Tycho Brahe, Danish Astromer 14/12 1546 - 24/10 1601
Two portraits of Tycho, click to enlarge.
Tycho Brahe was a brilliant astronomer and scientist of his time,
and has had a big significance on the development of astronomy,
science in general, and our view of the world.
He is especially famous for two particular things,
his damaged nose,
and
his death.
His astronomical achievements
Tycho Brahe made a remarkable star catalogue of over 1000 stars.
This was not the biggest catalogue in the number of stars, but in accuracy.
His improvements of methods and accuracy in observations was very significant.
He proved that comets are not objects in the
atmosphere. He showed irregularities in the moons orbit. His wall quadrant
and other instrument became widely copied and lead to improved stellar
instruments. Kepler used Tycho Brahe's observations when he constructed
his famous laws of planetary movement.
His life in a few important years
- 1566. Tycho Brahe studies in Rostock. His nose
is damaged in an accident.
- 1572. A supernova appears in the sky in the formation Cassiopeia.
Tycho Brahe observes it carefully, and
publishes his findings about the "new star", Stella Nova in latin,
and becomes known as a respected astronomer.
See also observations.
- 1576. Tycho Brahe received the island Hven from king Fredrik II.
- 8/8 1576. The foundation of the castle Uranienborg om the island.
- Tycho Brahe studies the stars
(take a look!) at
Uranienborg and Stjerneborg.
- 1597. Tycho Brahe looses the royal support and leave the island.
- Tycho goes to Wandsbech (near Hamburg) and then to Prag.
- Emperor Rudolf II gives him the castle Benatky 30 km from Prag,
but he later moves to a house in Prag suited for observations.
- 1600. Johannes Kepler is employed as an assistant.
- 1601. Tycho Brahe dies. Kepler writes down his last words:
"Ne frustra vixisse videar" (May I not seemed to have lived in vain).
Read more
Other information
- Tycho Brahe built a small beautiful castle
on the island Hven, located in
between Denmark and Sweden. This castle, named Uraniborg, after Urania, the
greek Goddess of the sky, was surrounded by a carefully organised garden.
Close nearby, he made, an underground observatory, named Stjerneborg.
See a picture of Tycho Brahe's underground observatory and read a
quote from
the entrance of this building.
- Tycho Brahe was a nephew of the warship sailor Jörgen Brahe.
His uncle was considered to be very proficent but also somewhat violent
to his crew. Jörgen Brahe died 1565 when he valiantly jumped into
the cold water from a bridge to save the king Fredrik II.
- The castle Uranienborg and the observatory Stjerneborg were
destroyed within a few years of the death of Tycho Brahe.
- Tycho's wife was a commoner from Kågeröd in Skåne,
Kirstin Jörgensdatter. They were never married in church.
She gave him three sons and five daughters.
- Tycho had a brother Steen, who became a nobleman, and member of the danish
rigsraad, and a sister Sofie, who studied alchemy, astrology and medicine
on the island of Hven.
- Tycho's lived by the words "Non videri sed esse" (Not to be seen but to be)
The world system according to Tycho Brahe
Tycho believed that the earth was fixed in the center of the world.
Around the earth circulated the moon and the sun.
Around the sun orbited the rest of the planets.
He based this view mostly on measurements of the apparent movement of Mars,
and he did not think it was explained by the traditional ptolemaic
geocentric
world system, where the earth was in the center and everything orbited
around the earth.
Even if Tycho Brahe's world system
was not widely accepted, it was important because used accurate
observations to prove his theory, and this helped Kepler to be able
to make his famous laws of planetary motion.
Press
here
to see the celebrated full colour computer animation
"Tycho Brahe goes for a walk"
See also The Tycho Brahe calendar
with notes of special days of his life, as well as "Tykobrahe days", which
are days in which you by folklore are at risk of bad luck, and should
be extra careful. These Tykobrahe days are called so because they were
calculated by Tycho Brahe when he served as astrologer for Emperor Rudolph II.
An artistic drawing of Tycho Brahe, by
B. Serenius (email)
This page is maintained by Fredric Ihren
(email).
It was created as a part of founding
Tycho Brahes Glada Vänner, a Tycho Brahe society.
Feedback is always welcome.
Last updated Sep 9, 2002.