Tycho Brahe - World's Coolest Scientist

I was reading the book Grapes of Math, written by Alex Bellos. In it he mentioned a couple of things about the scientist Tycho Brahe. Alex mentioned that he had a silver nose and that had a pet deer who fell to his death after drinking too much beer. What? I knew just a little bit about Mr. Brahe, but how did this information get past me?

Students often see mathematicians and scientists as being fairly plastic and dull. A few stories about Tycho could probably change their minds. He was not plastic. Part metal, but not plastic. Here are some top points about Tycho Brahe.

1. He was a nobleman and created something of a scandal by having children with a lowly peasant girl.

2. The silver nose thing seems to be quite true. Several sources back this up. As a twenty year old, he got into a mathematically induced fight with another student. It seems it was either over some mathematical point or over who was the better mathematician of the two. It did not end well for Tycho who lost a good part of his nose in a sword duel. It was stylishly covered with a metal nose piece.

3. There has been some debate whether the nose piece was gold, silver, brass, or copper. Tycho's body was exhumed in 2010. (For those into such things, the exhuming can be viewed on the internet.) One of history's mysteries solved - it was brass.

4. He did not agree with Copernicus. Copernicus died three years before Brahe was born. The Copernican theory was out there, but Tycho did not fully buy into it. Brahe was somewhere between Earth and Sun centered. He believed the Moon and Sun orbited the Earth and the other known planets orbited the Sun.

5. He built and made observations from the finest observatory in Europe. His observations were by eye as the telescope had not been invented yet.

6. He hired Johannes Kepler as his assistant. After Brahe's death Kepler went on to find the great important three laws of planetary motion, based on Brahe's observations.

7. The deer story seems to be true. He owned a tame elk as a pet. Tycho loaned him to a friend. One everning he got into some beer and became drunk. Later that evening, the elk fell to his death down a flight of stairs. (Feel free to insert any desired number of exclamation points.)

8. His death. There has been a theory that he was murdered by mercury poisoning, perhaps by a jealous Kepler. The exhumation in 2010 showed that he did not have elevated levels of Mercury. Johannes is off the hook.

9. It is probable that he drank too much at a banquet and felt it would be rude to dismiss himself. He died of a broken bladder.