Tycho Brahe

1546 – 1601 · died at about 55^[1][2]

Science & Invention

Fun Facts About Tycho Brahe

• Tycho Brahe lost part of his nose in a duel in the dark with his cousin after they drunkenly argued over who was the better mathematician, and wore a prosthetic nose for life.^[1]
• His false nose was said to be silver and gold, but a 2012 analysis of his exhumed remains showed it was actually made of brass.^[1]
• According to Pierre Gassendi, Tycho had a tame elk that died after drinking a lot of beer at a nobleman's dinner and falling down the stairs.^[1]
• At one point in the 1580s, the Danish crown's support for Tycho's work amounted to 1% of its total annual revenue.^[1]
• Murder theories named his assistant Johannes Kepler as a suspect, but researchers who studied his remains concluded in 2012 that "it is impossible that Tycho Brahe could have been murdered".^[1][3][4]
• Tycho coined the astronomical term nova, for a "new" star, in his 1573 book De nova stella.^[1]
• Tycho Brahe was alive at the same time as Michelangelo — their lives overlapped for 18 years (1546–1564).^[1][2][5][6]
• Tycho Brahe and Rosa Parks died on the same day of the year, October 24.^[1][2][7][8]

Tycho Brahe, generally called Tycho for short, was a Danish astronomer known for his comprehensive and unprecedentedly accurate astronomical observations which helped to turn astronomy into the first modern science and launch the Scientific Revolution. He was known during his lifetime as an astronomer, astrologer, and alchemist. He was the last major astronomer before the invention of the telescope and has been described as the greatest pre-telescopic astronomer.^[1]

Contemporaries

Elizabeth I

55 yr overlap

Akbar the Great

55 yr overlap

Tokugawa Ieyasu

55 yr overlap

Miguel de Cervantes

54 yr overlap

Sir Francis Drake

50 yr overlap

Francis Bacon

40 yr overlap

Galileo Galilei

37 yr overlap

William Shakespeare

37 yr overlap

Caravaggio

30 yr overlap

Johannes Kepler

30 yr overlap

Peter Paul Rubens

24 yr overlap

Suleiman the Magnificent

20 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Tycho Brahe

When was Tycho Brahe born?

Tycho Brahe was born in 1546 and died on October 24, 1601.

How old was Tycho Brahe at death?

Tycho Brahe died in 1601 at about 55 years old (1546–1601).

What was Tycho Brahe known for?

Tycho Brahe was known for: Astronomer of precise naked-eye observations. Tycho Brahe, generally called Tycho for short, was a Danish astronomer known for his comprehensive and unprecedentedly accurate astronomical observations which helped to turn astronomy into the first modern science and launch the Scientific Revolution. He was known during his lifetime as an astronomer, astrologer, and alchemist. He was the last major astronomer before the invention of the telescope and has been described as the greatest pre-telescopic astronomer.

Who was alive at the same time as Tycho Brahe?

Tycho Brahe's closest contemporary was Elizabeth I. Their lives overlapped for 55 years.