Vilhelm Bergsøe, Danish writer, entomologist and autobiographer (1835-1911). After a dissertation on the termites, he turned to popular science writing. Constant use of the microscope proved to be detrimental to his already weak vision. In the spring of 1861, during a stay in Hellebæk, he suffered a severe eye infection, and in hope of healing he traveled to Italy that same autumn. The journey gave great results both for his health and scientific education and laid the foundation for his confidentiality with Italian nature and life. After a thesis on the swordfish sideline parasite Philichthys Xiphiæ, in 1867 his illness broke out again and his most significant period of poetic writing came along, above all the great novels that were dictated, he published one of the most read Danish novels (also widely read in Sweden and Germany), Fra Piazza del Popolo. His Jules Verne’s style science fiction novel Flying Fish “Prometheus” was translated into English in 2015.
