Lastwill
5
By 23 OctoberTych
isdelirious.He
summonsKeplertohisDeclared dead
7
Ty c h o p a s s e s a w a y o n
24 October, aged 54. A
physician attributes his sudden
decline and death to kidney
stones, though no sign of these
is found during either the 1901
or 2012 exhumations.onsucceeded to the throne as Christian IV.
ncil set up to advise the young king was led
ivalof Brahe’s, and relations with the royal
courtsteadily worsened. By 1597 Tycho was driven
intoexile in Germany, and a couple of years later
hetook what was to be a fateful new appointment
as Imperial Court Astronomer to the Holy Roman
Emperor, Rudolph II, in Prague. The emperor,
fascinated by oddities such as astronomy, agreed to
finance a new observatory near Prague.
In 1600, Tycho was joined there by a new
student – a young German called Johannes Kepler.
Kepler was a brilliant mathematician and had his
own theories about the mystical geometry of the
universe that he hoped to test against Tycho’s
observations. Relations between the two men were
not always easy, however.
Plans for the new observatory were disrupted
when Tycho’s capricious new master summoned
him to Prague to provide astrological advice. He
reluctantly moved into the emperor’s Summer
Palace, and it was here, in October 1601, that Tycho
died in circumstances that have raised suspicions
and doubts ever since.
The sudden decline began after he attended
a banquet at the invitation of Peter Vok von
Rosenberg, a wealthy nobleman whose palace sat at
gates of Prague Castle, on 13 October. According
Kepler and others, strict etiquette forbade anyone
fromrising from the table before the host. Tycho,
whohad overindulged in both food and drink, held
hisbladder in great discomfort rather than risk
giving offence. By the time he returned home, he
found he was unable to urinate.
In acute pain and unable to sleep, Tycho took a
number of his own self-made medicines over the
next few days. A physician who examined him
attributed his symptoms to kidney stones, but
despite various attempts at treatment there was no
further improvement. Bedridden and increasingly
delirious, he summoned Kepler to his side. The
emperor had just commissioned him to produce
a new set of detailed tables of planetary motion,
to be known as the Rudolphine Tables, and Tycho
begged Kepler to complete the work, and show how
the patterns they revealed would be best explained
by the Tychonic, rather than the Copernican
system. Kepler, despite his misgivings about Tycho’s
theories, agreed. The following day, 24 October,
Tycho passed away.Alchemical experiments
Tycho’slifelong obsession with
alchemy involved him tinkering with
substances that are known today
to be toxic. In pursuit of impossible
goals such as the ‘philosopher’s stone’,
capable of turning lead into gold,
could he have unwittingly poisoned
himself? A 2016 analysis showed
unusually high amounts of gold in his
hair, and Tycho tried a wide variety of
medicines to cure his bladder during
his last days.
Tyc h o’s lif e s t y le
As an independently wealthy
nobleman, Tycho was used to
indulging in food and drink. Trapped
in the Imperial Court at Prague with
little hope of returning to his new
observatory, he seems to have taken
solace in the luxurious lifestyle of
banquets, rich food and richer wine.
The latest research by Sacha Kacki
and his colleagues suggests this
could have led to diabetes and
other disorders.ccosooA
18 October,however, queezes
a fewdropsandisabou
aThisplanshowsthelayout of
Tycho’s castle observatory,
Uraniborg, on the island of Hvenbedsideandbegshim
irworkonth
ne Tables.6
ll i lerobserv
Tycho’s nsomniaTy c h o B r a h e