Uraniborg is the main observatory structure that he builds first of all using the labor of the peasant community on fen and skilled artisans from around Europe. The house itself it had an alchemical laboratory in the basement on the ground floor we have living quarters as well as his library or museum where his students would do their studying. It's surrounded by well-crafted gardens and a large wall a sort of fortified castle to Urania. He later builds a subterranean observatory outside of the walls of Uraniborg. So this is another building?
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.