Tycho Brahe: biography of this astronomer

This Danish astronomer questioned some of Copernicus' ideas and was one of the pioneers in his field.

The human being has always looked at the sky and the stars with veneration and respect. An indecipherable mystery for the majority of the population for much of history, the celestial bodies have been the object of adoration, the origin of myths and various mystical and religious beliefs. And since ancient times, mankind has tried to explain what lies beyond and how to explain what lies beyond and how the cosmos works..

One of the most influential and important figures throughout history was Copernicus, who proposed the heliocentric theory. Another, perhaps lesser known, is Tycho Brahe.

This man is considered one of the most relevant astronomers in history, born at a time when neither telescopes nor precise mechanisms to observe the behavior of the stars still did not exist. Knowing his history is important to understand the importance of his discoveries, and that is why throughout this article we are going to see a short biography of Tycho Brahe. we are going to see a short biography of Tycho Brahe..

Biography of Tycho Brahe

Tyge Ottesen Brahe, better known as Tycho Brahe (Latinization of his name), was born on December 14, 1546 in the castle of Knudstrup, property built by his father and located in a Skåne and located in a then Danish Skåne. He was the first-born son (he was born with a twin but the latter died early) of the royal advisor Otte Brahe and Beate Clausdatter Bille, both members of the nobility and aristocracy of Denmark and with great power.

The young Tycho, however, was not raised by them but by his uncle Joergen Brahe, who had no descendants. He was initially kidnapped by his uncle, but his parents decided to allow him to keep the child and raise him. Joergen Brahe gave him great support throughout his life and decided to educate him in the best possible way, helping to train him in areas such as knowledge of Latin.

Academic training

When he turned thirteen in 1559 his uncle decided to send him to the University of Copenhagen to study philosophy and rhetoric, in order to have a better life.with the purpose of having a life as a nobleman in the service of the crown.

A year after his arrival at the University something happened that would mark to a great extent the destiny of the young Tycho Brahe: he was able to observe a solar eclipse. From then on, Brahe's main objective was to study astronomy, incorporating astronomy and mathematics into his studies.

After finishing his studies at that university, he decided to continue his education at the University of Leipzig in 1562 in order to study law, while his fascination and studies of the stars and astronomy continued to grow. During his training in this area he had a dispute with another student, which resulted in a duel in which he lost a large part of his nose. Also He was also able to observe that the astronomical forecasts of the time had a large number of errors in their forecasts..

The same year he lost his nose, 1565, the conflict situation during the Seven Years' War was such that his uncle Joergen made him return to Copenhagen for safety. He died soon after, leaving his inheritance to his nephew. With this inheritance he continued his education in astronomy and medicine at the universities of Wittenberg and Rostock.

Little by little the young Tycho was achieving a certain popularity, something that did not go unnoticed in the eyes of the king and his nephew. was offered a position at Roskilde Cathedral.. His father died in 1571, after which he lived with another of his uncles.

A star in the firmament

One day, in 1572, a star that had never been seen before appeared in the sky: the constellation Cassiopeia.. This star, actually a nova, was of great interest to the author and he spent about a year making several observations. In them he could see that there was no parallax regardless of where one looked at it from (i.e. there was no difference in its apparent position). The appearance of this star led the author to make one of his greatest contributions: the contradiction of the idea that the fixed stars were immutable, until then in force.

In 1573 he published his first work, in which he would reflect his observations: "De nova stella". This work would make her achieve great popularity. Also during that same year she would have a relationship with a woman of peasant origin named Kirstine, with whom she would unite despite the opposition of her family and with whom she would have children.

The island of Hven and Uraniborg

Tycho Brahe enjoyed the sympathies of the monarch Frederick II, who gave him the property of the island of Hveen in 1576. Here the astronomer built the largest and most developed observatory of the time, which he called the city of Hveen.which he called the city of the sky or Uraniborg. In this observatory he would spend two decades making astonishingly precise (remember that the telescope had not yet been invented) and quantifiable measurements and observations of the stars.

Among the observations he made, he was able to see how the motion of the stars was not perfectly circular but traced an ellipse. Concretametamne, from the analysis of the behavior of comets. This observation and a later one during the year 1588 led him to another great new discovery for the time that contradicted pre-existing beliefs: He proved that comets were not in the atmosphere of our planet but outside it..

On the other hand, and largely because of the difficulty to accurately measure the motion of the stars, Brahe came to the conclusion that Copernicus' ideas were incorrect, since if the heliocentric theory were true, human beings should be able to perceive the parallax of the stars (something that later was shown to occur).

Last years, death and legacy

In 1588 King Frederick II died, which caused Tycho Brahe to lose his right to the island of Hven and the pension he received from the monarch. That is why during 1597 he decided to leave Denmark. In 1599 he was welcomed in Prague by King Rudolf II.who made him the imperial mathematician and offered him a castle as an observatory and a considerable sum of money as fees. Likewise, he would come into contact with his disciple and also relevant author Johannes Kepler.

A year later Brahe and Kepler met for a collaboration, which was initially full of disagreements but ended with Kepler as the astronomer's assistant and was highly fruitful. However, in 1601 Brahe became seriously ill.. Death came to Brahe on October 24, 1601, in the city of Prague, due to kidney failure, which ended his life. He had previously asked his assistant to finish his work.

The legacy of this important astronomer is enormous, since thanks to him the behavior of the cosmos began to be investigated in greater depth and some beliefs that existed since antiquity could be contrasted. Not in vain is he considered one of the most important astronomers in the world, and was a source of inspiration for other greats such as his disciple Kepler.

Bibliographical references:

• Gribbin, J. (2006). History of science, 1543-2001. Barcelona: Crítica.