The life and accomplishments of Tycho Brahe.

Essay by jennyarzHigh School, 12th gradeA+, May 2003

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Tycho Brahe was born on December 14th, 1546 into a noble Danish family in Skane, Denmark. Before he was born his father, Otte Brahe made a deal with Tycho's uncle, Joergen Brahe that if Otte's first child was a boy, he would let Joergen adopt and raise him. It did turn out to be a boy, but the father changed his mind and no longer wanted to give the boy over to the uncle. So when the next child, also a boy was born, the uncle kidnapped Tycho. At first Tycho's father was furious, but he calmed down when he realized Tycho would be the heir to his uncle and inherit a large estate from the uncle in the long run.

When Tycho was 7, the uncle insisted he learn Latin to help him become a lawyer even though Tycho's parents objected. And at the age of 13, he entered the University of Copenhagen to study law and philosophy.

Also at this age he realized that he was interested in astronomy after seeing a partial eclipse of the sun. He thought it was amazing that something like that could be predicted. As he grew more interested, he bought astronomical tables, books, and instruments to help him in his study.

When he was sent to Leipzig, Germany to continue his study of law, he had to hide those materials from his tutor and study astronomy only during the night when he wouldn't be caught.

While observing the stars one night, he saw Jupiter and Saturn pass close to each other and then he realized that the Alfonsine tables he had were off by a month, and the Copernicus tables by several days in predicting the event. He thought of this work as unacceptable by astronomers and decided he would construct an...