Tycho+Brahe

=Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) = by Devon Gregor

Early Life
Tycho Brahe was born into a family of high social rank in Skane, Denmark (present-day Sweden) in 1546 1. As legend has it, Brahe's parents promised to let his childless uncle Joergen adopt and raise their firstborn son, but after Tycho was born they changed their minds. Young Tycho was kidnapped by Joergen and his parents only allowed the agreement to stand after a large inheritance was discovered that Tycho would gain if he was adopted by his uncle 2. Brahe first became interested in astronomy when he witnessed a partial eclipse of the Sun that happened on the day it was predicted to. However, this interest was not fostered by his family, and so he was forced to teach himself about the various aspects of the universe on his own. Brahe's family preferred that he study law, which was what he went on to study at university in Copenhagen and Leipzig in his native Denmark, and then continuing on to study in present- day Germany at the universities of Wittenberg, Rostock, and Basel, respectively 3. However, his passion for astronomy was not quenched by his parents' insistence on his study of the law. Brahe owned several texts and tables on the various movements of the planets, as well as a model of the universe as it was known then, which he studied in his spare time 4. One of the major events in Brahe's adult life that led to his lifelong devotion to astronomy was an event that occurred in 1563: the alignment of Jupiter and Saturn. This even would prove to be the defining factor of he path of Brahe's life, and led him to make discoveries that would influence both himself and others the challenge the way that we look at the solar system to this day. Using the various tables that Nicholas Copernicus had created, this alignment was due to occur on a certain day, but it did not occur until two days after it was predicted to. This awakened within Brahe the realization that astronomical predictions needed to be more accurate 5. From this point on, Brahe devoted his life to this cause.
 * Beginnings in Astronomy**

[[image:tycho_quadrant.jpg width="184" height="243" align="left" caption="Brahe's observtory at Hven (Geocentricity)"]]Rise to Fame and Brahe's Life Work
After the failed alignment of Jupiter and Saturn in 1563, Brahe began extensive research in the field of astronomy. Brahe made several other noteworthy and important observations, including that of a comet, which he correctly claimed to be located in the distant heavens instead of the atmosphere of Earth, as was the current belief 6. His rising expertise and talent were not ignored, and eventually King Frederick II of Denmark gave Brahe the honor of sponsorship and money to build a naked-eye observatory to continue his research. His state-of-the-art observatory, Uraniborg, was located on the island of Hven, outside of Copenhagen 7. It was designed for naked-eye observation and contained many pieces of equipment that Brahe had designed and built himself. When Frederick II died in 1588, Brahe moved to Prague, where he was funded by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. Brahe kept extensive notes of his work in his areas of expertise, which were observation of the heavens and the instruments used to do so 8. While they were not published until after Brahe's death, they were immensely helpful to those who came after him to further unlocking the secrets of our universe. Some of his most famous works are:
 * //De Nova et Nullius Aevi Memoria Prius Visa Stella//, or //On the New and Never Previously Seen Star// (1573)
 * //De Mundi Aetherei Recentioribus Phaenomenis//, or //Concerning the New Phenomena in the Etherial World (1588) //
 * //Astronomiae Instauratae Mechanica//, or //Instruments for the Restored Astronomy// (1588) 9

In the 30 years that Brahe and his colleagues observed the heavens, they were able to make extremely accurate (up to one arcminute) naked-eye observations, as the telescope was not invented until after Brahe's death. While he was never able to explain the question of planetary motion that pervaded astronomy at this time, his work was very progressive and ended up being invaluable to his student and apprentice Johannes Kepler, who was finally able to come up with the three laws of planetary motion 10.

Contributions to Astronomy
Brahe's emphasis on the need to accuracy in astronomy and his invention of many new instruments with which to observe the heavens was undoubtedly one of his greatest contributions to the field, and the work that he did to improve this was invaluable to later generations. His work in naked-eye observations of the heavens were also the most accurate of their time. Brahe, however, clearly wished that he had been able to make more of an impact on his field. However, through using Brahe's notes and observations of the movements of the planets, Kepler was able to come up with the three laws of planetary motion, which was one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of their age, and led to the discovery of the true order of our solar system.

Brahe's Legacy[[image:Earth_Orbit-browse.jpg width="200" height="160" align="left" caption="An example of what elliptical orbit looks like (NASA)"]]
Brahe left behind him a legacy that was taken up by the generation of astronomers that followed him, that was perhaps the most important development of this age of discovery. While incredible scientific advances were made, from Kepler's laws to Galileo's model of the solar system, a consequence of this era from a different angle is the freedom of questioning within the realm of science. At this time, many who dared question the "laws" of science which were relics of work done by ancient astronomers faced punishment, from imprisonment to excommunication. Indeed, Brahe's own research was instrumental in overturning the belief that the orbits of the planets were circular, as Kepler's first law of planetary motion is that planets have elliptical orbits instead of circular ones, as was the commonly held belief. However, Brahe's questioning of the current scientific conventions and his determination to correct the errors that he found in pre-existing astronomy paved the way for others to do the same questioning of widely believed notions of the universe.

1 Van Heiden, Al. "The Galileo Project". Rice University. 15 July, 2010  2 Fowler, Michael. "Tycho Brahe". University of Virginia. 16 July, 2010 . 3 Van Heiden, Al. "The Galileo Project". Rice University. 15 July, 2010  4 Bennett, Jeffrey et al. __The Cosmic Perspective__. San Francisco: Pearson Addison-Wesley, 2009. 5 Bennett, Jeffrey et al. __The Cosmic Perspective__. San Francisco: Pearson Addison-Wesley, 2009. 6 Bennett, Jeffrey et al. __The Cosmic Perspective__. San Francisco: Pearson Addison-Wesley, 2009. 7 Fowler, Michael. "Tycho Brahe". University of Virginia. 16 July, 2010 . 8 Van Heiden, Al. "The Galileo Project". Rice University. 15 July, 2010  9 Van Heiden, Al. "The Galileo Project". Rice University. 15 July, 2010  10 Bennett, Jeffrey et al. __The Cosmic Perspective__. San Francisco: Pearson Addison-Wesley, 2009