11/03/2012

November 3: Tycho Brahe and Superova SN1572

Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe died in 1601 after refusing for too long to leave a wild dinner party for a bathroom break. He suffered a kidney rupture which became infected and killed him after 11 days. (Some have theorized the kidney damage could have been primarily from other causes, including poisoning.)

As a younger man, Brahe famously lost his nose in a duel fought over a mathematical formula, and wore a gold one in its place.

The greatest practical astronomer of his day, Brahe's accurate measurements allowed Johannes Kepler to prove the Copernican model of the solar system, and derive from it the laws of planetary motion which would inspire Newton's law of gravity decades later. Brahe's astronomical findings were considered so significant that the King of Denmark granted him the entire island of Hven to build an observation center.

Upon sighting a supernova which erupted overnight on this date in Cassiopeia on November 3 in 1572 - an unprecedented event - Brahe had said it must be a sign of the Second Coming.