TYCHO BRAHE: THE Radical ASTRONOMER

Exploring the heavens has been a pursuit of humankind since the first person looked up to the sky and saw the strange twinkling lights we now know to be the stars and the planets.

- Emily Staniforth

In 16th century Europe, men of science had started trying to piece together the workings of the universe based on the works of those who had gone before and their own new pioneering theories. Tycho Brahe, an astronomer and nobleman at the court of King Frederick II, was a passionate pupil of the sky and, with his own eyes, forged theories on the workings of the universe. Never one to conform to what was expected of him, Brahe lived a remarkable life and left a lasting legacy in the study of the skies.

Born into a wealthy and prominent Danish noble family in 1546, Tycho Brahe was raised by his childless aunt and uncle, away from his immediate family, as his uncle's sole heir. Tycho was steered by his uncle towards a different kind of aristocratic role, that of the well-educated nobleman who might serve his monarch as a diplomat, advisor, and administrator,” says Adam Mosley, an associate professor of history at Swansea University. Rather than be apprenticed to a page at court, like many young noblemen at the time were, Brahe attended university in Copenhagen where, upon his uncle's advice, he studied arts subjects with the intention of becoming a lawyer. However, the legal life was not to be for young Brahe, who soon found his attention drifting in another direction.