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1546
Brahe's Many Accomplistments
Tycho Brahe lived a relatively short life of 54 years but managed to accomplish so much and went on to become a philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, alchemist, a Danish nobleman, a writer, a craftsman, and even an artist. Born December 14, 1546 Brahe was the son of a privy councilor who became the governor of the castle of Helsinborg. Early in life he was abducted by his uncle who raised him at his castle in Tostrup, Scania. -
1559
From Law to Astronomy
At just thirteen years of age Brahe began his study of law at the University of Copenhagen financed by his wealthy uncle. During his three years of study he witnessed his first predicted eclipse of the sun. An event which quickly turned his attention from the study of law to astronomy. -
1563
Life Change
Brahe made his first recorded observation, the overlapping of Jupiter and Saturn, which lead him to the discovery that the existing recorded stellar and planetary positions were incorrect. Armed with the knowledge that the Copernican tables were days off of being accurate at predicting this event Brahe set out on his life’s quest to gather and record accurate observation and correct existing inaccurate information. -
1572
Supernova Leads to New View
In his newly constructed observatory, Brahe observed a new star in the constellation Cassiopeia. This rocked the scientific community at the time who still widely accepted the Aristotelian belief that the world was perfect and unchanging and that the sun, planets, and fixed stars all revolved around the Earth. This discovery along with Copernicus’s earlier suggestion that the sun was the center of our universe laid the foundation of our heliocentric model today. -
Passing of The Torch
Tycho Brahe passed away after leaving Uraniborg and settling in Prague to continue his work. When he passed away, he left all of his observational data to Johannes Kepler, a famous astronomer himself but, Brahe’s assistant and apprentice of sorts at the time. -
