Tycho Brahe and the Development of Observational Astronomy

Of the "famous five" (Western) astronomers of the Renaissance, Tycho Brahe gets short shrift. Nicolaus Copernicus has a revolution named after him. Galileo Galilei was celebrated by a 148-country International Year of Astronomy in 2009. Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton have laws of motion named after them. Tycho tends to be remembered for more colorful stuff. Tycho Brahe (1546 -1601), born Tyge Ottesen Brahe, was a Danish nobleman. In his youth, he lost half of his nose in a duel with his cousin after too much drinking. He wore a prosthetic nose for the rest of his days brass for everyday, gold or silver for special occasions. He was a very busy astrologer and alchemist as well as an astronomer, but that was par for the course in those days. Although he was a faithful husband as far as we know, he was denied a formal church wedding to his beloved Kirsten, mother of his eight children, because she was a commoner.