The following concerns a question in a physics degree exam
at the  University of Copenhagen:

 "Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a
 barometer."

 One student replied:

 "You tie a long piece of string to the neck of the barometer,
 then lower the barometer from the roof of the skyscraper to
 the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the
 barometer will equal the height of the building."

 This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that
 the student was failed. The student appealed on the grounds
 that his answer was indisputably correct, and the university
  appointed an independent arbiter to decide the case. The
 arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but did
 not display any noticeable knowledge of physics. To resolve
 the problem it was decided to call the student in and allow
 him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer which
 showed at least a minimal familiarity with the basic principles
 of physics.

 For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased
 in thought. The arbiter reminded him that time was running
 out, to which the student replied that he had several
 extremely relevant answers, but couldn't make up his mind
 which to use.

 On being advised to hurry up the student replied  as follows:

 "Firstly, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the
 skyscraper, drop it over the edge, and measure the time it
 takes to reach the ground. The height of the building can
 then be worked out from the formula H = 0.5g x t squared.
 But bad luck on the  barometer."

 "Or if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the
 barometer, then set it on end and measure the length of its
 shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper's
 shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional
 arithmetic to work out the height of the skyscraper."

 "But if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could
 tie a short piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a
 pendulum, first at ground level and then on the roof of the
 skyscraper. The height is worked out by the difference in the
 gravitational restoring force T = 2 pi sqroot (l / g)."

 "Or if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it
 would be easier to walk up it and mark off the height of the
 skyscraper in barometer lengths, then add them up."

 "If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of
 course, you could use the barometer to measure the air
 pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground,
 and convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the
 height of the building."

 "But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise
 independence of mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly
 the best way would be to knock on the janitor's door and say
 to him 'If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give
 you this one if you tell me the height of this skyscraper'."

 The student was Niels Bohr, the only person from Denmark
 to win the Nobel prize for Physics.