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Mark has taught, designed, and written textbooks for university history courses. He has a Ph.D. in history.
During a period of time loosely known as The Scientific Revolution, when modern science came of age (1550-1700), a few critical thinkers were responsible for transforming our understanding of the cosmos. At the time, people believed in a geocentric model of the universe with the earth at the center. Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) was a Danish nobleman and astronomer, and he was one of the individuals whose work helped overturn that belief in favor of a heliocentric model of the universe, with the sun at the center.
What is remarkable is that, despite Brahe's astronomical observations that eventually helped to prove this, he personally believed that the earth was motionless and at the center of our universe.
Coming from a wealthy family, Brahe had the freedom to devote his life to the study of the cosmos. He had a great passion for life, was an extrovert in social situations, and was a great lover of food and wine. He famously lost part of his nose in a sword duel with his third cousin, Manderup Parsberg. The reason for the fight? A disagreement over a mathematical formula. To compensate for his disfigurement, he wore a prosthetic nose made of precious metals glued to his face.
The Danish king knew of Brahe's interest in the stars, and so he gave him the Island of Hveen to carry out his work. It was there that Brahe hired many people to build advanced astronomical instruments and carry out observations on the heavens.
Brahe also provided opportunities for his family to participate in his astronomical pursuits. Most notably was his sister, Sofia, who assisted with instrument making, illustrations, and astronomical observation. It was highly unusual for women to be involved in the male-dominated scientific profession, yet Brahe enabled an important opportunity for his sister to demonstrate her skills.
Brahe believed his island was a magical place whose inhabitants (himself especially) were gods that walked the earth. The image of the divine was reflected in the Temple of Urania, which was the building where all of his astronomers worked. Brahe built other structures on the island, including an observatory, an administrative center, a grand residence, and an alchemical laboratory.
You might think that a telescope would be the prominent scientific instrument used on the island, but it was not. The first person to make practical use of the telescope was Galileo Galilei in 1609, which was eight years after Brahe's death. Brahe was extremely limited in his view of the universe, and his observations relied on what he could see with the naked eye.
However, Brahe was able to construct instruments which aided these observations. The armillary spheres (also known as a spherical astrolabe) were able to physically represent a model of the sky, enabling him to develop celestial maps of planetary movement.
With instruments like these, Brahe and his team made some of the most accurate observations of the moon, planets, and stars in history. He created detailed mathematical tables that astronomers used for centuries. Brahe also correctly established the positions of 1,000 fixed stars. In 1588, he published his book Introduction to the New Astronomy, which included observations of comets and his system of the world.
Brahe remained a believer in geocentrism, and all of his models of the solar system placed the earth at its center, with the other planets and Sun revolving around it. In order to help prove that geocentrism was correct, Brahe extended an offer to German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) to join him on his island. This offer may have cost Brahe his life.
From the start, Brahe and Kepler's relationship was contentious. In fact, some have today called it the most argumentative in all the history of science. The two could not have been more different, both personally and professionally. Brahe was a nobleman, and Kepler was from a family who barely had enough money to eat. Brahe was friends with a king; Kepler's mother was tried for witchcraft, and his aunt was actually burned at the stake as a witch. The most significant difference, though, was their vision of the solar system. Kepler was convinced the Sun was the center.
The working relationship between Brahe and Kepler lasted just 18 months until Brahe's unexplained death. He was 54 years old at the time and in very good health. Just before his passing, and despite their differences, Brahe willed all of his equipment and work to Kepler. Shortly thereafter, he died.
Ever since, people have speculated that Kepler had a hand in Brahe's death. In 1991, scientists conducted a forensic examination of some of Brahe's hair, and they determined that his death was due to mercury poisoning. Was Kepler to blame? Or someone else? That is still unknown. After his death, Kepler continued to use Brahe's observations (particularly his study of the motions of Mars) and, most significantly, developed his Laws of Planetary Motion with them.
Towards the end of his life, Brahe conceded that both the earth and the sun might share the center of the universe and proposed an even more complicated geo-heliocentric model. Nevertheless, soon after his death, astronomers like Kepler, Galileo, and Isaac Newton disproved this view of the earth at the center once and for all.
Today, there is a crater on the Moon named Tycho, and the crater Tycho Brahe is found on Mars. The Tyco Brahe planetarium in Copenhagen, Denmark, opened in 1989.
In 1676, Isaac Newton, one of the greatest scientists in history, wrote, 'If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.' Brahe was one of those giants to whom he was referring.
Danish nobleman and astronomer Tycho Brahe was one of the few critical thinkers during the period of time known as the Scientific Revolution, when modern science came of age. His work helped overturn the belief of a geocentric model of the universe, with the earth at the center, in favor of a heliocentric model of the universe, which showed the sun at the center. Ironically, Brahe personally believed that the earth was at the center of our universe.
The Danish king gave Brahe the Island of Hveen to pursue his work. Without benefit of a telescope, Brahe used armillary spheres that were able to physically represent a model of the sky and develop celestial maps of planetary movement. Brahe created detailed mathematical tables that astronomers used for centuries. He also correctly established the positions of 1,000 fixed stars. In 1588, he published his book Introduction to the New Astronomy, which included observations of comets and his system of the world.
In order to help prove that geocentrism was correct, Brahe extended an offer to a German astronomer, Johannes Kepler, to join him on his island; but their relationship was a contentious one. After only 18 months, Brahe mysteriously died. Kepler continued to use Brahe's observations and developed his Laws of Planetary Motion with them. Eventually, astronomers like Kepler, Galileo, and Isaac Newton disproved the geocentric view of the earth at the center of the universe once and for all.
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