Tycho Brahe has recently been described as “the first competent mind in modern astronomy to feel ardently the passion for exact empirical facts” by Edwin Burtt in The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science; a Historical and Critical Essay (1925). He is the best naked-eye observer of all time, and was able to observe a supernova and a comet in 1572 and 1577, respectively. These two observations, albeit interpreted incorrectly, contradicted the current theory that the heavens, beyond the Moon, never changed. He also made the best measurements for stellar parallax, and came to 2 possible conclusions: (a) the Earth was at the center of the universe or (b) the stars were so far away that their parallax was too small to detect. He ended up choosing the wrong conclusion, but that doesn’t discount his incredible observations. Brahe also studied planetary motion, Mars’ in particular, and his observations laid the ground work for Kepler, who at one point was his assistant, to find out the planets follow elliptical orbits.
A few important historical happenings that occurred during Brahe’s life were:
In 1560, the Geneva Bible is first printed. This is the first time that a mechanically printed, mass-produced Bible was made directly available to the public, and preceded King James’ translation by 51 years. This Bible included study guides and aids, citations, introductions, book summarizations, maps, tables and illustrations, which is why it is known as the first study Bible.
In 1582, the Gregorian calendar is adopted and replaces the Julian calendar. This is important as the Gregorian calendar is the calendar we use today. The original goal for implementing the Gregorian calendar was to allow for a realignment of Easter with the spring equinox.
In 1550, French Army surgeon Ambroise Pare began creating artificial limbs for wounded soldiers. He is considered to be the father of modern amputation surgery and prosthetic design. He was born sometime in 1510 and died on 20 December 1590.
At this point in time, there is no separation of church and state anywhere and any challenge against the church was unacceptable, so it’s fascinating to see that the passion these astronomers had drove them to go against the status quo and what was the law of the land– and space. I also found it very interesting to see how related the work of all these astronomers was. Even though they were spread out all over the world, they were still able to use each other’s work to spring board their own ideas. We have the internet at our finger tips and I get frustrated when I can’t find the information I want in the first few links of my google search. Another thing that ceases to amaze me is the accuracy of all the measurements. They were able to track sand grain-sized stars move in the sky, and I sometimes struggle to even focus on one star. Seeing how incredible these guys were without modern technology excites me for what tomorrow’s technology will allow our brightest minds to do.
