Tycho Brahe is remembered for many things: his golden nose, his ignominious death, and his famous last words. All of these things have gone down in history. However, Tycho Brahe was well-known in his time as a respected and well-paid astronomer. His observations were second to none. He was unsatisfiable and meticulous in his profession, building two of the finest observatories of his time, the second because the first was not up to his own high standards. He is still regarded as one of the best naked-eye observationalists of all time (Burke-Gaffney, 153).
Tycho was born in 1546 to Otto Brahe and Beate Bille, along with a twin brother who died before baptism. He was born at his father's estate in Knutsorp in Scania, which was then a province of Denmark located in what is now Sweden. Raised by his uncle from an early age, Tycho began attending the University of Copenhagen in 1559 at the age of twelve (Christianson, “Copenhagen” 198).
His early studies here included subjects like grammar and rhetoric, and later arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. Because Tycho already had a strong background in Latin from his earlier studies at a Latin school in his childhood, he “quickly passed on to higher studies. (Christianson, “Copenhagen” 199).
Tycho's interest in astronomical happenings took root during his time in Copenhagen. On August 21, 1560, a partial eclipse was visible in Copenhagen. Christianson relates this to Tycho's attention to the heavens, stating that “during his last year and a half in Copenhagen, Tycho Brahe studied the stars as well as his textbooks” (“Copenhagen” 202).
In 1566 occurred an event that colored not only the rest of Tycho's life, but has carried on in the centuries after his death. In December of that year,...
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...ostly remembered for his eccentric lifestyle. His prosthetic nose made of precious metals is a familiar tale. The story of his pet moose lives on, even though the moose did not. His ignominious death is almost common knowledge. Even as far as his astronomical work is concerned, outside of the scientific community, he is perhaps best-known for his geoheliocentric universe, which was later so strongly disproven by his own assistant.
However, this is not to say that Tycho Brahe lived in vain. His was a voice that prompted a new approach to astronomy. His emphasis on accurate observation may well have been the foundation for Galileo to find the need to point his telescopes heavenward. Kepler only realized his laws of planetary motion after he was able to use the data that Tycho had collected. He was an important astronomer in his own right, and his legacy continues.
Tycho Brahe (December 14, 1546 - October 24 1601) was a Danish mathematician known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations. He was born in Scania, which used to be part of Denmark, Now part of modern day Sweden. Brahe was raised by his wealthy uncle. Brahe studied at colleges in Copenhagen and Leipzig. His family requested him to study law, but he pursued astronomy instead.
Johannes Kepler was born on December 27, 1571 in Weil, Germany. His father, Heinrich Kepler, was a mercenary; although his family was Lutheran, he fought for a Catholic army and fought Reformed insurgents. Then, about more than a decade later, Kepler's father left the family.
Jean Sylvain Bailly was famous for his advances in the sciences. Some of his accomplishments include the computation of an orbit for Halley's Comet and also studied the four satellites of Jupiter that were known at the time according to www.britannica.com. He was elected to the Academy of Science in 1763. In 1784,
After retiring from his business at a fairly young age, Sir William was undecided in what his next ventures would be. Would he continue his workings of animals and plants physiology under a microscope or would he explore the heavens? It was not until 1856 that he decided to build his private observatory in Tulse Hill, South London. Dr. William spent most of his lifetime residing within the city of London. He built his private observatory and first started with telescopes, viewing planets such as Mars. He would draw many of his early observations, and it was not until the published works of Gustav Kirchhoff, a physicists and Robert Bunsen, a chemist. Kirchhoff and Bunsen’s published writings were on the analysis and interpretation of spectral lines. B...
From an early age, Lockyer was interested in astronomy. He would take notes of his observations in several journals that would later come together to form the most well-known script in the fields of archaeoastronomy and astrophysics, entitled “Nature”. In this book, he explained his examinations, stated numerous theories, and discussed his interactions with other scientists whom he had collaborated with, as well as those who had inspired him throughout his education. He was schooled at private institutes around the Warwickshire region of England, France, and Switzerland. Soon after graduation, he worked as a clerk in the War Office in 1857. His free time was devoted to acquiring further knowledge of Mars, on which he eventually reported his observations to the Royal Astronomical Society in 1863 and was inaugurated as a Fellow. Soon after his Fellowship was when Lockyer truly started to unfold as an astronomical scientist; by building his first telescope.
Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer. He helped evolve the idea of planets, stars, and their motions. He was an influential scientist that helped change the ideas of the universe for the better. He helped change the idea that the planets orbited in a perfect circle around earth. Although he lived a poor life and he never became wealthy, he lived a fulfilling and substantial life.
Johannes Kepler was born on December 27th, 1571 in the Stuttgart region of Germany. Kepler at a young age gained an interest in mathematics and astronomy and as he grew older so did his passion. When he was at the University Tubingen he was introduced to some theories one was the Geocentric and the other Heliocentric theory. He believed in the Heliocentric theory, he based a lot of his observation on that theory and also defended it. Well after college Kepler got to work for the famous astronomer Tycho Brahe. Tycho Brahe had done a lot of observation with the naked eye. A year after Kepler worked for him. Tycho Brahe took his last breath. Kepler was Brahe successor. He got to read his friend's observation on mars. As accurate as Brahe observations
When he was just 5 years old, his mother took him to a place to view the Great Comet of 1577. After witnessing this event, Kepler’s interest in astrology was sparked. As he went through school, he excelled in subjects such as mathematics and astrology and was later accepted into the University of Tubingen. During his time at school, he developed a strong interest in theology and had the desire to go to seminary, but he was instead offered a teaching position at the Protestant school in Graz and decided to accept that position instead. In 1595, while he was still teaching at the school in Graz, Kepler discovered the Mysterium Cosmographicum. Kepler saw this discovery as one that revealed God’s geometric plan for the universe and evidence that the universe was made in the image of God. Shortly after this discovery, he married Barbara Mueller and had two children. Sadly, both of those children died during infancy within the first year of their marriage. However, instead of being distraught by the young deaths of his children, Kepler believed that this event gave him a further purpose for his work based on faith. In the following years, as Kepler was searching for more data to test his theories, the current imperial mathematician Tycho Brahe reached out to Kepler. Brahe was looking for an intelligent assistant to support and prove his geocentric theories, but Kepler was looking for an opportunity to test his heliocentric
Which composed my dream of being an astronomer and following his legacy to become a famous astronomer.
4- Olson, Donald W. et. Al., "The Stars of Hamlet", Sky and Telescope, Cambridge: Nov 1998, 96:5 68-73
Nicolaus Copernicus, a famous astronomer and mathematician, ignited a firestorm of controversy in the Renaissance with his announcement that the sun was the center of the universe, rather than the earth. Using Claudius Ptolemy’s former books on astronomy, Copernicus developed his own theories on the universe. Being very educated, Copernicus’s theories were usually correct and valid, although some were not. Besides proposing many other theories on the universe, Copernicus had many other accomplishments and achievements. Around 1514, Copernicus finished his first book, “Commentariolus”, which in Latin “small commentary,” held Copernicus’s findings on scientific methods for finding where the planets are, formulas, and observations, which ultimately led up to his discovery that the sun is the center of the Universe.
After Brahe’s wonderful education he would begin his journey to find out more about the sky and all that is in it. In 1972 Brahe discovered a supernova in the constellation Cassiopeia. "Brahe's meticulous observations showed that the supernova did not change positions with respect to the other stars (no parallax). Therefore, it was a real star, not a local object."3 This is early evidence against the immutable nature of the heavens.4 "In 1577 his studies of a bright comet showed that it traversed the spheres of the planets, and was not an atmospheric exhalation or an ill omen. Both these phenomena contributed to growing dissatisfaction with the Aristotelian belief in the perfect and unchanging nature of the celestial spheres."5
Edmond Halley was born on November 8th, 1656 to parents Gracey Halley and Edmond Halley Sr. in Haggerston, Shoreditch, England. Halley’s father was a prominent soap maker in London and brought a great deal of wealth to his family. Halley noted his profound interest in astronomy at a very young age, stating that it gave him “so great a pleasure as is impossible to explain to anyone who has not experienced it” His interest in astronomy was likely a result of growing up during a period of widespread scientific and mathematical advancements known the Scientific Revolution. It was during this period of rapid scientific enlightenment that some of the most renowned scientists emerged, including Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Nicolaus Copernicus. The Scientific Revolution and the thinkers who propelled it undoubtedly fostered Halley’s early passion for the sciences.
Tycho Brahe, a Danish astronomer, held a great belief in the importance of empiricism in relation to scientific theories. He was one of the greatest opposer of Copernicusís On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. Brahe believed the Copernicus theory was not founded on a sufficient amount of "practice." Charles W. Morris, an author of The Encyclopedia and Unified Science who specialized in Scientific Empiricism, believes that practice is found at the heart of empiricism. Morris defines the importance of practice in scientific theories as: "The activity which gives rise to the sentences of science is, like any other systematic activity proceeding in terms of rules or canons(72)." It was based on these feelings of empiricism that inspired Brahe to, "collect the most accurate astronomical data that have ever been acquired by observation with the naked eye(Kagan331)." Brahe held the common belief among empiricist that, "It is willing and able to admit i...
Carl Friedrich Gauss is revered as a very important man in the world of mathematicians. The discoveries he completed while he was alive contributed to many areas of mathematics like geometry, statistics, number theory, statistics, and more. Gauss was an extremely brilliant mathematician and that is precisely why he is remembered all through today. Although Gauss left many contributions in each of the aforementioned fields, two of his discoveries in the fields of mathematics and astronomy seem to have had the most tremendous effect on modern day mathematics.