Great astronomer Tycho Brahe

was born 475 years ago

From Wikipedia:

Tycho Brahe (14 December 1546 – 24 October 1601) was a Danish astronomer, known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical observations. He was born in the then-Danish peninsula of Scania, which became part of Sweden the century afterwards. Tycho was well known in his lifetime as an astronomer, astrologer, and alchemist. 
He was considered the best and most accurate observer of the starry sky, which was surpassed only sixty years after the invention of the telescope.

Tycho Brahe came from an aristocratic family and, in accordance with tradition, studied first philosophy and rhetoric, then law. When he inherited a large fortune in 1565, he could only afford to devote himself to astronomy. And in order to have better opportunities for work in this area, he studied chemistry. In the following years he toured Europe.
Over twenty years he worked at the court of the Danish king, from where he was summoned to Rudolf II. to Prague. The latter, during his tenure, turned into a leading scientific center.

In 1599, the Emperor Rudolf II. decided to invite Tycho de Brahe to Prague. Tycho Brahe decided to accept Rudolf's invitation – ancient Prague had a resonant name among scientists and artists. He came to Bohemia at the age of fifty-four, which is the age when life experiences are already a fixed part of behavior and when life goals are defined.
Emperor Rudolf, together with the younger Jan Kepler, who also stayed in Prague at the invitation of the emperor, asked both eminent astronomers that they build new tables of planetary positions.Thus were born later the famous Tabulae Rudolphinae.

Brahe held the remarkable theory that the earth is the center of the universe - which was not uncommon at the time - and the sun and moon revolve around it, the other planets then revolve around the sun. As we know today, this is not the case in either case, although if we were to adhere to one of the theories that the universe is truly infinite, then, in the words of Stephen Hawking, it would mean "that in an infinitely large universe we can consider every point as the center," hence the planet earth.

Brahe died 24. on October 1601, his body was buried in the Tyn temple(Church of Our Lady) in the Old Town Square in Praha. However, the causes of death are riddled with ambiguities. According to a more romantic version, he died of a rupture of the bladder, either when he could not take his eyes off the night sky, or when he did not dare to get up from the table before the emperor. However, doctors refute this rumor with the justification that the bladder can not burst. A more recent version, supported by samples of Brahe's remains, revealed an overabundance of mercury. This fact confirmed the scientists in the opinion that the death was caused by kidney failure as a result of mercury poisoning.

          Do not forget to have a look at the sky during a night full of stars  !

                                                                                                           Margaret