1 00:00:06,566 --> 00:00:09,419 How do you imagine the life of a scientist? 2 00:00:09,419 --> 00:00:10,739 Boring and monotonous, 3 00:00:10,739 --> 00:00:12,362 spending endless hours in the lab 4 00:00:12,362 --> 00:00:14,391 with no social interaction? 5 00:00:14,391 --> 00:00:17,978 Maybe for some but not Tycho Brahe. 6 00:00:17,978 --> 00:00:21,725 The 16th century scholar who accurately predicted planetary motion 7 00:00:21,725 --> 00:00:25,783 and cataloged hundreds of stars before the telescope had been invented 8 00:00:25,783 --> 00:00:29,015 also had a cosmic-sized personal life. 9 00:00:29,015 --> 00:00:32,987 Tycho Brahe was born in 1546 to Danish nobles, 10 00:00:32,987 --> 00:00:37,421 but at age two was kidnapped to be raised by his uncle instead. 11 00:00:37,421 --> 00:00:40,154 His parents didn't seem to mind. 12 00:00:40,154 --> 00:00:42,466 Tycho was supposed to have a career in law, 13 00:00:42,466 --> 00:00:45,046 but after witnessing a solar eclipse at thirteen, 14 00:00:45,046 --> 00:00:46,496 he began spending more time 15 00:00:46,496 --> 00:00:48,743 with mathematics and science professors, 16 00:00:48,743 --> 00:00:52,266 who taught him the art of celestial observation. 17 00:00:52,266 --> 00:00:55,568 By the time Tycho's uncle sent him off to Germany a few years later, 18 00:00:55,568 --> 00:00:57,523 he had lost interest in his law studies, 19 00:00:57,523 --> 00:00:59,479 instead reading astronomy books, 20 00:00:59,479 --> 00:01:00,791 improving his instruments, 21 00:01:00,791 --> 00:01:03,583 and taking careful notes of the night skies. 22 00:01:03,583 --> 00:01:05,553 It wasn't long before his own measurements 23 00:01:05,553 --> 00:01:08,685 were more accurate than those in his books. 24 00:01:08,685 --> 00:01:11,402 While in Germany, Tycho got into a bit of an argument 25 00:01:11,402 --> 00:01:12,940 with another student at a party 26 00:01:12,940 --> 00:01:14,738 over a mathematical formula, 27 00:01:14,738 --> 00:01:16,272 resulting in a sword duel 28 00:01:16,272 --> 00:01:19,524 and Tycho losing a good-sized chunk of his nose. 29 00:01:19,524 --> 00:01:21,275 After that, he was said to have worn 30 00:01:21,275 --> 00:01:23,615 a realistic prosthetic of gold and silver 31 00:01:23,615 --> 00:01:26,573 that he would glue onto his face. 32 00:01:26,573 --> 00:01:28,468 Fortunately, Tycho didn't need his nose 33 00:01:28,468 --> 00:01:30,939 to continue his astronomical work. 34 00:01:30,939 --> 00:01:32,442 He kept studying the night sky 35 00:01:32,442 --> 00:01:34,295 and creating all sorts of instruments, 36 00:01:34,295 --> 00:01:36,664 including a building-sized quadrant for measuring 37 00:01:36,664 --> 00:01:38,749 the angles of stars. 38 00:01:38,749 --> 00:01:40,553 After months of careful observation, 39 00:01:40,553 --> 00:01:42,012 Tycho discovered a new star 40 00:01:42,012 --> 00:01:44,842 in the constellation Cassiopeia. 41 00:01:44,842 --> 00:01:48,265 The publication of this discovery granted him rock star status 42 00:01:48,265 --> 00:01:51,972 and offers of scientific positions all over Europe. 43 00:01:51,972 --> 00:01:53,446 Wanting to keep him at home, 44 00:01:53,446 --> 00:01:55,159 the King of Denmark offered to give Tycho 45 00:01:55,159 --> 00:01:59,483 his own personal island with a state of the art observatory. 46 00:01:59,483 --> 00:02:03,992 Called Uraniborg and costing about 1% of Denmark's entire budget, 47 00:02:03,992 --> 00:02:06,150 this observatory was more of a castle, 48 00:02:06,150 --> 00:02:07,698 containing formal gardens, 49 00:02:07,698 --> 00:02:10,962 rooms for family, staff and visiting royalty, 50 00:02:10,962 --> 00:02:15,160 and an underground section just for all the giant instruments. 51 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:17,491 Tycho also built a papermill and printing press 52 00:02:17,491 --> 00:02:19,477 for publishing his papers, 53 00:02:19,477 --> 00:02:21,714 and a lab for studying alchemy. 54 00:02:21,714 --> 00:02:23,223 And since no castle would be complete 55 00:02:23,223 --> 00:02:24,547 without entertainment, 56 00:02:24,547 --> 00:02:26,425 Tycho employed a clairvoyant dwarf 57 00:02:26,425 --> 00:02:29,148 named Jep as court jester. 58 00:02:29,148 --> 00:02:30,377 Tycho lived on his island, 59 00:02:30,377 --> 00:02:33,586 studying and partying for about 20 years. 60 00:02:33,586 --> 00:02:35,975 But after falling out with the new Danish King, 61 00:02:35,975 --> 00:02:38,764 he took up an invitation from the Holy Roman Emperor 62 00:02:38,764 --> 00:02:42,337 to become the official imperial astronomer in Prague. 63 00:02:42,337 --> 00:02:45,551 There, he met another famous astronomer Johannes Kepler, 64 00:02:45,551 --> 00:02:47,830 who became his assistant. 65 00:02:47,830 --> 00:02:49,657 While Kepler's work interested him, 66 00:02:49,657 --> 00:02:51,459 Tycho was protective of his data, 67 00:02:51,459 --> 00:02:54,528 and the two often got into heated arguments. 68 00:02:54,528 --> 00:02:57,308 In 1601, Tycho attended a formal banquet 69 00:02:57,308 --> 00:02:59,031 where he drank quite a lot 70 00:02:59,031 --> 00:03:01,593 but was too polite to leave the table to relieve himself, 71 00:03:01,593 --> 00:03:03,759 deciding to tough it out instead. 72 00:03:03,759 --> 00:03:05,423 This proved to be a bad idea, 73 00:03:05,423 --> 00:03:07,358 as he quickly developed a bladder infection 74 00:03:07,358 --> 00:03:10,071 and died a few days later. 75 00:03:10,071 --> 00:03:11,808 But over 400 years after his death, 76 00:03:11,808 --> 00:03:15,359 Tycho still had a few surprises up his sleeve. 77 00:03:15,359 --> 00:03:17,997 When his body was exhumed and studied in 2010, 78 00:03:17,997 --> 00:03:20,088 the legendary gold and silver nose 79 00:03:20,088 --> 00:03:21,900 was nowhere to be found, 80 00:03:21,900 --> 00:03:23,366 with chemical traces suggesting 81 00:03:23,366 --> 00:03:26,216 that he wore a more casual brass nose instead. 82 00:03:26,216 --> 00:03:28,696 Tycho's mustache hair was also found 83 00:03:28,696 --> 00:03:32,397 to contain unusually high levels of toxic mercury. 84 00:03:32,397 --> 00:03:35,709 Was it from a medicine used to treat his bladder infection? 85 00:03:35,709 --> 00:03:38,411 A residue from his alchemy experiments? 86 00:03:38,411 --> 00:03:40,731 Or did his quarrelsome coworker Johannes Kepler 87 00:03:40,731 --> 00:03:43,626 poison him to acquire his data? 88 00:03:43,626 --> 00:03:45,089 We may never know, 89 00:03:45,089 --> 00:03:47,794 but the next time you think scientists lead boring lives, 90 00:03:47,794 --> 00:03:49,182 dig a little deeper. 91 00:03:49,182 --> 00:03:52,239 A fascinating story may be just beyond the tip of your nose.