His geo-heliocentric system was ultimately proved wrong. He did think that he had observational grounds which to support his system, and his system did become more important after his death in the 17th century. But with the telescope, there was new observational evidence against the Tollamek system against geocentrism. His observational work was in many ways unprecedented. It was novel. It was systematic. And it evolved a sense of observational error and chased down errors of multiple forms in ways that none of his predecessors or many of his contemporaries undertook. The physical sciences were a collaborative enterprise. Astronomy to do astronomy the way he needed to do it, empirically he needed a team.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the pioneering Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546 – 1601) whose charts offered an unprecedented level of accuracy.
In 1572 Brahe's observations of a new star challenged the idea, inherited from Aristotle, that the heavens were unchanging. He went on to create his own observatory complex on the Danish island of Hven, and there, working before the invention of the telescope, he developed innovative instruments and gathered a team of assistants, taking a highly systematic approach to observation. A second, smaller source of renown was his metal prosthetic nose, which he needed after a serious injury sustained in a duel.
The image above shows Brahe aged 40, from the Atlas Major by Johann Blaeu.
With
Ole Grell
Emeritus Professor in Early Modern History at the Open University
Adam Mosley
Associate Professor of History at Swansea University
and
Emma Perkins
Affiliate Scholar in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge.