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Dec 14, 1546
Tycho Brahe
Tyge Ottesen Brahe was born, his father Otte Brahe was a royal Privy Councilor and mother Beate Bille a powerful figure at the Danish court holding several royal and titles. His uncle took him from his parents when he was two years old and raised him. -
Aug 21, 1560
Defining Moment
At the age of 12, Tycho began his studies at the University of Copenhagen. His uncle has persuaded him to study law. After witnessing a solar eclipse in 1560, he was impressed that it had been predicted however, it was one day off its predicted schedule. He then realized that to make an exact prediction more observation needed to be done. He then went out and bought a ephemeris and a book on astronomy which started his love for astrology. -
Dec 29, 1566
Lost Nose
Tycho Brahe was known for losing part of his nose and wearing a metal prosthetic. Tycho and his cousin Manderup Parsberg got in a heated argument on who the best mathematician was. They decided to resolve their feud with a duel of swords in the dark. End result Tycho ended up with a nasty scar across the forehead and part of his nose missing. We know who won that fight. -
Nov 11, 1572
Supernova
Tycho observed that the object showed no daily parallax against the background of the fixed stars for several months. He came to the conclusion that this was not a planet, it had to be a star located beyond all other planets. In 1573 he published a book called, De nova stella, thus coining the term nova. The star is located approximately 7,500 light years from Earth. -
1576
Uraniborg Observatory
The crown William IV, contributed about 1% of all annual revenue to Tycho studies. The crown required Tycho to produce an Almanac to the court every year, predicting the influence of the stars on the political and economic prospects of the year. -
1578
Order of the Elephant
Tycho Brahe was awarded the very prestigious, Order of the Elephant for services rendered to the Danish Crown. -
The Tychonic System
Brahe was know for his high accuracy of mapping the solar system, it was told he was the best in the business being the last greatest naked eye astronomer there was. He was known for the Tychonic System scheme for the structure of the solar system. He retained the idea of Earth as a fixed center of the universe around which the sun and moon revolved. He proposed a "geo-heliocentric" system in which the Sun and Moon orbited the Earth, while the other planets orbited the Sun. -
Tycho Brahe Death
Tycho attended a banquet in Prague, with a lot of drinking he had to go to the bathroom, but refused to leave because it would have been a breach of etiquette. After he returned home he was unable to urinate, eleven days later he was dead. The cause of death was a bladder or kidney ailment. -
Tycho Brahe Prize
Inaugurated in 2008 by the European Astronomical Society. The prize is awarded annually in recognition of the pioneering development or exploitation of European astronomical instrumentation, or major discoveries based largely on such instruments. The first recipient to receive this award was Goran Scharmer. -
Tycho Video / Work Cited
Tycho Brahe Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4tZ9tyd_MM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QDvKzY4aqA
Work Cited
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4tZ9tyd_MM
https://www.britannica.com/science/Tychonic-system
http://www.numericana.com/arms/brahe.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe_Prize
