Tycho Brahe was an astronomer who contributed greatly to the understanding of astronomy in the 16th century. He was born in Denmark. His father was Governor of the Ellsinore Castle. As a student he was competitive. Once he fought with another Danish Youth over a dispute regarding who was better mathematician of the two. While they quarreled Tycho’s nose was cut off. The nose was replaced by a gold and silver alloy. The shape of the nose became rectilinear. His head turned egg shaped and bald.

Tycho extensively, traveled in Europe meeting astronomers. Wilhelm IV had built an observatory on a tower in a castle in Germany. It so happened while Wilhelm devoted to astronomy saw a star with Tycho Bruhe. His house was on the fire and was going up in flames.

Later Tycho Brahe built a fortress on Hveen. He was the highest paid man in Denmark. King Frederick II had offered him an entire island Hveen between Copenhagen and the Elsinore castle. The basement of the fortress contained printing press and furnace. He had one underground observatory. King was fond of him.

Tycho was the first to use devices like Sextants and Quadrants to observe Celestial bodies. His observations about the comet of 1577 and a supernova also called Tycho’s Star of 1572 corrected many of the false ideas of that time. He determined the positions of 777 celestial bodies and data of their movements he collected.

Tycho Brahe died in 1601.