Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer during the Renaissance. He was born into several noble families of Denmark. In addition to astronomy, he was also interested in alchemy. He is considered the last great astronomer before the invention of the telescope. He is sometimes simply referred to as Tycho.

Tycho Brahe famously lost his nose after a duel with another nobleman. The two had been drinking and arguing about who was the better mathematician.

One of his first major discoveries was a new star in 1572. It was brighter than any planet or star in the night sky, and by his own reasoning, it should not have been there.

King Frederick II of Denmark granted him land and funds to build Uraniborg, the first large observatory for astronomers.

When Christian IV of Denmark took the throne, he expelled Tycho, forcing him to move to Prague.

Tycho invented the Tychonic system, a compromise between the Ptolemaic and Copernican models of the solar system. His system incorrectly claimed that the Sun revolved around the Earth but correctly stated that the other planets revolved around the Sun.

Shortly before his death, one of his assistants was Johannes Kepler. Using Tycho’s knowledge and data, Kepler later developed his three laws of planetary motion.

Tycho Brahe also had a pet elk in his castle. Apparently, it drank beer, got drunk, and died after falling down the stairs.