James Baquet

    The Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) is most commonly referred to by his first name, which is “Latinized” form of his birth name “Tyge.” “Tycho” is in fact based on the Greek word for “luck” — ironic, considering what happened to his nose.

    His scientific work was nothing groundbreaking. Although telescopes were not used until a few years after his death, it was his steady observation of the stars and planets, and his support of the idea that the “heavens” are not fixed and unchanging, that gained him his place in the history of science.

    In fact, his “Tychonic System” was essentially wrong. Like the ancient Ptolemaic system, it put the earth at the center of the solar system, though it tried to reconcile this to the superior mathematics of the new Copernican system. It was his student and assistant, Johannes Kepler, who would use Tycho’s observations to refine the model of Copernicus into essentially the system we use today.

    It was a single incident of youthful foolishness when Tycho was only 20 that gained him fame amongst those who love trivia. After several quarrels with his third cousin (one of them over a mathematical formula), Tycho engaged in a sword duel in the dark, in which his opponent cut off his nose!

    He had a prosthetic nose made and became interested in both medicine and alchemy (the “science” that led to modern chemistry). The people of his time believed his nose was made of gold and silver. Modern scientists suggested other materials, as those precious metals would have been too heavy. An examination of his body based on an exhumation in 2010 concluded that his “golden nose” was made of brass!

    Tycho died at the relatively young age of 54 in Prague, where he had been working for several years. During a banquet, he needed to use the toilet, but for the sake of etiquette did not do so. By the time he reached home, he was unable to go and believed that this was the cause of his death 11 days later.

    He wrote his own epitaph: “He lived like a sage and died like a fool.”

    Vocabulary:

    Which word above means: 1. a fight to settle a disagreement; 2. original; important; 3. improve; make closer to perfect; 4. proper social behavior; 5. words written on a tomb; 6. different from what is expected, often in a mildly humorous way; 7. arguments; 8. unimportant facts; 9. something made to replace a body part; 10. removing of a body from its grave