Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) facts:

• World famous Danish astronomer, considered to be the founder of modern observational astronomy.
• Of Danish noble stock. Wore a silver prosthetic nose, the result of a duel.
• Split with the hitherto accepted theory that the universe and its celestial bodies were unchangeable in 1573, when he publishedhis book De Nova Stella (The New Star), after discovering a bright star in the constellation Cassiopeia.
• From his observatory Uranienborg, on the island of Hven, he also discovered the fact that comets are further from the earth than the moon is.
• Founded one of Denmark’s earliest paper mills and was also interested in alchemy, as well as being a competent writer of Latin.
• Fell out of favour with the young King Christian IV in1597 and found a new patron, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II. He left Denmark for Prague, where he later died.
• The Danish expression ‘a Tycho Brahe day’, meaning an unlucky day, does not come from Brahe’s own misfortune, but from a list of ‘unlucky days’ which Brahe’s name became associated with for unknown reasons during the 1700s.