Tycho Brahe was born Dec. 14
On December 14, 1546 Danish astronomer and owner of a truly magnificent mustache, Tycho Brahe was born.
400th Anniversary of Birth of Tycho Brahe
Issued 1946 by Danish post
Designer: Viggo Bang
Engraver: Sven Ewert
Brahe was probably the greatest pre-telescopic astronomer. He was sent by his family to study in Copenhagen, then to Leipzig to study law, but he soon became entirely occupied with astronomy. In 1565 and 1566 Tycho studied mathematics at the universities in Wittenburg and Rostock. It is in Rostock that Tycho engaged in a duel with a fellow student and nobleman that ended up costing him part of his nose.
Tycho’s reputation as an accomplished astronomer rose quickly, primarily through his observations of and writings on the 1572 novae in Cassiopea, and of the 1577 comet. Tycho demonstrated, perhaps more convincingly than anyone before him, the falsity of the Aristotelian doctrine of the immutability of the Heavens, and of the Aristotelian theory of comets as an atmospheric phenomenon taking place in the sublunar sphere. Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) | High Altitude Observatory