1546-1601
Astronomer

Beginnings. Born into Denmark's high nobility, Tycho Brahe opted to become a prince of scientific researchers instead of pursuing a military or diplomatic career, as befit his aristocratic heritage Like many of his noble peers, he was tutored in Latin at home and traveled widely in his youth, visiting various European universities—enrolling at Copenhagen, Leipzig, and Rostock—and making the acquaintance of natural philosophers and noblemen wherever he went Astronomy captured his interest early, and he bought books and instruments for private study of the subject When he realized that his observations in Leipzig of the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn did not agree with the date predicted by the astronomical tables then in use, he determined to reform astronomy and bring it up to date with new observations Such tables were of great importance in Renaissance Europe because the accuracy of...