BRAHE, Tycho, tilco bra, or bra, Swedish astronomer: b. Knudstrup, near Lund, 14 Dec. 1546i d. Prague, Bohemia, 24 Oct. 1601. The district where he was born was then a province of Denmark, but the family was of Swedish origin. He was sent at the age of 13 to the University of Copenhagen with the intention that he should be educated for government serv ice. He evinced great promise as a Latin scholar, but an eclipse of the sun turned his attention to astronomy. His uncle sent him later to Leipzig to study law, but Brahe, while his tutor slept, busied himself nightly with the stars. He succeeded, as early as 1563, in detect ing grave errors in the Alphonsine tables and the so-called Prutenic (that is, Prussian) tables, and set about their correction. The death of an uncle, who left him an estate, recalled him to his native place in 1565; but he very soon became disgusted with the ignorance and arro gance of those moving in the same sphere with himself, and went back to Germany. At Wit tenberg, where he resided for a short time, he lost part of his nose in a duel with a Danish gentleman; but for the lost organ he ingen iously contrived one of gold, silver and wax, which fitted admirably. After two years spent in Augsburg, he returned home, where, in 1572, he discovered a new and brilliant star in the constellation Cassiopeia. In 1573 he mar ried a peasant girl. After some time spent in travel, Brahe received from his sovereign, Fred eric II, the offer of the small island of Hven or Hoene, in the sound, 10 miles from Copen hagen, as the site for an observatory, the King also offering to defray the cost of erection, and of the necessary astronomical instruments, as well as to provide him with a suitable salary. Brahe accepted the proposal, and, in 1576, the castle of Uraniborg ("fortress of the heavens")) was begun. Here, for a period of 20 years, Brahe prosecuted his observations with the most unwearied industry. Here, also, he was visited by astronomers, mathematicians, phi losophers, theologians and princes, among the latter being the future James I of England, who took a lively interest in the astronomer's work. Asking Brahe what gift he should make in return for the others courtesy, the scholar replied, "Some of your majesty's own verses?) So long as his munificent patron, Frederic II, lived, Brahe's position was all that he could have desired, but on his death in 1588 it was greatly changed. The petty prejudices of the
nobles who felt that he had disgraced their order, and the jealousies of physicians, who were aggrieved because Brahe gave medicine gratis to the poor, tended to render his position insecure. Under Christian IV Brahe was barely tolerated; but in 1597 his situation had grown so unbearable that he left the coun try altogether, having been the year before deprived of his observatory and emoluments. After residing a short time at Rostock and at Wandsbeck, hear Hamburg, he accepted an invi tation of the Emperor Rudolf II — who con ferred on him a pension of 3,000 ducats—to Benatek, a few miles from Prague, where a new Uraniborg was to have been erected for him, but he died shortly after. On his deathbed he solemnly confided his system to his cele brated pupil Kepler, then but 28 years old.
Brahe sought to combine the Copernican system with the old Ptolemaic system of the universe. The planets were considered as re volving round the sun, which with the stars revolved round the earth, the latter being fixed in space. Brahe rediscovered the variation and annual equation of the moon, first dis covered by the Arabian Abul Wefa. His works include instauratm Progymnas mata,) edited by Kepler (2 vols., Prague 1603) ; (Astronomim instauratm Mechanica' (Wands beck 1598), containing an account of his life and discoveries and a description of his in struments. Complete editions of his works were issued at Prague in 1611 and Frankfort in 1648. Consult Bertrand, 'Les Fondateurs de rastronomie moderne) (Paris 1873) ; Big ourdan, (L'Astronomie ; Evolution des Idies et des methodes' (Paris 1911) • Brewster, 'Martyrs of Science' (London 1841) ; Bryant, of Astronomy' (London 1907) ; Dreyer. 'Picture of Scientific Life and Work of Tycho Brahe' (ib. 1890) ; Gassendi, 'Vita T. (Paris 1655) ; Lodge, 'Pioneers of Science' (London 1904) ; 'Tychonis Brahe Dani Opera Omnia) (tom. i, ed. by Dreyer, Copenhagen 1914).