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BRAHE, TYCHO (1546-1601)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 378 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BRAHE, TYCHO (1546-1601) , Danish astronomer, was See also:born on the 14th of See also:December 1546 at the See also:family seat of Knudstrup in Scania, then a Danish See also:province. Of See also:noble family, he was See also:early adopted by his See also:uncle, Jorgen Brahe, who sent him, in See also:April 1559, to study See also:philosophy and See also:rhetoric at See also:Copenhagen. The punctual occurrence at the predicted See also:time, See also:August 21st, 1560, of a See also:total See also:solar See also:eclipse led him to regard See also:astronomy as " something divine "; he See also:purchased the Ephemerides of Johann Stadius (3rd ed., 157o), and the See also:works of See also:Ptolemy in Latin, and gained some insight into the theory of the See also:planets. Entered as a See also:law-student at, the university of See also:Leipzig in 1562, he nevertheless secretly pro8ecuted See also:celestial studies, and began continuous observations with a globe, a pair of compasses and a "See also:cross-See also:staff." He quitted Leipzig on the 17th of May 1565, but his uncle dying a See also:month later, he repaired to See also:Wittenberg, and thence to See also:Rostock, where, in 1566, he lost his See also:nose in a See also:duel, and substituted an artificial one made of a See also:copper alloy. In 1569 he matriculated at See also:Augsburg, and devoted himself to See also:chemistry for two years (1570-1572). On his return to See also:Denmark, in 1571, he was permitted by his maternal uncle, See also:Steno Belle, to instal a laboratory at his See also:castle of Herritzvad, near Knudstrup; and there, on the 11th of See also:November 1572, he caught sight of the famous " new See also:star " in See also:Cassiopeia. He diligently measured its position, and printed an See also:account of his observations in a See also:tract entitled De Nova Stella (Copenhagen, 1573), a facsimile of which was produced in 1901, as a tercentenary See also:tribute to the author's memory. Tycho's See also:marriage with a See also:peasant-girl in 1573 somewhat strained his family relations. He delivered lectures in Copenhagen by royal command in 1574; and in 1575 travelled through See also:Germany to See also:Venice. The See also:execution of his See also:design to See also:settle at See also:Basel was, however, anticipated by the munificence of See also:Frederick II., See also:king of Denmark, who bestowed upon him for See also:life the See also:island of Hveen in the See also:Sound, together with a See also:pension of 500 thalers, a canonry in the See also:cathedral of See also:Roskilde, and the income of an See also:estate in See also:Norway. The first See also:stone of the magnificent See also:observatory of Uraniborg was laid on the 8th of August 1576; it received the finest procurable instrumental outfit; and was the See also:scene, during twenty-one years, of Tycho's labours in systematically See also:collecting materials—the first made available since the Alexandrian epoch—for the correction of astronomical theories. See also:James VI. of See also:Scotland, afterwards James I. of See also:England, visited him at Uraniborg on the 20th of See also:March 1590.

But by that time his fortunes were on the wane; for Frederick II. died in 1588, and his successor, See also:

Christian IV., was less tolerant of Tycho's arrogant and insubordinate behaviour. His pension and See also:fief having been withdrawn, he sailed for Rostock in See also:June 1597, and re-commenced observing before the See also:close of the See also:year, in the castle of Wandsbeck near See also:Hamburg. He spent the following See also:winter at Wittenberg, and reached See also:Prague in June 1599, well assured of favour and See also:protection from the See also:emperor See also:Rudolph II. That monarch, accordingly, assigned him the castle of Benatky for his See also:residence, with a pension of 3000 florins; his See also:great See also:instruments were moved thither from Hveen, and Johannes See also:Kepler joined him there in See also:January 1600. But this phase of renewed prosperity was brief. After eleven days' illness, Tycho Brahe died on the 24th of See also:October 1601, at Benatky, and was buried in the Teynkirche, Prague. Tycho's See also:principal See also:work, entitled Astronomiae Instauratae Progymnasmata (2 vols., Prague, 1602—1603) was edited by Kepler. The first See also:volume treated of'the motions of the See also:sun and See also:moon, and gave the places of 777 fixed stars (this number was increased to 1005 by Kepler in 1627 int.he " Rudolphine Tables "). The second, which had been privately printed at Uraniborg in 1588 with the heading De Mundi Aetherei recentioribus Phaenomenis, was mainly concerned with the See also:comet of 1577, demonstrated by Tycho from its insensible See also:parallax to be no terrestrial exhalation, as commonly supposed, but a See also:body traversing planetary space. It included, besides, an account of the Tychonic See also:plan of the cosmos, in which a via See also:media was sought between the Ptolemaic and Copernican systems. The See also:earth retained. its immobility; but the five planets were made to revolve See also:round the sun, which, with its entire cortege, annually circuited the earth, the See also:sphere of the fixed stars performing meanwhile, as of old, its all-inclusive diurnal rotation (see ASTRONOMY: See also:History). Under the heading Astronomiae Instauratae Mechanica, Tycho published at Wandsbeck, in 1598, a description of his instruments, together with an autobiographical account of his career and discoveries, including the memorable one of the moon's " variation " (see MooN).

The See also:

book was reprinted at See also:Nuremberg in 1602 (cf. Hasselberg, Vierteljahrsschrift Astr. Ges. xxxix. iii. 18o). His Epistolae Astronomicae, printed at Uraniborg in 1596 with a portrait engraved by Geyn of See also:Amsterdam in 1586, were embodied in a See also:complete edition of his works issued at See also:Frankfort in 1648. Tycho vastly improved the See also:art of astronomical observation. He constructed a table of refractions, allowed for instrumental inaccuracies, and eliminated by averaging accidental errors. He, moreover, corrected the received value of nearly every astronomical quantity; but the theoretical purpose towards which his See also:practical reform was directed, was foiled by his premature See also:death. See J. L. E. Dreyer's Tycho Brahe (See also:Edinburgh, 1890), which gives full and See also:authentic See also:information regarding his life and work.

Also Gassendi's Vita (See also:

Paris, .1654); Lebensbeschreibung, collected from various Danish See also:sources, and translated into See also:German by Philander von der Weistritz (Copenhagen and Leipzig, 1756) ; Tyge Brahe, by F. R. See also:Friis (Copenhagen, 1871); Prager Tychoniana, collected by Dr F. I. Studnicka (Prague, 1901), a description of the scanty Tychonian See also:relics which survived the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War and are still preserved at Prague. (A. M.

End of Article: BRAHE, TYCHO (1546-1601)

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