50 The Poetry of Physics and The Physics of Poetry
Because of his belief in these ideas and his refusal to recant them he
was bound to the stake at Campo di Fiori on February 19, 1600 and
burned alive.
Tycho Brahe’s Contribution
Copernicus and Bruno, whose ideas form the basis of our modern
point of view, actually represent the end of an era. They and the
formulators of the impetus theory brought about great change by looking
at old facts in new ways. The tremendous advances made by their
successors, Tycho Brahe (1546–1610), Galileo Galilei (1564–1642),
Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) and Isaac Newton (1642–1727) using new
facts characterized a change in the technique of physics in which the
need for careful systematic observation and experimentation was
recognized. Tycho Brahe wrote, “Only through a steadily pursued
course of observations would it be possible to obtain a better insight
into the motions of the planets and decide which system of the world
was correct.”
And in criticizing those whose physics consisted mostly of
speculation, he wrote, “O foolhardy astronomers, O exquisite and subtle
calculators, who practice astronomy in huts and taverns, at the fireplace,
in books and writings, but not in the heavens themselves. For very many
do not even know the stars. And yet they would go to the stars.”
Tycho Brahe went to the stars and made observation almost every
night of his adult life. He probably made more observations than any
other astronomer before him and perhaps since. His observations were
made without the use of the telescope, which had not yet been invented.
He did use instruments, however, and in fact built an observatory on the
isle of Hveen in Denmark where he did most of his life’s work.
Tycho Brahe recognized the advantages of the Copernican system
over the Ptolemaic system. He could not accept the concept that the
Earth moved, however, and a result constructed another system, which
was a compromise of the two world systems. In Brahe’s system the
Earth is static and at the center of the universe. The Sun, the Moon,
and the fixed stars all orbit the Earth. The five planets Mercury, Venus,
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn on the other hand, orbit the Sun. Brahe’s
system served as a bridge between the two systems. His greatest
contribution, however, was the wealth of experimental information