Tycho Brahe!!! By: Olympia Calix Harmony Moore

Interesting Facts!! Tycho Brahe was born on 14 December 1546 in Sweden. He was the eldest son of Otto Brahe and Beatte Bille, both from families in the high nobility of Denmark. In a duel with another student, in Wittenberg in 1566, Tycho lost part of his nose. For the rest of his life he wore a metal insert over the missing part.

Interesting Facts (c0ntinued) Tycho observed the new star in Cassiopeia and published a brief tract about it in He was given the little island of Hven in the Sont near Copenhagen, and there he built his observatory, Uraniburg, which became the finest observatory in Europe.

Death! One day before he died he kept murmering the words “Ne frustra vixisse videar” ( May I not seemed to have lived in vain.) He died of mercury poisoning in 1601.

Contributions! Brahe was well known in his lifetime as an astronomer, astrologist and alchemist. One of his greatest achievements is the observation (naked eye) of the SN 1572 supernova on 11 November 1572 which had unexpectedly appeared in the constellation Cassiopeia until his death in 1601, he was assisted by Johannes Kepler.

C0ntributions! (c0ntinued!) He believed the sun circled the earth while the other planets circled the sun! He made the most precise observations that had yet been made by devising the best instruments available before the invention of the telescope. His observations of planetary motion, particularly that of Mars, provided the crucial data for later astronomers like Kepler to construct our present model of the solar system.

C0ntributions (c0ntinuted) Brahe made careful observations of a comet in By measuring the parallax for the comet, he was able to show that the comet was further away than the Moon. He made the best measurements that had yet been made in the search for stellar parallax. Upon finding no parallax for the stars, he (correctly) concluded that either: the earth was motionless at the center of the Universe, or,the stars were so far away that their parallax was too small to measure.

His Castle!! His castle was named Uraniborg. After the Greek Urania! When Tycho realised he needed even more stability for good observations than provided in the castle and more room for his instruments. He built an observery built mostly underground, which was named Stjerneborg. (castle of the stars)

Important Information!!! Brahe invented many instruments such as the Tyconian Quadrent!

The layout plan, including the large crypts underground are included in this drawing

Review Questions!! 1- What instruments did Tycho use to make his astronomical observations? 2- Evaluate the honest reason on how Brahe died. 3- What was the castle’s name and who was it named after? 4- What type of prediction did Tycho make about the orbit of the Solar System? 5- How did Brahe loose his nose?

Work Cited!! Engraving_the_Danish_astronomer_Tycho_Brahe-SPL.jpg Engraving_the_Danish_astronomer_Tycho_Brahe-SPL.jpg _tycho_brahe_web.jpg _tycho_brahe_web.jpg o/DwhW6COSih4/s1600/Brahe+gravestone.jpg o/DwhW6COSih4/s1600/Brahe+gravestone.jpg