Tycho Brahe comes from a noble family of Denmark. In 1572, he discovered a supernova and published his observation of it two years later. This incident determined Tycho's career as an astronomer. He tried to improve the accuracy of astronomical instruments. And in 1576, Tycho began to construct an observatory in the island of Hven, with financial help from the Danish King. The observatory was named "Uraniborg" (Urania's Castle), and it was equipped with large and accurate instruments, which contributed to accumulating a large amount of astronomical data.
In 1599, he became Imperial Mathematician to Roman Emperor Rudolph II, and moved to Prague; and Johannes Kepler served as an assistant to him. Later, Kepler utilized Tycho's astronomical data, and he was eventually led to the discovery of Kepler's laws of planetary motion.
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See also Tycho with a quadrant
Last modified Dec. 15, 2008. (c) Soshichi Uchii