June 27, 1872 – died May 19, 1929) was a Danish woman who loved astronomy. She was also a writer and believed in socialism, which is a way of organizing society where everyone shares resources. Ingeborg is most famous for her amazing hand-painted globes that showed the surface of the planet Mars.

Even though she made only a few of these globes, they are very special. Museums own some of them. These globes are known for being beautiful and showing many details of what people at the time thought were "canals" on Mars.

Ingeborg Brun's Early Life

Emmy Ingeborg Brun was born in 1872 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Most people knew her as Ingeborg Brun. Her father, Alexander Brun, was a court hunter, and her mother was Louise Wolff. Ingeborg had two older brothers, Carl Frederik Emil Brun and Alf Harald Brun.

A Time of Illness

Ingeborg faced a long period of illness in her life. She spent nine years in a special place for people who were unwell. According to her own diary, her brother Alf helped her get there. After nine years, with the help of friends, she was able to show that she was well enough to return home in 1910. By then, she was about 38 years old. She remained physically ill and stayed in bed for the rest of her life.

Why Mars Fascinated Her

Ingeborg Brun did not go to a special school for astronomy. She also did not own a telescope or binoculars. But she was a very keen researcher! She taught herself a lot about the sky and different ideas by reading many books. She especially loved books about Mars by an American astronomer named Percival Lowell (1855–1916). She also studied the observations of Mars made by an Italian astronomer, Giovanni Schiaparelli.

Ingeborg was also interested in the ideas of Henry George, an American thinker. He believed that Mars could be a perfect place for a new, fair society.

In 1855, Schiaparelli, an astronomer from Milan, saw dark lines on Mars. He thought they might be artificial canals, built by intelligent beings. He even published a detailed map of Mars and called these lines "canali." He wondered if they were built by a socialist society that shared everything across the whole planet. Later, we learned these "canals" were actually optical illusions. But at the time, Lowell supported Schiaparelli's ideas. He observed Mars from his observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and claimed the canals showed signs of life. Ingeborg became very curious about these "canals" and the idea of life on Mars.

Her Amazing Mars Globes

From 1905 to 1909, Ingeborg Brun created her special "manuscript globes." She painted her Martian worlds over old globes of Earth. It seems she made these globes while she was unwell. Ingeborg was very interested in Lowell's ideas about Mars. She thought his maps showed a very different and cooperative way of life on the planet. So, her globes combined Lowell's observations with Schiaparelli's names for Martian features. Many of these names are not used by scientists today.

How She Made the Globes

Each of Ingeborg's globes is unique. She usually started with an old Earth globe. She covered its surface with paper mache. Then, she carefully hand-colored and inked the new Martian features. She copied Lowell's maps, adding her own imagined oases (green areas) and places where plants might grow seasonally. These were all connected by a series of canals.

The bases of some globes were made of wood or bronze. They often had words like: Mars efter Lowekks Glober 1894-1914. One globe was about 20 cm (about 7.8 inches) wide and 38-40 cm (about 15 inches) tall. Another was 14 cm (5 1/2 inches) wide and 29 cm (about 11 inches) tall.

Interestingly, Ingeborg's Mars globes showed the south pole at the top and the north pole at the bottom. This upside-down view was how Mars looked when viewed through a telescope from Earth's northern half.

Ingeborg gave her globes to several astronomers and observatories. In 1915, she sent one to Percival Lowell himself. He wrote back, saying it was "a capital piece of work." He also joked that customs officers first thought it was a bomb!

Where Are Her Globes Now?

Scientists have found fewer than ten of Ingeborg Brun's globes. One globe was sold at an auction in New York in 2012 for $50,000. You can find Ingeborg's globes in these places:

• National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England
• National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
• Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Cambridge, England
• Museo Specula Vaticana, the Vatican (Castel Gandolfo), Italy
• Museum Observatoire Camille Flammarion, Juvisy-sur-Orge, France
• Ole Rømer Museum, Taastrup, Denmark
• There might also be one in the Randy and Yulia Liebermann Lunar and Planetary Exploration Collection.

Her Writings

Ingeborg Brun kept a diary called "Ben Oni. Leaves of Emmy Hanum's Diary."

In 1923, a prayer script she wrote, called Et Bønskrift, was printed. It is now kept at the Danish Royal Library in Copenhagen. In 1929, she published another book, Testimony from Two Generations, which is also at the Danish Royal Library.

Her Later Life and Passing

Ingeborg Brun remained in bed until she passed away on May 19, 1929. She died at her home in Svendborg.