16. - 17. století
Tycho Brahe
Danish astronomer and alchemist
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One of the greatest astronomers from the Middle Ages, who by the end of his life worked at the court of Rudolf II.
He was born into an old aristocratic family. He studied rhetoric and philosophy in Copenhagen and then turned to law. Thanks to a substantial inheritance he received in 1565, he was able to dedicate himself to his favorite pastimes (alchemy and mainly astronomy) and he acquired his proper observatory. He soon caught the attention of Frederick II King of Denmark, who had an observatory built for him on an island. Following disagreements with the new king Christian
in 1597, he moved to Prague upon invitation from Rudolf II, where he was named imperial astronomer. The Emperor had a new observatory built for him in Benatky nad Jizerou, where he was assisted until his death by Jan Kepler.
Tycho Brahe died several months after his arrival there, probably due to a kidney failure. The Czech Republic was however requested to proceed to another exhumation of his remains in 2009, because of a new theory by the Danish historian Christensen regarding the suspicion that Tycho Brahe had been assassinated by his relative by order of King Christian.
