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Like so many cult figures from Medieval and Tudor times, the myth of the astronomer Tycho Brahe bears only a passing relationship to the facts. Astronomers themselves seem to value the myth so much that they cannot resist it. There aren’t many rock star types in the history of astronomy.

Modern historians have found the charismatic figure so intriguing that his body has actually been exhumed twice. On the first occasion, in 1901, hair samples were reported to have high levels of mercury suggesting that his early death may have been due to poisoning.[1] His treatment of peasants on his various lands and of most of his laboratory assistants was notoriously poor. It was not altogether unlikely that he might have died from such a cause.

The second exhumation, in 2010, was a major event. The exhumation and reburial were filmed. A mass was said before the latter. Hair and bones samples did not show any elevated levels of mercury on this occasion but did find much elevated levels of gold.

Tycho — actually, Tyge — was born on the 14th of December 1546 at Knudstrup, in Skåne, then a region of Denmark, presently a region of Sweden. His twin brother was stillborn. At a young age, he became the ward of a wealthy, childless uncle who desired an heir to carry on his name and fortune.

An eclipse of the sun on the 21st of August 1560, when he was not quite 14 years of age, attracted young Tyge’s attention to the field of astronomy. That interest would put him at odds with his uncle’s plans to groom him as a high government functionary which would bring the highest honor upon the family name. His uncle assigned him a tutor with strict instructions to prevent the study of astronomy. This would necessitate his studies in the field being pursued furtively for some years.

Young Tyge managed to buy a text of the astronomical tables called the Ephemerides of Stadius and a small celestial globe, nevertheless. He soon became aware that the tables were faulty for all they were a common tool of the profession. His frustration with the insufficient globe created an early desire in him for better, more precise instruments.

Beginning in 1566, Brahe was rarely in one place for long for nearly 10 years. He studied at universities in Wittenberg, Rostock and Basle. None of these centers of learning were particularly known for the studies of mathematics or astronomy. In 1568 he did visit Cyprianus Leovitius, a well-known astronomer, who lived in Swabia. Leovitius had become known for publishing trigonometrical tables by Regiomontanus called the Tabulae Directionum. He did not study under him, however.

By this time Brahe had begun interpreting celestial phenomena such as comets and eclipses, believed to predict great terrestrial events. He was also regularly casting horoscopes. He had yet to produce any astronomical work proper.

He also seems to have been doing his share of partying. On December 10^th of 1566, at a party hosted by a professor at Rostock, Brahe got into an argument with another Danish nobleman, Manderup Parsbjerg. On the 27^th of December the two engaged in a duel at swords.[2]

There are several variations upon this story, one of which was that the duel was over who was the better mathematician. This would appear to be apocryphal. If not, Brahe may have proven to be as mediocre a swordsman as he was a mathematician. He lost a portion of the bridge of his nose in the battle and wore a prosthesis ever after. The reputedly silver nose would seem also apocryphal as the most recent exhumation of his body revealed that the nose-piece while real was actually made of brass.[3]

Brahe settled for a time in Augsburg, Germany, a great center at the time for learning and Protestantism. There he made his first continuous record of heavenly observations from 1569-70. Ever more disappointed with the quality of astronomical instruments available, he described to a friend there, Paul Hainzel, the design of a giant quadrant he imagined building that would greatly increase the available precision of measurement. Hainzel provided the funds to build the instrument, the first of many giant instruments for which Tycho Brahe would become well known. It was erected on Hainzel’s estate outside of the city where it was in regular use until blown down by a storm in late 1574.

Brahe left Augsburg late in 1570, apparently to return home where is father was dying. Upon his father’s death in May of 1571, he appears to have inherited property that kept him in the area for a time. During the years 1571 and 1572 there is no record that Brahe undertook any astronomical work. Instead he assiduously practiced chemistry. His uncle, now resigned to his not becoming a statesman, provided him a laboratory.

The details are not clear. Of course, alchemy must be suspected. Especially as he was fond of citing Paracelsus in later years. But he would also be renowned for medicines he concocted during the years ahead.

It was while walking home from the laboratory that fate made Tycho Brahe a great astronomer.

On the evening of the 11th of November 1572, Tycho Brahe had spent some time in the laboratory, and was returning to the house for supper, when he happened to throw his eyes up to the sky, and was startled by perceiving an exceedingly bright star in the constellation of Cassiopea, near the zenith, and in a place which he was well aware had not before been occupied by any star.[4]

This was the great supernova of 1572 that struck all of the intelligentsia of Europe with wonder. It would soon become known as his own discovery. Not because he was the first to see it, necessarily, but because he was the only observer to make precise measurements concerning it and to avoid the common myths and observational errors about such things when writing about it.

[1] No Byline. “Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe exhumed to solve mystery.” BBC News. 15 November 2010. https://www.bbc.com/news/11756077

[2] Dreyer, J. L. E. Tycho Brahe A Picture of Scientific Life and Work in the Sixteenth Century (1890). Much of the information here comes from Dreyer, much of which comes from Pierre Gassendi’s Tychonis Brahei, equitis Dani, astronomorum Coryphaei (1655).

[3] Eschner, Kat. “Astronomer and Alchemist Tycho Brahe Died Full of Gold.” Smithsonian Magazine. December 14, 2016. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/astronomer-and-alchemist-tycho-brahe-died-full-gold-180961447/

[4] Dreyer, 38.

Remains of famous 16th century astronomer exhumed

Jul 30, 2015

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