Tycho Brahe
A Picture of Scientific Life and Work in the Sixteenth Century

First published in 1890, this biography of the last of the naked-eye astronomers remained definitive for over a century.

John Louis Emil Dreyer (Author)

9781108068710, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 13 February 2014

434 pages, 5 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 2.5 cm, 0.55 kg

Famous for his metal prosthetic nose, and for being associated with 'unlucky' days in Scandinavian folklore, Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) made the most accurate naked-eye astronomical measurements of his day. Cataloguing more than 1,000 new stars, his stellar and planetary observations helped lay the foundations of early modern astronomy. John Louis Emil Dreyer (1852–1926) was a fellow Dane, but he spent much of his working life in Ireland. When he was fourteen, he had read a book about Brahe and this inspired him to 'be an astronomer and nothing else'. First published in 1890, Dreyer's biography of his hero remained the definitive work for more than a century. He sets out to illuminate not simply the life of his subject, but also the lives and work of Brahe's contemporaries and the progress of science in the sixteenth century.

Preface
1. The revival of astronomy in Europe
2. Tycho Brahe's youth
3. The new star of 1572
4. Tycho's oration on astrology and his travels in 1575
5. The island of Hveen and Tycho Brahe's observatories and other buildings
6. Tycho's life at Hveen until the death of King Frederick II
7. Tycho's book on the comet of 1577, and his system of the world
8. Further work on the star of 1572
9. The last years at Hveen, 1588–97
10. Tycho's life from his leaving Hveen until his arrival at Prague
11. Tycho Brahe in Bohemia - his death
12. Tycho Brahe's scientific achievements
Appendix
Notes
Index.

Subject Areas: Astronomy, space & time [PG]