EFFIGIES TYCHONIS BRAHE OF.

iEDIFICH ET INSTHUMENTORUM
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ASTRONOMJCORUM STIIICIORIS.
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DOMINI 1S$- JtTKTlS SVM. 40.

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Tycho & Kepler

THE UNLIKELY PARTNERSHIP
THAT FOREVER CHANGED
OUR UNDERSTANDING
OF THE HEAVENS

$28. GO

CANAD

"An absorbing

[tale]

that simultaneously

stimulates our imagination

and

On his

satisfies

our

scientific curiosity."

The Times (London)

deathbed in 1601, the Danish nobleman and

greatest naked-eye astronomer,

his

young

Tycho Brahe, begged

me

colleague, Johannes Kepler, "Let

seem

to have

lived in vain."

years

mostly

in his native

Denmark and then

Rudolph

II

Tycho

in

Roman

Prague under the patronage of the Holy

Emperor,

not

For more than thirty

had meticulously

observed the movements of the planets and the posi-

From

tions of the stars.

oped

his

these observations he devel-

Tychonic system of the universe

original, if incorrect,

a highly

scheme that attempted

to rec-

oncile the ancient belief that the Earth stood

still

with Nicolaus Copernicus's revolutionary rearrange-

ment of

some

the solar system

Tycho knew

fifty years

earlier.

young mathe-

that Kepler, the brilliant

matician he had engaged to interpret his findings,

believed in Copernicus's arrangement, in
the planets circled the Sun;

tem

how

and he was

which

all

afraid his sys-

the product of a lifetime of effort to explain

worked

the universe

In point of fact,

came

observations

Planetary

Motion

it

would be abandoned.
From

was.

his study ofTycho's

Kepler's stunning three

Laws of

ever since the cornerstone of cos-

mology and our understanding of the heavens.

Yet, as

Kitty Ferguson reveals, neither of these giant figures

would have

The
ly

his reputation

story of

how

intertwined

is

today without the other.

their lives

and

talents

were

fateful-

one of the most memorable sagas

in

the long history of science.

Set in a singularly turbulent

European

and colorful

history, at the turning point

when

era in

medieval

TYCHO

& KEPLER

Also by Kitty Ferguson f<Jk^S ALrtR^Q%yviPANY

Measuring the

Other books by

Ur,

ICitty Ferc

The Fire in the Equations:

Science,

the Search for

Prisons

God

ofLight: Black Holes

Stephen Hawking: Quest for a Theory ofEverything

TYCHO&
KEPLER
The Unlikely Partnership That Forever Changed

Our

Understanding of the Heavens

KITTY

FERGUSON

Walker & Company

Neiv York

my sister,

To

Copyright

All rights reserved.

No

Ginger

2002 by Kitty Ferguson

part of this

book may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage

and

retrieval system,

without permission

in writing

from the Publisher.

First

published in the United States of America in 2002

by Walker Publishing Company,

Inc.

Published simultaneously in Canada by Fitzhenry and Whiteside,

Markham, Ontario L3R 4T8

For information about permission to reproduce selections

from

this

book, write to Permissions, Walker

435 Hudson

Street,

& Company,

New York, New York

10014

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ferguson, Kitty.

Tycho

& Kepler

the unlikely partnership that forever changed

our understanding of the heavens

p.

Kitty Ferguson.

cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8027-1390-4
1.

Brahe, Tycho, 1546-1601.

Denmark

Astronomers
5.

Kepler's laws.

6.

(alk.

2. Kepler,

Biography.

Planetary theory.

4.
I.

QB36.B8 F47

paper)

Johannes, 1571-1630.

Astronomers
Title:

Germany Biography.

Tycho and

Kepler.

II.

2002

520'.92'24dc21

2002027445

[B]

Visit

Walker

& Company's Web site at www.walkerbooks.com

Book

design by Katy Riegel

Printed in the United States of America

2468

10

97531

Title.

Contents

Map:

Tychos

Map:

Tycho

Denmark

ix

and Kepler's Europe

Acknowledgments

xi
xiii

Prologue

1.

Legacies

2.

Aristocrat by Birth,

Astronomer by Nature

Nobleman

3.

Behavior Unbecoming a

4.

Having the Best of Several Universes

of Hven

24
39
57

5.

The

6.

Worlds Apart

7.

A Palace Observatory

105

8.

Adelberg, Maulbronn, Uraniborg

126

Isle

77
91

Contriving Immortality

140

10.

The Undermining of Human Endeavor

153

1 1

9.

Years of Discontent

169

12.

Geometry's Universe

181

13.

Divine Right and Earthly Machination

200

14.

Converging Paths

213

Contents

Vlll

15.

Contact

231

Arms

16.

Prague Opens Her

17.

A Dysfunctional Collaboration

18.

"Let

Me Not Seem

19.

The

Best of Times

to

Have Lived

243
252
266

in Vain"

286

20. Astronomia

Nova
The Wheel of Fortune Creaks Around
An Unlikely Harmony

304

21

321

Shadows

352

22.

23. Measuring the

Appendix

1:

337

359

Angular Distance

Appendix 2:

Vocabulary ofAstronomy

Appendix 3:

Kepler's Use ofTycho's Observations

361
ofMars

363

Notes

369

Bibliography

385

Art Credits

389

Index

391

|turap

#Weil der Stadt

Tubingen

Ingolstadt

.
A,,k,,,
Augsburg

Acknowledgments

The author wishes

whose

to express her heartfelt thanks to

scientific, historical,

and bibliographical

Owen

expertise

Gingerich,
is

exceeded

only by his patience, for reading the manuscript and offering corrections

and

come

insights

family has

advice; to Sir Brian Pippard,

on the work of Kepler;

to

who

offered extremely wel-

Henrik Wachtmeister, whose

owned Knutstorps Borg since 1771, and who,

him unexpectedly in

after

we met

the churchyard at Kagerod, graciously welcomed

me and my husband and

daughter to his

home and

offered

me

the

use of an extraordinary seventeenth-century drawing of Knutstorps;

to

Yvonne Bjorkquist of the Tycho Brahe Museum on Hven, who

showed us the

women
to

at

sites

of Uraniborg and Stjerneborg; to several helpful

Benatky, whose names

overcome the language

barrier

and

layout and history of the castle; to

ter,

Caitlin,

who

never learned,

who

did their best

give us an understanding of the

my husband, Yale,

and

my daugh-

shared these research adventures, navigated the back

roads of Sweden and the Czech Republic, took photographs, and read
the manuscript; to

Anselm Skuhra, who knew the way through

labyrinth of European interlibrary loans

with the University of Salzburg library

and risked

when

the

his reputation

failed to return

books

Acknowledgments

xiv

on

time; to Justin Stagl,

rapidly cleared
tics

of the

era,

whose

who

river that runs

libraries, galleries,

were invaluable for locating

poli-

through

translated Kepler's writing for

expertise in the period

made

her translation

discerning and accurate; to Gabriele Erhart,

European

social history

up many mysteries about calendar changes, the

and the various names of the

Prague; to Karoline Krenn,

and whose

European

expertise in

all

me

more

whose knowledge of

and museums and computer

illustrations; to

the

expertise

Alena and Petr Hadrava,

me reach illustration sources in Prague; to James Voelkel,

helped me locate two difificult-to-find pictures; to my literary
agents in Europe and America, who read the manuscript at various

who
who

helped

stages

and offered continual encouragement; and

Walker

London,

&

Company

in

for their splendid

New

to

my

editors at

York and Headline Publishers

work on

this

book.

in

Prologue

On JANUARY

1600,

11,

the carriage of Johann Friedrich

Hoffmann, baron of Grunbiichel and Strechau, rumbled out of Graz

and took the road north. The baron was
culture, a
II

member of an

of the Holy

Roman

hub of European

member of the

was returning

political

and

man

of great wealth and

of advisers to Emperor Rudolph

Empire. Having

his occasional duties as a

provincial capital, he

elite circle

fulfilled, for

the time being,

Styrian Diet in the Austrian

to court in Prague, the glittering

intellectual

life.

Among Hoffmann's acquaintances in Graz was a man considerably

own station in society, an earnest young schoolmaster and
mathematician named Johannes Kepler. Hoffmann was impressed by
beneath his

Kepler's intense interest in astronomy, an interest he shared,

aware that Kepler's talents

teacher.

surpassed those of an obscure provincial

He also knew that Kepler's present situation as a Protestant in

Graz was precarious,

Only

far

and was

for the

Counter-Reformation was raging

Kepler's position as district mathematician

and the

there.

expertise he

brought to composing annual astrological calendars that predicted

everything from crops to wars had prevented his being expelled from
the city in 1598 along with other Protestant teachers and ministers.

Prologue

Hoffmann,

for

had occurred

his lofty status,

all

to

him

that he

might do

offering

him

could

afford such a journey,

ill

was a thoughtful, kindly man.

his youthful friend a service

a ride to Prague in his carriage at

no

cost to Kepler,

and an introduction

was reputedly a

nose,

more

ex-

recently arrived

common-law

fled

the extraordinary

He had

difficult person.

Danish king and nobility and

his

by

who

whose nose was made of gold and silver.

The magnificent Tycho Brahe, the man with

there

to a far

who had

perienced and distinguished astronomer

It

south

of the

fallen foul

as a princely refugee

with

wagonloads of fabulous

wife, their six children,

as-

tronomical and alchemy equipment, and three thousand books.

Hoffmann's

own

be drawn to an
liant

library

intellect

was

his passion.

such

as Tycho's

He was

and

man

the sort of

also to

admire the

to

bril-

networking that had brought Tycho to Emperor Rudolph. In

Prague, Tycho Brahe had flowed through the court like fine honey.

Rudolph, an eccentric collector of all manner of curiosities, had wel-

comed him and promised

munificent

him and

to support

Hoffmanns

invitation to ride in his carriage to Prague

send to Johannes Kepler. There was no

longed to meet
not entirely

as

he would welcome Kepler to join

Brahe had been too

far

away

that

first

world

was a god-

whom he so

ticket, that

he had to leave

God

matters),

(Kepler had no

Tycho had moved

Never mind that

the horses to the road north,

it

was a

and stepdaughter behind,

meet him

as

he was to meet

Tycho, that there was no guarantee a paying job would

the baron's carriage drove out of Graz

that

Europe and the journey pro-

his wife

as eager to

conde-

of assistants. Alas, Tycho

by the grace of

free ride to Prague.

Tycho might not be

if

book and had hinted

his coterie

God had a direct hand in such

and Kepler had a

one-way

in the

him. Tycho had had kind,

in northern

hibitively expensive. Suddenly,

closer,

man

Tycho Brahe. Kepler had already made inept but

fruitless overtures to

scending, words to say about Kepler's

doubt that

his learned pursuits in

style.

on January

1 1

result.

and the

young Kepler was on board.

When

driver set

Prologue

The journey took ten days, and Tycho Brahe was not in the city
when they arrived. He was at Benatky nad Jizerou, a clifrtop castle
several miles to the northeast. Kepler stayed for a
in

how

Hoffmann's palace, considering

Then on January

who had heard

much as guest,"

few days

man

26, a letter arrived from the great

that Kepler

was

"You

in Prague.

Kepler read, "but

desirable participant

as

as a guest

best to approach Tycho.

will

himself,

come not

so

very welcome friend and highly

and companion

in

our observations of the

heavens." Kepler was apparently not to be just one additional begin-

ner assistant.

Nine days

on February

later,

4, carrying a

glowing

letter

duction from Baron Hoffmann, Kepler rode out of Prague,

in

Tycho

own

Brahe's

carriage with Tycho's son, also

of introthis

time

named Tycho,

and an elegant young man named Franz Tengnagel. They crossed the
Labe River
lodge,

at Brandeis,

where the emperor had

a luxurious

and continued through wooded countryside. The

for the

numerous

February

5, that

pines,

were bare.

they reached the

first

It

hunting

trees,

except

wasn't until the next day,

significant

scape, the bluff above the Jizerou River. Poised

change

on

in the land-

top, near the cliff

edge, was a square three-story structure of generous but pleasing proportions.

was not the formidable, gloomy

It

were. Perhaps Kepler saw

was

tire exterior wall,

for

of creation

in the process

it

had

either

fortress

some

castles

been completed then or

a wonderful fresco covering

one en-

showing hunting scenes with Emperor Rudolph

prominently featured.
Kepler counted

among

his acquaintances several

Hoffmann who were of much

greater social stature

himself. Nevertheless, the lord of

came from

Benatky

whom

world almost completely outside

men

such

as

and wealth than

he met that day

his previous

realm of

experience and, in spite of their shared scholarly interests, largely be-

yond

his understanding.

schoolmaster

who had

Kepler was a well-educated but poorly paid

spent his childhood in an impoverished, dys-

functional family in small towns

on the edge of the Black

Forest.

By

Prologue

own

his

please

description he resembled a

only

house dog, overeager to

little

occasionally attempting to assert himself by growling

or barking and,

when he

did, succeeding only in causing people to

avoid him. Tycho Brahe was renowned throughout Europe as a

among astronomers and an astronomer among princes; he

his own superior intellect and status;
and he regarded lesser men as just that: lesser men, some of whom he
prince

was supremely well aware of

and treated

liked

well, others not.

At the time he met Kepler, he was

feeling his age, fifty-three years. Bruised

by recent defeats

at the

hands of enemies in Denmark, he was discouraged about the present

state

of his work. Nevertheless, he was on his

court, lord of an imperial castle, with a

Holy Roman Emperor

man

at court.

that

feet again in a different

promised income from the

was greater than that drawn by any other

His current public image in Prague was

as

and extrovert luminary. Some who had encountered him

contexts

knew he could

an elegant

in different

be an overbearing, combative, paranoid,

also

and even somewhat malevolent

figure.

Though Kepler may have been becoming aware of his own genius,
he was

still

a modest, pious, unassuming, ill-at-ease twenty-eight-

year-old in the thrall of a glamorous, formidable,

world

figure. Yet in

somewhat jaded

Kepler the mighty Tycho met his match. If Tycho

was the dragon of fairy

tales,

coiled

on

a fabulous

golden hoard

the

astronomical observations that he had spent years and a fortune

making and now would

let

almost no one see

unpromising folklore antihero

the

power

who was

to wrest that treasure

then Kepler was

nevertheless

from him and, from

the

endowed with
it,

forge a

new

astronomy.

Modern
cisely

scientists

who Johannes

and

historians, with hindsight,

Kepler was.

The

nor did Tycho's son, or Tengnagel.

pected

kindly

No

one

know this

Hoffmann
at

didn't

is

pre-

know;

Benatky Castle

sus-

with the possible exception of Tycho Brahe himself.

Aware only of what Tycho and Kepler had accomplished before

that February

day when they met, one would not be

likely to iden-

Prologue

tify either

of them

as a

prime candidate

Both men

for immortality.

were engaged in developing theories that to modern eyes seem hopelessly

misguided. Yet Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe would turn

out to be two of a mere handful of men

manity into the modern era of

When

who would

Kepler's exceptional gifts of imagination

his insistence

on mathematical

precipitate hu-

and

scientific inquiry

discovery.

and inventiveness,

and reasonable physical expla-

rigor

and his belief that God had created a universe in which harmony and logic prevail came to grips with Tycho's superb, unyielding
nations,

would be the

observational data, the result

laws that govern

how

find those laws

would

would

profound

revelation of

the heavenly bodies move. Kepler's struggle to

itself

become

what science

a prototype for

be from that time forward. Sir Isaac

Newton was
when he

Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo

referring to

had

said he

stood "on the shoulders of giants."

The colorful, dangerous world in which Tycho and Kepler lived and
worked

the courts,

Renaissance Europe

ground, shaped by

universities,

it

afforded

and often

them

cities,
little

at its mercy,

and hovels of

palaces,

peace. Against this back-

they nevertheless stood as

towering figures not really conformed to any age or time.

their genius the only thing that set
level,

them

apart.

On

more

they were truly eccentric personalities. Either man,

tered in a novel,

same can be

would seem

said of

Shakespeare's interest, Kepler's

.

In this setting and

Rudolph with

Rosenkrantz

who

mother Katharina, who was

among
and

these people,

Kepler's loftiest

destroy their happiness, and distract

this

The
vil-

his

sparked
tried for

spired to foil Tycho's

However,

encoun-

acquaintances: the unabashedly

largely imaginary royal treasury, the rascal

superficial
if

a fantastic or even absurd invention.

many of their

lainous Nicolaus Bar, the reclusive emperor

witchcraft.

Nor was

all

manner of events con-

and best-considered

them from

plans,

their science.

same chain of events brought them together and thus

secured for them an immortality that they probably would not have

Prologue

achieved otherwise.
lent will of God led
later

No wonder
men

could be recognized

If invisible cords

passage of
strife-torn,

strands
births.

many
to

along desperately unwanted paths that only

as the right ones.

drew Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler over the

years to their crucial encounter,

amazingly

seem

Kepler concluded that the benevo-

fruitful relationship that

and

to the brief,

followed

it,

those

have been moving almost from the moments of their

Legacies
1546-1561

The ORIGIN OF

was once part of Denmark but

written and even oral records.
lar

now southwest Sweden

the Danish castle Knutstorps Borg

is

One

what

in

pre-dates

ancient section of wall in the cel-

comes from an eleventh-century structure, but no one knows who

lived there then or

gentle folds of

what the building looked

like,

meadow and woodland. There

are records

fourteenth century of an inhabited stone keep.

rounded by the small lake that appears

ings.

By

that time the keep

ancestral seat of the noble

sive

moat with

Here, on

secluded

It

among

from the

was probably

draw-

in sixteenth-century

had become a substantial

castle

Brahe family. The lake served

sur-

home, the

as a

defen-

causeway and drawbridge.

December

14, 1546,

more than

half a century before

Johannes Kepler's winter journey to Prague and Benatky, Beate

Bille,

wife of the Danish knight Otte Brahe, gave birth to twin sons.

Only

one of them

lived,

and he was christened Tyge (pronounced

"Teeguh"), probably in the small stone parish church of the

Kagerod. Tyge,

who would

Otte and Beate's

not

tell

him

first

that he

later Latinize his

name

manor

to Tycho,

at

was

son and second living child. His parents did

had been

a twin.

TYCHO

He was

& KEPLER

also kept ill-informed

When

early childhood.

about an unusual episode in

Tyge was two years

young uncle

old, his

and aunt, Jorgen Brahe and Inger Oxe, abducted him from

and carried him

ents' castle

far as records

cident

show, and

when he was

mother or

as

to their

own

his par-

stronghold at Tostrup. As

Tycho Brahe understood

older, there

his

this bizarre in-

was no outraged protest from

his

no family schism, no scandal, and no attempt

father,

to

recover him. Otte and Beate by then had a second son, Steen, and

were expecting another baby. Tycho would

his uncle

simply that

my parents took me
my earliest youth." It seems that was

Jorgen "without the knowledge of

away with him while

all

later write

was in

Tycho knew.
Short of being a

member of the

royal family,

was impossible to

it

be higher born than young Tyge.* His ancestors and his

for generations

with consummate
sition

who served
who knew how

been powerful leaders

skill

and

loyalty,

of influence amid shifting factions

that position if

temporarily

it

lost.

how

to regain

happened through some stroke of misfortune

On

the Brahe side the

men

had

to maintain a po-

court and

at

relatives

the Danish kings

to be

were warrior knights,

at

home in the heavy-drinking military circles of the Danish court and

ably commanding and administering royal fiefs. Tyge's great-uncle
Axel had been one of the

first

Danish

aristocrats to reject Catholicism,

so effectively supporting the Lutheran king Christian III during the

Reformation in Denmark

in the

530s that he was chosen to carry the

scepter at the coronation in 1537. Tyge's father Otte

and

foster-father Jorgen

honed

their courtly

and

and military

his uncle
skills

dur-

ing that same period of political and religious upheaval. In 1540,

six years before Tyge's birth, the

king granted them the joint fiefdom

of Storekobing, a step toward increasingly strategic fiefdoms. Otte

information about Tycho's childhood and youth

in Victor E. Thoren's splendid scholarly treatment,

Brahe.

is

found

in Tycho's

own

later

accounts and

The Lord of Uraniborg: A Biography of Tycho

Thoren was the leading Tycho Brahe scholar of the twentieth

century.

Legacies

would eventually become governor of Helsingborg

that guarded the

0resund

Sea to the Baltic

(see

also

Castle, the fortress

the crucial strait that led from the

map, Tycho's Denmark, on page

North

He would

xi).

hold a seat in the Rigsraad, a body of twenty nobles whose

sponsibility
treaties,

it

was

to seat kings, appoint regents, declare war,

and work with the king on a daily

Tyge's forebears

combined

on

his

mother Beate

same kind of secular

that

service to the king with high ec-

able wealth to be channeled to family

than

When

of state.

of the family had

and these connections had allowed consider-

clesiastical positions,

the church.

basis in affairs

Bille's side

re-

make

the Reformation

members who did not

came

in the 1530s,

enter

no fewer

were in the Rigsraad, and most commanded imporDenmark and Norway. Less fortunately, seven of the
Catholic bishops of Denmark were blood relations, linking

six Billes

tant castles in

eight

what turned out

the family embarrassingly with

side.

However, by the time of Tyge's birth the

pairing their fortunes.

The marriage of

to be the losing

Billes

Beate

were rapidly

Bille to

re-

Otte Brahe

was part of that recovery.

Neither the

nor the Brahes were scholars. However, Tyge's

Billes

childhood abduction had made him the intellectual heir to a third

line,

the Oxes, the ancestors of his aunt and foster

The Oxe

than most of the Danish nobility.

France

at the

The

Denmark

Nevertheless, they had produced four

before losing their position in

Reformation.

A decade later,

political fortunes

lectual interests

and

was the

civil

at the

as

and

their roots

the Brahes and Billes.

members of

the Rigsraad

upheavals at the time of the

time of Tyge's birth, the Oxes'

were soaring again, thanks to

Inger's brilliant

Oxe. Inger shared something of Peder's

eldest brother, Peder

friends

Inger.

family had arrived from

end of the fourteenth century, and hence

did not go back as far in

telligence,

mother

family was traditionally more learned and cultivated

abilities.

social grace.
sister

She was

One

woman

intel-

of great charm, in-

of her correspondents and closest

of Denmark's King Frederick, Princess Anne,

TYCHO

io

who, despite the time-consuming burden of royal

herself a scholar

and the unlikeliness of the

duties

was

& KEPLER

role for a

woman

of the time,

a skilled alchemist.

Young Tyge was

whether he lived with

families gave

up

in a princely fashion,

his parents or his uncle

and aunt. Having two

certain to be brought

him an added

advantage.

He had

the attention of an

only child in Jorgen's and Inger's castle and would have the support

of four younger brothers in Otte's and Beate's family

compete

to

power

in the

politics

if

he

later

of the adult world. Most

chose

signifi-

thanks to the tradition of Inger Oxe's family, Tyge grew up

cantly,

with a somewhat unorthodox view of the world and of the educational

and

There

career choices available to him.

is

little

record of Tyge's childhood and early youth. Pre-

sumably he spent considerable time

Tostrup, which was

seat,

on the

uncle Jorgen's ancestral

at his

side of the province of

nearest the Baltic Sea, well to the east of Knutstorp

He

must have

also

visited his parents

and

Skane that

is

and the 0resund.

his brothers

and

sisters

(seven eventually survived to adulthood) at Knutstorps Borg.

The

Inger and their

fiefs

meant

nephew Tyge elsewhere

as well.

armaments were

However,

nobleman

in a state

also

had

of repair and ready for de-

to protect his interests at court,

networking and second-guessing royal whim.

fall

one's

royal

way

fiefs,

shape to

Administering royal

periodically spending time in residence, assuring that the

buildings and
fense.

Danish knight took Jorgen and almost certainly

duties of a

if

New royal fiefs did not

one was continuously absent administering distant

and yet

distant royal fiefs did not stay in

satisfy the king

if

one was continually

good enough

at court. It

was

a bal-

ancing act that required an ambitious vassal to be frequently on the

move, and Jorgen

clearly carried

companied Inger when she

it

off well. Tyge also

traveled with her

minister her large share of the

Oxe

family's

own

domain.

may

have ac-

retainers to ad-

When

it

came

to

taking an extensive aristocratic household on the road without ever

Legacies

appearing to be a nomad, a young Danish nobleman such

Tyge

as

had plenty of early experience.

In

1552 Jorgen was promoted

to the

of Vordingborg

enormous medieval stronghold on the south

Castle, an

Zealand (Sjaelland). Tyge was about

in

command

some of the pomp and

part of the

life at

six,

such an important

Duke

were

lavish ceremonial entertaining that

castle.

Vordingborg stood guard

over the principal travel route between

Continent.

coast of

old enough to participate

Copenhagen and

the

Ulrich of Mecklenburg and his court rode

through the gates in 1556. Princess Elizabeth of Saxony stopped

there in

way

1557 with an escort of no fewer than

to visit her grandparents in

self visited

the

from time

to time.

company of kings and

Beginning soon

school in
until

him-

stranger in

time of the

move

He wrote later that he

to

Vordingborg, Tyge

"was sent to grammar

seventh year," and he continued elementary studies

about the age of twelve. Tyge's was probably a cathedral school

near the
side

[his]

Young Tyge was soon no

on the

III

princes.

after the

began formal schooling.

sixty knights,

Denmark. King Christian

castle.

At such establishments, sons of the

nobility studied

by side with lower-class schoolboys. The curriculum was mostly

Latin

grammar and

religion,

with some music and theater, and per-

haps Greek and elementary mathematics. Tyge's father thought Latin

was a waste of time, but

learn

his uncle

Jorgen disagreed and insisted Tyge

it.

When

a nobleman's son attended

grammar

school, he usually

lodged in the household of a bishop or other highly placed clergy-

man

much as possible outThe days when bishops in

so that he could continue to develop, as

side the castle, the niceties of a gentleman.

Denmark were

Catholic aristocrats had ended with the Reformation.

In Tyge's school days they were Lutherans of middle-class back-

own and not wealthy

establishments. Nearly all these men

ground, often with large families of their

enough

to support luxurious

TYCHO

12

& KEPLER

had studied

at

lated those

where they had boarded with professors

Wittenberg

in

Germany, and

emu-

their households
like

Martin

Luther and Philipp Melanchthon.

Family, boarding students, guests,

meals

at

and colleagues gathered

for

long tables in a wood-paneled room. Tyge wouldn't have

found that too different from mealtimes

at the castle except for the

conversation. In the household where he lodged, he probably heard

for the first time the lively, wide-ranging, intellectual

went on around

discussions that traditionally

Mealtime conversation
likely

politics,

a scholar's table.

by contrast, would more

at his uncle's castle,

have dealt with warfare,

and court

gossip.

Tyge Brahe went farther from home to continue

at the

University of

mealtime

his

Copenhagen when he was twelve

not an early age to begin university in those days.

education

which was

He may

actually

have matriculated, for he recorded the date he began, April 19,

1559. Matriculation was an unusual step for a nobleman's son, because young aristocrats didn't need university degrees as creden-

was more

tials. It

of lectures

as part

common

for

them only

of a course of study

whose supervision they

lived

to attend selected series

set

by the professor under

and worked, with no more formal

arrangement.
University students lodged with professors rather than bishops or

clergymen. Living conditions were comfortable, at

least

by sixteenth-

century standards, because a university appointment, though

not

make

fessor

who

man a member of the nobility,

provided

paid

fairly well.

it

The

did

pro-

the lodging also supervised his students' read-

ing and lecture attendance and arranged tutoring with older stu-

dents residing in the same household.

scale,

On

a smaller,

such a household was not unlike a college

at

more personal
Cambridge or

Oxford.

The
ties

University of

Copenhagen was one of the premier

of Europe. King Christian

III, at

uncle had carried the scepter, had

whose coronation

set

the university

universi-

Tyge's great-

on

sound

fi-

Legacies

nancial footing,

and Frederick

13

the present king, had enlarged

II,

endowment, ensuring an income from landed

Among

church properties.

estates, tithes,

its

and

other benefits, the university had the cu-

rious right to even* eighth swine grazing in the university rorests.

which perhaps helped

to

supply the long tables in the professors'

households.

The

quality of a students education

household he belonged

to.

lodged. His uncle and aunt

of Xicolaus Scavenius.

and there

may

depended heavily on whose

no record of where Tyge

is

have placed him in the household

of mathematics, for Tvges math-

a professor

ematical interests began early, and Scavenius was a client of the

Oxe

family.

On

the other hand, he

may

have lodged in the estab-

lishment of Xiels Hemmingsen, a renowned professor of theology

who would

play an interesting walk-on role later in Tycho's

life.

Anders Sorensen Vedel, who would accompany Tyge on educational journeys abroad, lodged there.
sibly

some Hebrew and acquired

However, education

ential follower

lieved that the

to salvation

all

young man who intended

bears into the ranks of the ruling

went beyond these

education with

and public speaking,

logic, rhetoric, debate,

sidered useful for a

Tyge studied Greek and pos-

a classical

at

traditionally conto follow his fore-

elite.

Lutheran universities such

subjects, largely thanks to

as

Copenhagen

Martin Luther's

church could succeed in

only

if it

made education
grounded

its

mission to teach the path

a priority

in the 'liberal

and produced
arts'":

understand the Scriptures and the writings of the church

to

In order to
fathers,

one

have Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Knowledge of literature and

history lent authority to preaching,

rectly

influ-

and friend Philipp Melanchthon. Melanchthon be-

clergy of scholars strongly

had

skills in

from mastery of rhetoric and

sion of both the secular

which benefited even more

dialectic.

and sacred realms

di-

Thorough comprehen-

called for arithmetic

and

geometry. Besides their practical applications, these also helped one

understand astronomv. which was considered to be the most heav-

TYCHO

& KEPLER

enly of the sciences. Every Lutheran university had at least one professorial chair in these

mathematical disciplines. Astronomy estab-

lished the calendar of the church

and opened one

of nature and the mind of the Creator, but

as a basis for astrology.

The two

also

had

for practicing

training astronomers was to improve horoscopes.

tor

Martin Luther scoffed

many

at

its

practical use

subjects were in fact not separate

and one of the primary motives

then,

it

to the inspiration

astronomy and

Though

his

men-

such ideas, Melanchthon, along with

other educated people, thought the fate of human beings was

closely linked to the stars

and

Brahe and, twenty-five years

planets.

later,

for

university curriculum promulgated

embodied the humanist

ideal that

and master any part of all

this

Most

significantly for

Tycho

Johannes Kepler, the Philippist

by Philipp Melanchthon

also

one could not truly comprehend

knowledge unless one comprehended

and mastered the whole of it.

It

was

in the

atmosphere of such broad

Tyge's interest in

astronomy took shape.

intellectual

An

ambitions that

eclipse of the

Moon on

August 21, 1560, that he either witnessed or heard about when he

was thirteen years
with the subject.

A surviving list
tion about the

de Sacrobosco's

omy

text

old, set fire to his already considerable fascination

of books Tyge purchased provides some informa-

astronomy he studied. The books included Johannes

On

the Spheres, the

preeminent introductory astron-

of the Middle Ages, which Professor Scavenius used in

lectures; Peter Apian's Cosmography, a

more advanced book; Johann

Regiomontanus's Trigonometry; and an ephemeris

the positions of heavenly bodies

on

"Anno 1561,"

form of Tyge

in the

name and

showing

in a regular se-

the date of pur-

Apian Cosmography, using a Latinized

Tycho. Tycho

The significance of this

(a table

number of dates

quence) from Stadius. Tyge inscribed his

chase,

his

spelled the

name sometimes with

event for Tycho was recorded by his

teenth-century astronomer Pierre Gassendi.

first

ij,

biographer, the early-seven-

Legacies

sometimes with y, never

is

Taecho, indicating that he intended

it

to

be pronounced Teeko, or (closer to the Danish pronunciation)

as

as

though the y were a German

Astronomers
of their subject

as

the era

in

when Tycho

lived

thought

being separated into two parts, described as the

primum and secundum

celestial

ii.

The primum

mobile.

dealt with the

way

the

sphere as a whole "rose" and "set" every night, and the fact

that the particular portion of that celestial sphere visible at night

changes throughout the year in a regular annual

cycle.

One needed

trigonometry, the most advanced form of mathematics then known,

to

understand these phenomena in

usually took place

dum

on

more

classroom discussions

detail, so

general, qualitative level.

mobile, involving planetary positions

The

secun-

and motions, did require

trigonometry.
Typical study of the secundum mobile began with Euclid's Geometry,
a

work that had endured

still

since

taught in basic geometry

to trigonometry

planetary theory

When

around 300
classes.)

and planetary
still

B.C.

From

(Euclidean geometry

there the course

meant theory according

parchus, and Claudius Ptolemaeus

(known

night sky, they saw virtually the same

clear night

went on

theory. In Tycho's university years,

to Ptolemaic astronomy.

Greek and Alexandrian scholars such

naked eye on a

is

now,

as

as Aristotle,

Hip-

Ptolemy) peered

at the

panorama

far

that

is

visible

enough away from

with the

city light.

Thirteen centuries after Ptolemy, Copernicus and Tycho Brahe also

had no other view than

telescope.

that, for

they too lived before the advent of the

Ancient sky-watchers, by scrutinizing the sky with care over

long periods of time, had discovered that the motions of the heavenly
bodies are not random. Stellar and planetary

but

it

jects

was possible

to calculate well in

knew early on

that

is

intricate,

advance what paths these ob-

would take and where they would be

servers

movement

at a future time.

Close ob-

though change, chance, and whim seem

to

TYCHO

16

& KEPLER

be the rule on Earth, the heavens perform a complex but predictable

dance. That dichotomy became a key part of the ancient and medieval worldview.

The

best

way

to describe

and explain what one observed

with the naked eye was to think of Earth

skies

everything else moving around

mirably for purposes of navigation. In

might operate differently demands

as the center,

That concept

it.

in the

fact, to

with

works ad-

still

think that things

a leap of fancy that

would seem

ludicrous to anyone not steeped since childhood in Sun-centered

astronomy.
Early astronomers knew, however, that there are

one observes looking

that

of time that seem

ter

at

and everything

at the

odds with a system

else

is

in

in

which Earth

motion around

to discard the Earth-centered

it.

is

the cen-

Rather than decide

and stubborn enough

that these glitches were significant

one

phenomena

sky with greater care over a period

to require

view of the universe entirely and

look for another, they chose to attempt to explain the glitches,

if

they could, within an Earth-centered system. Ptolemy's success in

doing so was one of the most impressive intellectual achievements

in history.

Ptolemy did not begin with

a.d.

by gazing up

mouth of
sults

sky as

it

second century

appeared to him from near the

the Nile at Alexandria. Instead, he

drew together the

re-

of centuries of previous speculation and observation and pon-

dered
ents.

at the night

a tabula rasa in the

all

The

of

this afresh,

result, set

applying his

down

own

superb mathematical

in his Almagest

tal-

and other works, was

cohesive explanation of the cosmos that endured and dominated

Islamic and,

even

as

it

later,

was

Western thinking

rejected,

astronomy and

all

it

for fourteen centuries. Finally,

provided the springboard for Copernican

that has followed

from

that.

Part of the intellectual worldview of the era in

lived

which Ptolemy

was that the actual appearance of things had to be taken into

account in trying to figure out what constitutes

"reality."

To be

plau-

Legacies

ij

an explanation had to "save the appearances," not contradict

sible,

Though

them.

in the early seventeenth century, after Tycho's death,

some Ptolemaic astronomers

when

scope

seemed

it

refused to look through Galileo's tele-

to reveal things that contradicted Ptolemy,

Ptolemy himself did not ignore "what can be seen up there"

of some mathematical
telescope.

him

He would have looked through Galileo's

However, nothing about the appearance of the heavens,

Ptolemy and
or

fable.

his predecessors

in perfect circles

and

all

heavenly

spheres.

"spheres" were not the planets themselves, but transparent

glass spheres in

which the planets

"crystalline" spheres, each

traveled.

Astronomers spoke of

having an inner and an outer wall, with

space between the two walls for the planet to move.

The

spheres

were nested one within the other, with each successive sphere

enough

small

to

within the one outside

fit

packed with no extra space

to prevent their
face of

as

were able to study them, forced them

to reject the intellectual tradition that held that

movement occurred

The

in favor

left

it.

They were

just

tightly

between them, but not so tightly

as

moving, one against the other, with the outer sur-

one sphere scraping against the inner surface of the next

larger.

Sitting at the center of this system of nested crystalline spheres

was Earth. The outermost sphere

of the
in

stars.

The innermost

which the

Moon

in the

sphere

arrangement was the sphere

nearest Earth

was

the sphere

moved. The others each contained a planet,

cept for the one that contained the Sun. Each

ex-

body could move only

between the outer and inner walls of its own sphere. Not

all

scholars

agreed about the nature and mechanics of these spheres, but there

was general agreement that a planet couldn't break through those

walls

and enter another

planet's sphere. In fact, in this system, no

heavenly body could break through the walls of a sphere. That would
shatter

it.

This

last restriction

became

significant for

Tycho Brahe

and Johannes Kepler.

One

of the most stubborn problems for ancient astronomers was


TYCHO

18

& KEPLER

Figure 1.1: Early astronomers thought of the planets and the Sun and
as

each moving in

its

own

"crystalline" sphere (a),

one within the other and Earth

how to

explain a

of the planets.

at the center (b).

phenomenon known

as the "retrograde"

when

it is

on the opposite

with the problem of explaining

movement and

A carousel

side

move from

appears for a while to

fore Ptolemy,

movement

A planet normally moves from west to east against the

background of stars. However, during a period known

tion,"

Moon

with these spheres nested

perfect circles

of Earth from the Sun, a planet

east to west. Scholars

this in a

and

as its "opposi-

model

spheres.

were faced

that required uniform

The

solution, devised be-

was ingenious.
is

a helpful analogy for understanding the idea:

On the

simplest carousel, the horses are bolted directly to the floor, which
a large, rotating disk.

no other motion.

They

If the

circle, as

is

the disk rotates, but they have

amusement park

is

dark and there

is

a light

attached to the head of one horse, an observer, positioned at the center

of the carousel in such way

as

not to move with the rotating disk,

sees the light circle steadily. It will

never seem to back up.

have no "retrograde motion"

Legacies

Figure 1.2:

On

on

that ride

this carousel the horses are attached to smaller rotating disks

the perimeter of the large, rotating floor.

the horses not only

move

19

make

their

way all

the

way around

As the carousel

in smaller circles, chasing their tails.

Suppose instead that the observer does occasionally

stop,
isn't

back up for a while, and then resume

random

occurrence, as

of the ticket taker

happened
ularly
light

turns,

the large circle but also

it

he moves

might be

among

to venture into the carousel.

and

on

as

predictably.

its

The

if

its

see the light

former motion. This

the light were

the riders, or

on the cap

if a large firefly

The backing up happens

head must not be bolted directly to the rotating

Instead, each horse

is

reg-

observer decides that the horse with the

disk.

part of a minicarousel perched near the edge

of that disk. Hence, in addition to their motion with the disk, the
horses are

By

the

moving around
same token,

in a stroke of insight, ancient astronomers re-

alized that if the planets

tered

on the rim of a

in smaller circles, chasing their tails.

moved

continually in smaller circles cen-

larger circle centered

on Earth, the

result

would

be the regularly occurring retrograde motion they were observing.

TYCHO

20

The
which

& ICEPLER

technical term in Ptolemaic astronomy for the small circle in

a planet

moved was

epicycle.

The

larger circle

epicycles turned (in figure 1.2, the inner circle

on which the

the radius at

the minicarousels are bolted to the floor) was the deferent.

justing the size, direction,

could explain
ets,

Sun, and

and speed of the

many irregularities

Moon

move.

which

By

ad-

epicycles, astronomers

they observed in the

planet traveling in

its

way the

epicycle

plan-

would

sometimes be closer to Earth and sometimes farther away, which explained apparent variations in

omy

a planet's sphere

wheel along on

its

was

its

eccentric.

enough

for the planet to cart-

epicycles.

Tycho, Kepler, and their peers

of the

brightness. In Ptolemaic astron-

just large

With an

at university also learned the use

eccentric, the planet (perhaps simultane-

ously traveling in an epicycle) orbited Earth, but the orbit wasn't

Figure 1.3: Devices of Ptolemaic astronomy: eccentric orbit, deferent, epicycle,

and equant.

Legacies

centered precisely on Earth.

Its

21

center was a point a small distance

away from Earth.

Epicycles, deferents,

from

own

and eccentrics were devices Ptolemy refined

astronomy, but another, the equant, was probably his

earlier

invention.

Many astronomers were uncomfortable with

was not only complicated to use but

requirement of uniform motion.
that

Ptolemy used

and speeding up
was possible

as

also

seemed

it,

wheeled

in

its

epicycles

down

around the deferent.

to establish mathematically that if one

the heavens from the equant, the velocity of a planet

would appear to

in a

complex and highly

success-

model of heavenly motion. Without removing Earth from

sition as

unmoving

center, his

gree of accuracy, predict

the Sun, the

time.

Ptolemy was able

for the

its

po-

a surprising de-

changing positions of

the five planets that were

the hopes
to

astronomy could, with

and account

Moon, and

Fulfilling

spheres,

it

to vary.

Ptolemy combined these devices

ful

It

were able to view

be uniform, though from Earth or the eccentric center of the orbit

would appear

it

The equant was an imaginary point

to rationalize a planet's apparently slowing

it

for

on the

to cheat a bit

known

at that

of centuries of scholars before him,

accomplish

this feat entirely in

terms of

circles,

and uniform motion.

Students and scholars of Tycho Brahe's and Johannes Kepler's generations were also steeped

from childhood

in a

worldview that

pre-dated Ptolemy: Nineteen centuries removed from

its

ancient Greece, Aristotelian philosophy and cosmology

origin in

still

enormously strong hold on the thinking of scholarly and

far

had an

religious

Europe. This worldview held that everything below the orbit of the

Moon was subject to change, degradation, and decay, while the heavenly spheres beyond the Moon were a realm of unvarying, eternal
perfection.
ideas.

Both experience and observation gave weight

Before the telescope, there was

little

perfect immutability of the heavenly spheres.

deny that things were

different

on Earth.

to these

evidence to challenge the

Nor was

it

possible to

TYCHO

22

& KEPLER

This dichotomy had entered the thinking of European Latin-

when

speaking scholars

the

first

Latin translation of Aristotle ap-

peared in the twelfth century. These

though the heritage from

Islamic parts of the world.

the final authority

his

men knew

astronomy was

They came

nothing of Ptolemy,
still

flourishing in

to revere Aristotle, instead, as

on science and cosmology, and Aristotle's cosmol-

through the understanding of these scholars, merged

ogy, filtered

with medieval Judeo-Christian thought. Somewhat

later,

when

Ptolemaic astronomy arrived in Latin Europe, there was a second

who in both instances were all clergymen,

much debate into reconciling the Bible

merger. Scholars,

put

prodigious effort and

with Aristotle and

later

with Ptolemaic astronomy. To do

began to give the Scriptures a

terpretation.

What emerged

less literal,

so,

first

they

more metaphorical

in-

over time was a coherent body of

philosophical, scientific, and religious thought, with astronomy

giving a visual, geometric structure to abstract medieval Judaism

and

Christianity. Aristotle's picture of the degraded, changing, de-

caying nature of Earth and the pristine perfection of everything be-

Moon

yond the
fallen, lost

From

was consistent with the Judeo-Christian view of

humanity on Earth and the

eternal, holy realms above.

the thirteenth century until the sixteenth, most educated

Europeans accepted

this

worldview

as reality.

For them, astronomy

seemed capable not only of describing and predicting planetary move-

ment and providing

scribing the

map

of the cosmos but also of accurately de-

human condition, with men and women pitifully torn

be-

tween the passions of the squalid, death-ruled Earth and the lure of the
deathless, sacred heavens. In the fourteenth century,

worldview eloquent poetic expression in

a journey

Earth, the

downward through nine

most debased point

through the
It is

celestial

no wonder

omy was

that

his

circles

Dante gave

this

Divine Comedy, describing

of hell toward the center of

in the universe,

and a journey upward

spheres of the planets to reach the throne of God.

Melanchthon believed

essential to the clergy.

thai the study of astron-

Legacies

23

Both young Tyge and the young Kepler found

patible with

both

all

they

men remained

knew of Earth and

devoutly religious

this picture

com-

heaven. However, though

all

their lives

and found no

contradiction between their science and their belief, they would leave
this primitive

worldview in

tatters.

Aristocrat by Birth,

Astronomer

Nature

by

1562-1571

TYCHO CELEBRATED
1561.

He had

begin a

been

his fifteenth birthday in

at university for three years,

new phase of his

it

was time

to

education. As the scion of a noble family,

presumably destined for public

with the history, music,

and

December

life,

he needed to become familiar

art, literature,

and architecture not only of

Denmark but of the whole of Europe. He

also

needed to be able

to

speak other languages besides Danish and the Latin, Greek, and

Hebrew he had

already studied,

and

to experience the idiosyncrasies

of foreign courts and their rulers and learn something of military

sci-

ence and political theory.

Traditionally, a

young Danish

aristocrat

began to acquire

phistication by serving as a page in the household of a

then

as squire to a foreign

would move up

to the level

kinsman and

nobleman. At the age of twenty-one, he

of a courtier or a knight and

back to Copenhagen to serve the king and

training that equipped

this so-

him and gave him

the governance and defense of a royal

brothers followed that path.

Two

finally

come

his court, the last stage

the credentials to take

fief.

of

on

Tycho's four younger

of them eventually became

mem-

Aristocrat by Birth, Astronomer by Nature

Had Tycho grown up

bers of the Rigsraad.

had

his

2$

in his father's castle, or

aunt not been from the intellectually inclined

Oxe

family,

he

in Inger Oxe's family, like those

of

probably would have done the same.

The

men

paths of the young

the Brahe family, had led

wars.

They had gone

Peder

Oxe had
and

university,

life.

Copenhagen Peder had

had

still

for a while

wed

oric rise to

his
left

downturn of political

for-

man

been no

Denmark whose career

when Tycho was
of Princess Anne of Denmark
in

successful. In 1548,

the duke of Saxony,

power

from university to

Indeed, though by the time Tycho

suffered a severe

a child, Peder led the entourage

she

and

form of education had not prevented

had been more spectacularly

when

to foreign courts

traveled for five years with a tutor

this alternate

succeeding in public

tune, there

them abroad, but not

to foreign universities. Inger's older brother

and

that

was the

start

of a mete-

that brought Peder, at the age of thirty-two, to a

position in the Rigsraad.

Jorgen and Inger chose the University of Leipzig, in Saxony,

place for

young Tycho

traveled to

Inger

still

to begin his foreign experience.

Saxony themselves

for Princess Anne's

corresponded regularly with Anne,

Anne of Saxony. The language

court, a "pure"

there

They had

wedding, and

who was now

was that spoken

as the

Electress

at the

Danish

form of High German. Furthermore, Saxony was the

birthplace of Lutheranism.

A fifteen-year-old wasn't sent abroad alone. Jorgen and Inger carefully

chose Tycho's "preceptor," Anders Sorensen Vedel. Four years

older than Tycho, he

came from

ground and had excelled

ceptor, Vedel's duties

a respectable middle-class back-

at the University

of Copenhagen. As a pre-

combined those of companion, chaperon, and

tutor. In return for the

payment of his expenses, and supposedly ad-

hering to instructions in

letters sent

from home, he was

to supervise

Tycho's university studies, act as his spiritual and moral guide, see that

he received language instruction and lessons

in fencing, riding,

and

TYCHO

26

& KEPLER

Anders Sorensen Vedel, Tycho's preceptor and

lifelong friend, in a

578

oil

painting by Tobias Gemperle.

dancing, and

manage the

good way

for a

young man of modest means

cation abroad and

make

Tycho and Vedel

left

weeks,

first

by ship

Denmark on February
as part

Many Danish

14, 1562, traveling, for

five

and then on horseback along

Tycho and

Kepler's

students attended the University

of Wittenberg, but Tycho and Vedel's

yond

edu-

of a caravan. The journey took

across the icy Baltic

xiii).

own

to support his

the roads beside the Elbe and Saale Rivers (see map,

Europe, on page

was nevertheless a

invaluable contacts.

and companionship,

safety

added up

purse. All of these responsibilities

to a formidable assignment, but being a preceptor

travels

took them two days be-

that, to Leipzig.

Germany, then, was

still

Saxony was not nearly so

three centuries from unification,

significant or wealthy a

mark. Leipzig was, however, the

most important

universities.

site

Though

dence, one of Vedel's classmates back

power

as

of one of Europe's largest and

there were few

home had

Danes

Tycho and Vedel. Instruction was

in resi-

a brother there,

there were similarities to the University of Copenhagen that

less alien to

and

Den-

in Latin, as

and

made

it

was

in

it

Aristocrat by Birth, Astronomer by Nature

all

European

universities,

and education went according

pattern and philosophy of the Philippists, with

among

the faculty.

At

He

27

Leipzig,

Tycho studied

many

classical

to the

Philippists

languages and

with

as-

wrote that he had "bought astronomical books

se-

classical culture.

also continued, at first clandestinely,

tronomy.

Tycho
cretly

later

and read them

in secret."

maps drawn by Albrecht

ets

Diirer.

He studied the constellations from

He began to keep track of the plan-

by a rough method of lining up a planet and two

a "taut piece of string,"

from the locations of the two

"no bigger than a

Flawed

fist."

was nevertheless able

stars,

holding up

and then figuring the positions of the planet

to

come

stars

on

as this

little

method

globe that he owned,

Tycho

inevitably was,

to a conclusion that impressed

deeply. Neither the Alfonsine Tables,

him

which had been calculated

in

the thirteenth century using Ptolemy's Earth-centered model, nor

the Prutenic Tables, based

on Copernicus's Sun-centered astronomy

and drawn up much more

recently,

were dependable in their predic-

tions of planetary positions.*

When

sixteen-year-old

Tycho began

to

keep a logbook of his

own

astronomical observations, in August 1563, during the second sum-

mer of his

servation of Mars,
ets Jupiter

in

it

was of an ob-

and the second was of a conjunction of the plan-

and Saturn.

more heavenly bodies

observer,

made

stay in Leipzig, the first record he

conjunction

at the

same

one appears to pass the

and Saturn once every twenty

the coincidence of two or

is

celestial longitude.

other.

Tycho found

years.

predictions of the conjunction based

To an

earthly

This happens with Jupiter

that neither the

on Ptolemy nor those based on

Copernicus were correct. The discrepancies were great enough to

show up

clearly

*The Alfonsine

even with his amateur

Tables, based

the patronage of Alfonso

up

in

efforts.

on Ptolemy, were drawn up

in

X of Castile. The Prutenic Tables,

The Copernican

1252 by

fifty

tables

astronomers under

based on Copernicus, were drawn

Wittenberg by a young colleague of Philipp Melanchthon, Erasmus Reinhold.

TYCHO

28

weathered the

& 1CEPLER
than the Ptolemaic ones, which

test slightly better

were off by an entire month. The cocky sixteen-year-old concluded

that

someone ought

produce better

to

tables,

of himself as the person destined to "rectify

and he began

this sorry state

to think

of affairs."

In Tycho's day a conjunction of the planets was considered to

have more than astronomical

significance. For practice,

scopes of famous
results in a

men

interest. It

was of great

astrological

Tycho was casting predictions and horo-

(without their knowledge) and recording the

notebook.

Despite the best efforts of Vedel to keep his charge on track with

of other subjects, Tycho was soon practicing his astron-

his studies

omy more openly. Bartholomew Schultz, a more advanced student at

Leipzig, gave

him some

instruction

technical side of the subject.

managed

to acquire

cross staff, or radius.

entered his
"stayed
slept

first

one

and introduced him

Tycho needed

his first real astronomical

On May

observation from

564,

it;

for

He

my

observed the

seventeen, he

in his log. After that,

it

more

instrument

when he was

awake the whole night through, while

and knew nothing about

to the

a better instrument.

he often

governor [Vedel]
stars

through the

skylight."

Though

Schultz showed

would allow him

7.8c),
dius.

Tycho soon became

a trick, using "transversal points" that

more

refined measurements (see figure

dissatisfied

with the imprecision of his

He began to discover errors in his data, which he traced to

logic in

table

him

to obtain

its

construction.

The only

recourse was to rectify

them with

of corrections, for he "had no opportunity of having a new

strument] made, since

my

governor,

would not allow things of this kind

who

to be

ra-

faulty

[in-

held the purse strings,

made

for

me." Tycho had

al-

ready begun to be more seriously concerned about the precision of

observations than anyone before him, or any of his contemporaries.

The

next December,

564, on Tycho's eighteenth birthday, one of

the professors at dinner described an illiterate craftsman he

as "an

had met

astronomer by nature." Tycho recorded that phrase in

his

Aristocrat by Birth, Astronomer by Nature

The

Figure 2.1:

To

find the apparent or "angular" dis-

stars,

an observer sighted from where the

cross staff, or radius:

tance (see appendix

\)

between two

"eye" appears in the drawing

and

29

slid

the crossbar up and

down

the staff until

the distance between the two stars was exactly covered by the length of the
crossbar. Tycho's cross staff
it

had two

sights

on the

was more sophisticated. Like the one shown

crossbar,

and one of them was movable.

the movable sight so that he could see one star through

through the sight fixed

lar

at

distance between the

and the

staff

notebook.

and using

He

the center of the crossbar.

two

stars

a table

by reading the

scales

it

He

here,

adjusted

and the other

then found the angu-

etched on the crossbar

of tangents.

The same month he

set

himself a research project to

test a

popular notion that the day-to-day positions of the heavens during

the twelve days of Christmas, beginning
the

month-by-month

on December 25, presaged

pattern of the weather for the next twelve

months. During those twelve days Tycho recorded every feature he

could of the heavens, planning to check the weather throughout the

coming year

The

to see

whether the data agreed.

home on a
Denmark was once

following May, 1565, Tycho and Vedel returned

vessel that

threaded

again engaged in

barking

at

its

way among warring

combat with

its

ships.

perennial

Copenhagen, Tycho continued

his

rival,

Sweden. Disem-

journey to Knutstorps

Borg, taking observations and recording the latitude at each stop on

the way.

Knutstorps Borg in

May

1565 was much

larger

and more impres-

TYCHO

30

sive

than

it

& KEPLER

had been when Tycho was born

manor

Beate had rebuilt the ancient

drawbridge over the

lake, a gate

now

there. In

1551 Otte and

From

causeway and

house.

led into a square central court

surrounded by four ranges of buildings. Those on the north and

south side had

tall,

were three to four

steep roofs with scalloped

was intended to be a

fortress as well as a stately

Though Otte and

the war with

end

manor was never

Beate's

Sweden came

gables.

The

with arrow-slit windows, for the

feet thick,

walls
castle

home.
directly threatened,

close to Knutstorp in the

form of bor-

der raids. Beate's mother and father, Tycho's grandparents, died de-

fending their

castle,

Baahus. Even more drastic for Tycho was the

death of his uncle Jorgen in June 1565. Jorgen was vice admiral of
the Danish
visioning.

king

fell

fleet,

which was

in

Copenhagen

for repairs

and repro-

King Frederick and Jorgen had been drinking, and the

into the water under

rescue him.

The king

Amager

Bridge. Jorgen dived in to

recovered, but Jorgen either

drowned

died almost immediately thereafter from injuries or

there or

illness attribut-

able to his rescue effort.

His foster

father's

death should have

left

Tycho

a wealthy

man.

Jorgen had no children of his own, and he had been in the process of

making Tycho

Unfortunately that process had not been

his legal heir.

completed. Inger held

life

tenancy of the manor

at

Tostrup

as

her

"widow's jointure," but eventually, at her death, the castle and the

income from

its

hundreds of tenants would not come to Tycho but

revert to general distribution

responsibility for Tycho,

jority, fell to his

Tycho

Somehow

left

natural

Denmark

who

among
at

mother and

father.

again a year

he had convinced

the Brahe family. Meanwhile,

eighteen had not yet reached his ma-

later,

in the spring

his father to allow

him

of 1566.

to continue his

education abroad rather than take advantage of the excellent opportunity the

war provided

to begin a career

of civil service to the king. This

time Tycho's destination was Wittenberg, where Anders Vedel was

al-

ready working toward his master of arts degree. Five months after

Aristocrat by Birth, Astronomer by Nature

Tycho

arrived in Wittenberg, an epidemic struck the town,

of the students

fled.

Tycho moved

town of Rostock and began

though not particularly

was extremely

On

more northern

to the

and most
university

studies there in September. This

move,

an astronomer,

significant for Tycho's future as

significant for his future physical appearance.

December

10,

Tycho was

During the dancing, he

Danish student,

may

31

a guest at a betrothal celebration.

to quarreling with another aristocratic

fell

his third cousin,

have erupted

as the result

Manderup

of some

Parsberg.

levity, at

The

quarrel

Tycho's expense,

about an unfortunate astrological prediction he had made that au-

tumn. There had been an

eclipse of the

Moon on

October 28 that

Tycho concluded presaged the death of Suleiman the Great, the

Turkish sultan.

posed a Latin

With

ment

or not

it

was an

insult

that precipitated Tycho's

and

poetic,

Tycho com-

Then

the news ar-

this prediction.

had already been dead

rived that the sultan

Whether

a flair for the dramatic

poem announcing

for six

months.

having to do with that embarrass-

and

Parsberg's dispute,

it

did not end

The two young men resumed their argument at another party on December 27.
Two days later, December 29, Tycho's astrological computations
told him that there would be some sort of accidental happening. In
at the betrothal celebration.

spite

of the

fact that

one of his predictions of late had been notori-

ously inaccurate, he decided to take the warning seriously and not go

out

at all that day.

However, when evening

fell,

he ventured down-

lodging house to supper. Before long he and Parsberg

stairs in his

were quarreling again, wrought up, each demanding that the other

draw

his sword.

They

rose abruptly

from the

table

and went out into

the churchyard.

A woman

in the

ness of the dispute.

and prevent

their

room knew Danish and understood

men

was too

late.

damaging or murdering one another.

The company emerging from

A blow

from

the serious-

She urged other diners to pursue the young

Parsberg's

the dining

room found

It

a bloody scene.

broadsword had cut away a good portion of

TYCHO

32

& KEPLER

Tycho's nose and just missed proving

fatal.

show

Later portraits

a di-

agonal scar across Tycho's forehead and a curving line across the
bridge of his nose. Tycho endured a lengthy, painful, and anxious period of convalescence that winter. His doctors couldn't reverse the dis-

figurement, for skin grafting, though done in other parts of the world,

was unknown

in

Europe

infection did not set in,

Although Tycho

until

and

about two decades

later.* Fortunately,

sufficient scar tissue formed.

lost part

of his nose

at

Rostock, he gained two

new interests

that remained with

and alchemy.

When he returned to Denmark in April,

him

for the rest of his

experimenting with ways to replace his nose

life:

nose by blending gold and

He

Later de-

artificially.

scriptions indicate that eventually, with fair success, he

everyday wear.

silver to a flesh color, or

medicine

he was already

made

a false

used copper for

held the nose in place with an adhesive salve that

he always carried with him in a small box.

When Tycho left Denmark for the Continent a third time,

December (1567), he did

so over

ther.

The war had

reer,

which Tycho had ignored.

made

influence
tainty, if

much

the next

stronger protests from his fa-

offered a superb opportunity to begin a political ca-

Now the steady recovery of Peder Oxe's

success for Tycho, as foster son of Peder's

Tycho would only be persuaded

had come of age when he turned twenty-one

but that didn't leave him

dependent on him

for financial support.

iting his uncle's fortune,

earlier that

free to flout his father's will, for

and

it

Tycho had

just

a cer-

sister,

to enter public

life.

Tycho

December,
he was

still

missed inher-

was doubtful that he would be able

to

earn a living in the pursuits he was choosing. Nevertheless, to Otte

Brahe's intense frustration, his eldest son turned his back again

on

promising future and headed across the Baltic to Rostock.

Though modern popular opinion might have

Tycho's

first

it

that in earlier

biographer, Pierre Gassendi, reported that skin grafts for nose replacement (per-

formed by members of the

potters' guild)

were done routinely and with a good success

Tycho's day in India, where adultery was punishable by amputation of the nose.

rate in


Aristocrat by Birth, Astronomer by Nature

centuries an aristocrat

33

had unlimited opportunity, while the lower

classes were sadly constrained in their career choices, the fact

in the

Europe of Tycho's day

is

that

fairly strictly

lim-

was

a nobleman's son

ited to the career paths that Tycho's forebears

and

relatives

knighthood, the administration of fiefs, or government

Tycho enjoyed

university

most scholarly positions

but there was no future in

life,

in the universities

There was, however, another

in

Denmark and Norway

retained

rich

their

that, for

were closed to noblemen.

possibility: a canonry.

having

took

civil service.

recently

The

cathedrals

become Lutheran

still

landed endowments. Royal administrators

awarded the positions of canons of the chapters of these cathedrals

men

both to government servants and to

and noblemen
the

alike

were

of learning.

eligible for a canonry,

income from the endowment. Becoming

not require a
or assume a

man

less

who wanted

Commoners

carried with

a Lutheran

it

canon did

to enter holy orders, live in the cathedral precincts,

secular lifestyle.

It

to have a career as

was the

ideal solution for

someone

an astronomer and a scholar while

upholding tradition and retaining

bility,

which

member of the noopportunities of men of an-

his dignity as a

without trespassing on the career

other class of society. There was an excellent precedent, for Nicolaus

Copernicus had been a canon of a cathedral chapter.

Hence, while Tycho was returning to foreign climes, heedless of

the future, his

more sober

friends

the influential Peder Oxe, set to

On May

and

relatives at court,

work

14, 1568, royal letters patent designated

the next vacant canonry at Roskilde Cathedral.

who

canonry

to procure a

Tycho

The

included
for

him.

to take

up

position was re-

served for him, though he had to wait for an opening. Although he

could not

know

it

had happened, there had been

minuscule

tight-

ening of the cords that would draw him over the next thirty-two years
to that February

day

at

Benatky when Johannes Kepler

Meanwhile, Tycho's lodgings in the law college

at

arrived.

Rostock were

providing an excellent setting for astronomical observations, and he

was

also finding

time for his

new

interest in

medical alchemy. But

TYCHO

34

when

& ICEPLEK

university authorities charged

him

cause of the duel with Parsberg, Tycho

At Arnstadt there was

traveled south.

a hefty fine, possibly be-

left

rather than pay

to be a

ceremony

in

it

and

which

Count Giinther of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt presented Tycho's

younger brother Steen with

his spurs, a warhorse,

and

a harness of ar-

mor. Steen's training had taken the traditional path, and he was
well ahead of Tycho

on

that path.

By September, Tycho's meanderings

to Basel,

now

and there he matriculated

across

Europe had taken him

another university. After a

at yet

few months he moved on to Freiburg, where he was impressed by

some

celestial

models demonstrating planetary motions according to

the theories of Ptolemy

As Tycho's

came

and Copernicus.

restlessness

and

his travels continued,

to realize that after nine years

could from professors and books.

dependent work, to

direct his

to experiment with the design

instruments. His cross

staff,

It

own

and education, and

it

some of its

cies,

to

compensate

In spring 1569 Tycho's travels brought

of Augsburg, and he found

months.
ously

was

It

in

on the plans

His

first

it

so

for

him

near

it

1)

improve

stars,

in the night sky.

version that he used

recting

*A

one of the

it

his instruments.

new

pair of compasses.*

or between a

Tycho wrote of an

earlier,

Such

(see ap-

planet or comet and

by "placing the vertex close to

legs

impe-

much more congenial than

that he began to follow through seri-

project was to fashion a

between

deficien-

to the fine old

an instrument was used to measure the angular distance

pendix

avail-

he had visited that he stayed for fourteen

Augsburg
to

in-

especially

was one of the best

had long ago proved inadequate to Tycho's needs.

cities

he

and construction of his own observing

even though

and he had found ways

rial city

all

was time to embark on more

life

able

any of the other

he gradually

of university he had learned

stars

more primitive

my eye and di-

toward the planet to be observed and the

pair of compasses, like a pair of scissors,

is

one instrument, not two.

Aristocrat by Birth, Astronomer by Nature

other toward

was

passes

some

fixed star near

Though

it."

good enough instrument

for

the

Tycho

3s

new pair of com-

to include

it

catalog of his instrumental achievements twenty-five years

was not completely

not manage to
sighting.
to

satisfactory.

mount

in

it

One problem was

such a way

Another was that Tycho had

set

as to

in the

later, it

that he could

allow exact, steady

himself a goal of accuracy

a minute of arc. The smallest division on the compasses was one

degree of arc; a

minute of arc

is

one-sixtieth

proach the precision Tycho wanted,

it

of a degree of arc. To ap-

would be necessary

to have

an instrument large enough to include the device called "transver-

Bartholomew Schultz

points" he had learned about from

sal

he had done

Leipzig.

Meanwhile,

drew up

a table of corrections.

Not long

as

earlier for the cross staff,

in

Tycho

Augsburg, Tycho was lingering in

after his arrival in

front of a shop, conversing about the challenge of building an in-

strument of sufficient

when

size,

a wealthy

alderman of the

city,

Paul

Hainzel, chanced by, overheard the discussion, and enthusiastically

joined

in.

Hainzel and Tycho soon discovered that they had a con-

nection. Hainzel's brother

had once been

a fellow student with Peder

Oxe. So intrigued did Hainzel become with Tycho's instrument project that

he offered to underwrite the cost of it.

Tycho,
set to

who by now had

work on

the design

good idea of the instrument he wanted,

and engaged the necessary craftsmen. The

quadrans maximus, or "great quadrant," was completed in a month,

and

it

set

it

instrument Tycho would ever design

was the

largest

would

ever see

that he

in place in the

twenty

feet

grounds of Hainzel's

Tycho boasted about

its

accuracy, but

it

estate just outside

servants to rotate the

up

indeed,

men

to

Augsburg.

had problems. Tycho made

only one entry in his log each night, perhaps because

many of Hainzel's

high and requiring forty

it

required so

cumbersome quadrant

into

the necessary plane

and swing the

They had to keep

there while more adjusting brought the planet be-

it

ing observed into the sights.

arc

to the appropriate elevation.

Only then could

the

numbers where the

TYCHO

36

Figure 2.2:

The quadrans maximus

in Paul Hainzel's

Cto

until

Tycho designed and had constructed

on the

arc

and the plumb bob. The length along one

G, for example) measured

triangular section

at

that

garden near Augsburg was built mostly of oak, with brass

for the graduation strip

edge (from

& KEPLER

Tycho could

once and note

hung from

its

see the heavenly

at

more than

fifteen feet.

point at the top, allowing

body through both

what number the plumb

from Astronomiae Instauratae Mechanica.

line

(H)

it

the sights
fell.

The entire
swung up
(D and E)

to be

The drawing

is

Aristocrat by Birth, Astronomer by Nature

plumb

line

fell

J7

be written down, giving the altitude* of the planet

above the horizon. Sleepy

no matter how

retainers,

could not be expected to perform

this

operation

loyal to Hainzel,

more than once

night without rebellion.

new quadrant for less than a

worth by bringing him to the attention of

However, Tycho had been using

month when

it

the academic

elite, in

oclast, Petrus

Ramus. Ramus

two men

one

proved

Ramus wanted

the form of a well-known philosopher and icon-

lively discussion

in April 1570,

renowned scholar

ideas that heavenly bodies

to be discarded.

all

Tycho agreed

distinction, however, that the

some

mony

and

Philippists:

and

in

other such assump-

He made

the

of fancy. Furthermore, astronomy would

flight

to the cosmos,

to-

it

must move

axioms of geometry were based on ob-

not be possible without any hypotheses

the humanists

were

that such axioms of

physics were not cast in stone, not immutable "truth."

servation, not

and the

about the future of astronomy.

with uniform motion and

circles or epicycles

would have

Augsburg

astronomy of all "hypotheses" and rebuild

to rid

from observation. The

tions

visited

and the other

a neophyte

soon engaged in

tally

its

his

at

all.

He

chose to side with

There was recognizable order and har-

since there was,

it

would lend

itself to

hy-

pothesizing.

Tycho and Ramus were

astronomy

Ramus,

lay in

in

complete agreement that the future of

numerous and

in his next

exact observations.

The

celebrated

book, described the quadrans maximus with ad-

miration and mentioned a young Danish nobleman

named Bracheus

as its designer.

Tycho had begun

a second instrumental project, a large celestial

made of wood, when a message arrived from his father. Otte

Brahe was summoning all his sons back to Denmark, for his health

globe

was declining

rapidly.

Tycho was obliged

to leave the globe in the

"For the definition of altitude, horizon, and other vocabulary of astronomy, see chapter 7 and

appendix

2.

TYCHO

38

& KEPLER

hands of Hainzel and return home. By Christmas 1570 he had

where

rived at Helsingborg Castle,

mander. The

his ailing father

was

still

tower was a good vantage point for viewing the

castle

heavens, and entries in Tycho's log

show

that he observed the

Otte Brahe died the following May, 1571, survived by

Beate

Bille,

ar-

com-

Moon.

his wife

seven grown children, and one grandchild. Danish law

The

stipulated that a lifetime widow's jointure be set aside for Beate.

would

sons and daughters

share the remainder of the inheritance,

with each son receiving twice a daughter's share and sons given preference

when

it

came

to inheriting manors. Being the eldest son

was

not an advantage under the Danish inheritance laws: Tycho received

no more than each of his

Tycho and

brothers.

Steen, the next eldest son, jointly inherited the ancestral

estate at Knutstorp, splitting the

twenty-five cottages, five

an

earlier inheritance),

rights

of the

Danish

estate.

nobility:

and

income from two hundred farms,

a half mills (one mill

had been

and the manorial production and

split in

seigneurial

This was a small inheritance by the standards of

Tycho had come within

a hairbreadth of inheriting a

much larger fortune when his uncle died. Nevertheless, it was

that when Otte's will was settled, a procedure which normally
several years,

As

Tycho would be

eldest son, his first

from the

duty was

to take his

widowed mother back

Knutstorp. In the months that followed,

much of Tycho's

home

this period,

revelation touched

phrased

as

though

it

on the one who was

poem

came from
living:

says of Tycho, "while

"He
I

estate.

Beate told Tycho about his twin.

him profoundly, and he wrote

the dead child
dwells

on

who

poem

at

time was

devoted to helping her and negotiating the settlement of the

Sometime during

took

financially independent.

Helsingborg to the family ancestral

castle at

clear

The

in Latin,

looked with pity

earth," the brother in the

dwell on Olympus."

Behavior Unbecoming
a Nobleman
1571-1575

In. SPITE OF

his steady drift

toward the

life

of a scholar, during

the period following his father's death Tycho spent

across the

0resund

court in Copenhagen.

at the royal

powerful family connections there, and

with King Frederick

II

some of his time

now

He already had

he fashioned closer

ties

himself.

The kings of Denmark and

the Danish nobility related to one an-

other in a complicated system of reciprocity. In accordance with an

unspoken, unwritten, but nevertheless well understood and

seri-

ously regarded contractual arrangement, the scion of a noble family

owed
and

the king his loyalty

talents.

The

and

allegiance

king's obligation

was

and

a portion of his time

to grant royal fiefs that pro-

vided substantial incomes. These grants were, in

glue that

bound king and

aristocracy together.

effect,

Weighing

the

main

in heavily

and Oxe family member,

on the

side of the scales for a Brahe, Bille,

in this

arrangement, were his potential personal contributions to the

welfare and prestige of the crown, the stature

and power of the

pres-

ent extended family, and the valuable service rendered by previous

generations of Brahes,

had

Billes,

lost his life as a result

and Oxes. Tycho's uncle Jorgen Brahe

of saving

this

very Frederick from drown-

TYCHO

40

ing.

Such

acts

tion of who

were not forgotten when

owed what

Tycho, though his

from most of

& KEPLER

to

came

it

to the delicate ques-

whom.
and

abilities

interests lay in different directions

was

his aristocratic contemporaries,

young nobleman of

courtly in his manners as any

King Frederick was not without appreciation of the

Tycho had wandered from the

as

highborn and

his generation.

fact that

although

he had, by doing

traditional path,

so,

developed some unique talents to offer the crown. Frederick was a

who

king

valued scholarly pursuits.

make Denmark famous

dowed

for

its

One

learning,

the University of Copenhagen to

of his avowed goals was to

and he had generously en-

make

one of the

it

finest ed-

ucational centers in the world.

The

question

now

troubling the king and his advisors was whether

Tycho, in addition to the promised canonry, should have a major

Was he equipped

to

manage one? Though he wore

fought a duel, and bore the scar from

trained to ride into battle in

at least the equivalent

ferring with

of a

fief.

sword and had

he was no warrior.

He was not

armor or to command the defense of a cas-

as his brothers were. Nevertheless,

tle,

it,

fief.

he clearly had to have something

His powerful

relatives at court

King Frederick and encouraging him

to

were con-

come up with an

appropriate answer.

By
not

the end of the year his father died,

at

court in

Copenhagen nor

Abbey, where his uncle Steen

at

Tycho was centering

Knutstorp but

Bille lived.

at

his life

Herrevad

Herrevad, a few miles from

Knutstorp across rolling countryside, meadows, and woodlands, was

situated
its

where the more

lands bordered

settled area nearer the

on the deep,

limitless forest

0resund ended, and

of the north.

It

had

in 1 144, and a few aging monks

The abbey church probably remained

been a Cistercian abbey, founded

were

still

there in Tycho's day.

an austere Romanesque structure on the outside, but the interior had

been completely altered

in the thirteenth century in a lovely

Gothic

style.

The

area,

but Tycho's uncle Steen had acquired Herrevad rather recently,

Billes,

Tycho's mother's family, had several holdings in the

Behavior Unbecoming a Nobleman

in

1565.

From

41

grand portal-house, suitably altered to be a noble

its

dwelling, he administered the substantial estate that

longed to the Cistercians

oak and beech

forests

hundreds of

where only the king was allowed

deer and stags. In addition to Steen

their squires, his wife,

vants,

and

all

had once be-

farms, mills, fisheries, and

Lady

Bille's

Kirstine,

the support staff that

to

hunt the

contingent of knights and

and her handmaidens and

ser-

went into maintaining such an

es-

tablishment, there was also a Lutheran Latin school for boys on the
premises.*

Steen Bille was a

He was

the Danish court.

with people of
scholars.

With

all

his

Tycho prepared

own

outgoing

lively,

also

man and

extremely influential at

kind and gentle and associated happily

company of

social classes, especially relishing the

encouragement and promise of

to

make good on

active assistance,

his decision to take

charge of his

and research path. Uncle and nephew collaborated

career

to

transform Herrevad into a superbly equipped haven for the study of

the subjects that interested

Tycho and intrigued Steen

up an independent research

among Danish

Not only was

as well. Setting

was unprecedented

even among Danish scholars. Tycho and

new ground, and learning by trial and error.

there to be an astronomical observatory, but they

planned a paper

oratory.

this scale

aristocrats,

Steen Bille were treading

also

on

facility

an instrument

mill,

Alchemy, though

it

factory,

and an alchemy lab-

would eventually come

to have disrep-

utable connotations as a strange obsession with turning base metal

into gold, in Tycho's day included medical

experimental science.

It

alchemy and other

related

was the ancestor of modern chemistry.

Tycho's interest was primarily in medical alchemy. Herrevad already

boasted a medical curiosity, a rib bone

come from

the burial

'Herrevad today,
is

now a

ken

still

deep

site

of a

walls,

man named Vene.

in the country, retains

riding school with only a small

six feet long, said to

museum

"Verily,"

have

one scholar

some of its medieval atmosphere, though

to recall the past.

There

it

are ancient trees, bro-

and footings of vanished buildings, and shaded, pollen-strewn ponds that probably

date from Steen

Bille's day.

TYCHO

42

had commented,

& KEPLER

either seriously or wryly, "there did

once

live in

these northern realms a people of wondrous dimension."

Alchemy required

glassware,

and

a master of the Venetian art of

glassmaking, Antonio de Castello Veneziano, with a retinue of assistants, arrived in

Denmark,

possibly

on the run,

Republic was extremely possessive of its

them

make

to

their

Steen invited

home at Herrevad, adding Venetian dialect to

mix of Danish and Latin already spoken

were producing not only alchemy

there.

Queen

vessels for Steen

and Tycho but

Sophie.

One
new

of Tycho's

first

undertakings at Herrevad was to construct a

astronomical instrument, a "half-sextant" with straight walnut

and a curved

brass arc.

able sixty-degree arc.

name
grees

was

It

A little later he added a larger, interchangethis sixty-degree arc that

probably coined by Tycho himself

is

Sextants

one-sixth of a

and

circle;

legs or sides

star

and the second

(where the pie

leg

gave a "sextant"

(see figure 3.1). Sixty de-

is

"cut")

By

sighting along the

pointing one leg toward one

toward another, for example

it

was possible

measure the angular distance between two heavenly bodies.

similarly

to

One could

measure a body's altitude above the horizon.

Tycho was getting more from

He was

its

a half-sextant has a thirty-degree arc.

half-sextants resemble slices of pie.

two

him

the

Soon the glassmakers

drinking glasses and windowpanes for King Frederick and

also

legs

for the Venetian

glass industry.

this effort

than a better instrument.

developing expertise and learning lessons that would serve

later.

One

conclusion Tycho reached was that in order to design

and manufacture instruments capable of the precision he wanted, he

would need highly

his

own

had

facility,

skilled, specialist

instrument builders working at

where he could supervise them. For the moment, he

to content himself with getting the best results he could with

nonspecialist artisans under his supervision, while ordering

tricate or decorative parts,

Copenhagen. What began

there,

but the

possibilities

more

in-

and sometimes whole instruments, from

at

Herrevad was never completely realized

Tycho saw unfolding

at the beautiful old


Behavior Unbecoming a Nobleman

abbey gave him a

plish

and how

In that

to

much

clearer vision

go about

43

of what he hoped to accom-

it.

same watershed year,

572,

when Tycho ended his European

wanderings and began to pursue

his interests closer to

perhaps not for the

first

time

home, he met

young woman named Kirsten

Jorgensdatter. Like other key events in Tycho's personal

ning of his lifelong relationship with her

mented. She was not a woman of noble lineage.

would be known about

her.) Pierre

was

students: Kirsten

lage."

To

the begin-

(If she

undocu-

had been, more

Gassendi, Tycho's earliest biogra-

pher, reported a description that he got firsthand

last

life,

frustratingly

is

from one of Tycho's

"a woman of the people from Knutstorp's vil-

this day, tradition in the

Knutstorp area has

it

that she

was a

clergyman's daughter and that her father was pastor of the Knutstorp

two miles from Knutstorps Borg.

parish church at Kagerod, about

The name Jorgensdatter

was Jorgen. From
Hansen. Most

546

likely

it

to

indicates that Kirsten's father's

1

569 the pastor

who

was he

at

first

name

Kagerod was Jorgen

christened the infant Tycho and

buried his twin brother. If Kirsten was his daughter, she must have
spent her childhood in the half-timbered parsonage beside the

little

stone Kagerod church while Tycho was growing up in the castles of

his uncle

The

and

father.

family coats of arms of the Brahes and the Billes are carved on

the arch of the Kagerod church above the family pew.

the church

is

The

pulpit in

situated not at the front but about halfway back,

enclosed box pews have seats front and back so that

if they are

and the
not too

crowded, the occupants can move to face the pastor during his

mon.

If Tycho sat in the family

Borg, perhaps his eyes

seats.

fell

The young daughter of

as the

the pastor

clad, neither like a peasant girl

she grew to be a young

pew during

on Kirsten

woman,

nor

his visits to

ser-

Knutstorps

congregation shifted their

would have been modestly

like a child

of the aristocracy. As

a white lace collar

and

cuffs

probably

would have been her only less-than-somber adornments.

Much later in the lives of Tycho and Kirsten,

after

two other pastors

TYCHO

44

& KEPLER

had come and gone, a Hans Jorgensen

ther's first

name was Jorgen

was

joint lords of Knutstorp, the brothers

show

that this

Hans Jorgensen

again indicating that his

called to the

fa-

Kagerod church by the

Tycho and Steen Brahe. Records

visited

Tycho

at his island castle obser-

vatory that same year, 1591. Scholars have speculated whether he went
there only to be interviewed for the position or also to visit his

who by that

time had been living for twenty years

Adding strength

as Tycho's wife.

was the

to the local tradition that Kirsten

daughter, not a peasant

girl, is

tween noblemen and peasant

as his

companion

a family

It is

were not unusual, lifetime

much more

for life the

likely that

If Kirsten

as a

alliances

no mere

he would have chosen

daughter of an educated clergyman, with

background and upbringing not quite so

from Tycho's own

pastor's

the fact that though casual liaisons be-

girls

were. Tycho's relationship with Kirsten Jorgensdatter was

youthful dalliance.

sister,

drastically different

peasant woman's would have been.

was Jorgen Hansen's daughter, her position

in society

was indeed considerably above that of a peasant, but there was

daunting chasm between her station in

life

and

Tycho's.

The

still

nearest

he had ever come to experiencing her world was when he lived with
a clergyman during his school days,

bly been a bishop, certainly not a

grown up

and

humble

that clergyman

had proba-

pastor. Kirsten

would have

in obscurity in a thatched-roof cottage,

working with her

hands in the kitchen, house, and garden, and probably never

ing

more than

few miles from the

village

were their worlds that Inger Oxe and Beate

ficulty

imagining what Kirsten's daily

have had difficulty imagining

life

of Kagerod. So
Bille

was

like, as

society, law,

Kirsten

and

it

There was an

would

to bridge the gulf

was formally im-

tradition, could not be bridged.

Tycho the nobleman and Kirsten the commoner could not

become man and

dif-

theirs.

their different upbringings, that gulf, as

posed by Danish

far apart

would have had

However well Tycho and Kirsten would manage

between

travel-

legally

wife.

alternative that

was considered neither scandalous

Behavior Unbecoming a Nobleman

nor

sinful.

The

earliest

4s

Danish law codes of ancient Jutland had

ognized the legality of slegfred marriages; that

morganatic marriages. Under the ancient laws, which were

woman who

force, a

a nobleman's

was

commoner, who

rec-

common-law

is,

still

or
in

lived openly as a wife in

house for three winters, dining, drinking, and sleeping

with him and carrying the keys to his house, was his wife. Originally,

among

the polygamous Vikings, slegfred had

ary status, but in Tycho's day

Tycho and Kirsten began

it

had

meant

a wife of second-

When

connotation.

lost that

their relationship, the courts

had

just re-

cently reaffirmed that the offspring of such a marriage were not bastards but slegfred children.

However, they and

commoners, no matter how nobly born the

dren could not inherit their

and

rights

forced his image as a

and

and

None of the

and the

chil-

expectations

that

it

that his choice of Kirsten strongly rein-

young man who was

would

willing to flout conven-

likely

have drastic consequences for his future

The

reputation and influence of his power-

for his descendants.

extended family was also

ful

mother remained

of a nobleman's sons and daughters applied to them.

Tycho was well aware

tion,

father's estates.

their

father was,

at stake.

Family honor and alliances

through marriage were of enormous importance to Tycho's

relatives.

Their reactions to his choice were, predictably, not enthusiastic. The

only advantage for them was that the family inheritance would not

have to be so widely shared.

A few were actually sympathetic.

Surprisingly, Tycho's morganatic alliance with Kirsten did not

his

hopes

He,

like

Tycho, had

Anne Hardenberg,
father,

King Frederick had reason

at court.

fallen in love

as a part

woman

beneath his station,

noblewoman but not of royal

King Christian

old king's death,

with a

III,

had forbidden

Anne had continued

dim

to be understanding.

blood. Frederick's

their marriage. After the

to live within the royal family

of the queen mother's court, and King Frederick had refused

to have anything to

do with negotiations

However, when Frederick

finally

into a morganatic marriage with

for a different bride.

announced

that he

Anne, even though

would enter

their children


TYCHO

46

& fCEPLEK

among

could never succeed to the throne, the opposition

the nobility

home and abroad was so vigorous that he in the end agreed to give
up Anne and marry his fourteen-year-old cousin, Princess Sophie of
at

Mecklenburg. Their marriage took place in July 1572, during the

when Tycho was

time

falling in love

and

Kirsten Jorgensdatter. Frederick invited

manding them
and each

to dress in

not being a warrior knight

on such occasions had

ily.

new

had no

squires

squires

and

a page.

com-

member of the

accompany Tycho

Tycho

and pages of his own and

borrow them from someone

to

Because Kirsten was not a

able that she could

the Danish nobility,

court attire and ride their best horses,

accompany himself with two

to

sealing his relationship with

all

nobility,

fam-

else in the
it

was unthink-

to a royal celebration.

Tycho's earlier career choices had been unorthodox and had led

him

into astronomy.

Now, unwittingly and many

one could predict how

would

it

would have repercussions

all

his

set his feet

to

much more

own

firmly

on the path

a decision that

lifetime, his

When

partner and began to

life

made

end, he had

beyond

and the borders of Denmark.

dren,

Jorgensdatter as his

and

far

years before any-

own

chil-

Tycho took Kirsten

children by her, he

sire

that

would

lead to Prague

Johannes Kepler.

A plaque on an exterior wall at Herrevad commemorates an astronomical event

late that

push toward that

future.

same year that

Tycho

also gave

a powerful

The plaque announces: here tycho brahe,

11, 1572, DISCOVERED A "NEW STAR"

ON THE EVENING OF NOVEMBER

It

was a

Tycho,

clear

now

autumn evening

after several days

of overcast

skies.

nearly twenty-six, was walking back to supper from his

alchemy laboratory, glancing up

at the familiar

darkening sky

as

went. To his astonishment, right over his head, near the three
that

make up

the right-hand half of the

Cassiopeia, there was a star he

fectly well

for

from

my youth

W of the

had never seen

I

have

known

something which one can learn without

constellation

before. "I

all

knew

per-

the stars in the sky,

difficulty

ever before existed in that place in the heavens,"

he

stars

that

no

star

had

Tycho wrote, "not

Behavior Unbecoming a Nobleman

even the very

It

tiniest, to

say nothing of a star of such striking clarity."

was brighter than any other

Not

quite trusting his eyes,

Tycho

seeing,

who were

47

star or planet in the sky.

and wanting witnesses

called his servants

what he was

to

and then stopped some peasants

passing nearby. These people had not spent nights study-

ing the stars as Tycho had, but they dutifully craned their necks to

up beyond the

gaze
their

not

trees

and the darkening

walls, trying to oblige

noble companion by giving him an opinion

this really

that this star

Tycho

was the

greatest

"I

new

star

[when

Tycho

meant

it

confirm

the]

when

was brighter

doubted no longer," reported Tycho.

wonder

that has ever

shown

whole of nature since the beginning of the world, or

great as

to

had not been there before, but they did agree,

even than that bright planet.

it

whether or

was something new. They were not able

called their attention to Venus, that the

"In truth,

as to

Sun was stopped by Joshuas

itself in

the

any case

in

as

prayers."

realized that the star's position in relation to the zodiac

could not be a planet, and, though he had never seen a

comet, he

knew from

his reading that a

comet has

tail

and

a fuzzy

appearance. This had neither. However, the real test of whether

was a comet was whether

Finding whether
his cross staff.

it

it

moved

it

in relation to the other stars.

did took several nights of watching, armed with

Tycho could not discern any change of position. This

was no comet. Though more observation and calculation were

needed
star

to

make

was not

certain,

Tycho was

also fairly confident that the

closer to Earth than the

Moon's orbit

clusion in the context of the astronomy he knew. "Let

phers,

new

as well as ancient,

be

silent!

new

a dramatic conall

philoso-

Let the very theologians, in-

terpreters of the divine mysteries, be silent! Let the mathematicians,

describers of the heavenly bodies, be silent!" he exclaimed.

Aristotle's ancient

cosmology, which insisted that change could

occur only in the region closer to Earth than the Moon's orbit (the
"sublunar" region), was

still

gospel

among most

scholars.

Tycho had

never declared himself an avid follower of Aristotelian cosmology,

TYCHO

48

but he had not escaped

want

ture to
to

Parallax shift

shift

of the

demonstration

new star,

is

The

are the

first

had understood

scholars

determining the distance to a

one eye and then the

finger

shift

is

sim-

other.

a parallax

from your

for millennia the

by parallax was

star

face, the

does have a parallax

that

shift,

of the Earth see the

face

background

and allow the

mathematical

stars.

An

still

would not

distance,

impossible in

exist until the

known since ancient times

1830s. However, astronomers had

place

The

and of the way it grows smaller with

Tycho's day. Powerful enough telescopes

against the

it.

shift.

Though

on the

dubbed

in front of your face,

two "viewing positions." The

principles of such a shift

Moon

he had to try

side to side against the background.

away you hold your

further

smaller the

in Tycho's na-

different viewing positions.

from

finger appears to shift

shift.

was
that,

or nova, as he

by holding one finger up

focusing on the distance, and closing

Your two eyes

it

To do

the apparent shift of an object against the back-

is

ground when observed from

The

However,

influence.

its

to test things out for himself.

measure the parallax

plest

b FCEPLER

that the

two observers a distance apart

Moon

in

two

different positions

observer could even stay in the same

daily rotation of the celestial sphere (or the rota-

tion of the Earth, if he believed Copernicus) to change his "viewing

position" for him. If he did that (as

self that the

ject as close as the

And so,
the

him

new

Tycho had done), he saw

for

him-

Moon did indeed have a parallax shift. A star or other ob-

although
star

Moon,

it

or closer,

was not possible

would
for

also

Tycho

have a parallax

by means of a parallax measurement,

to conclude that if this

parallax shift against

new

background

not possibly be nearer than the

it

was possible for

object in the sky did not

stars,

shift.

to find the distance to

while the

Moon

show any

did,

it

could

Moon.

Tycho was not the only person who noticed the nova, and not
agreed that

it

was further away than the Moon's

orbit.

Some

all

actually

made observations and were convinced that the new star was below the
Moon, even though they could discover no parallax. Some insisted it

Behavior Unbecoming a Nobleman

was a comet. Others conceded that

but argued that

it

was not

brightness that caused

Evidently,

it

the nova

two

was farther away than the

new, or that

really

gradually to

dim

it

and another

Though

real

change in

after its first appearance.

He

measured the angular distance between

and repeated the measurement

star,

the sky as a whole

hours

several

had moved, the distance between the

had not changed. Tycho performed

stars

was not a

Moon

Tycho was the only scholar capable of seeing beyond

Aristotelian assumptions.

later.

it

49

this test

more than once,

measuring the angular distance between the nova and not one but several

other

Because

Again and again he found no change, no parallax

stars.

this result ran so

Tycho decided

to

shift.

counter to current science and philosophy,

come at the problem from another direction. He had

already calculated, indirectly

by comparison with other

stars

how

the nova was above the celestial equator in terms of angular distance

far
(its

Now,

declination).

directly,

double check, he measured the declination

as a

which required finding the

above the horizon

at

maximum

height the star went

Herrevad. If the nova had never gone higher in

the sky than sixty degrees above the horizon at Herrevad, he could have

used his sextant, which measured sixty degrees. However, the

much

higher.

It

from the zenith

Tycho's
spect,

star

this

it

was

declination from that.

problem, obvious

He

window, recorded the

as

it

seems

in retro-

turned the sextant around,

star's

lower culmination

at its lowest

He was

point

and

that

set
is,

book

it

in

how

calculated the

so pleased with this simple inge-

nuity that he included a drawing of the sextant in that position

later in his

went

highest point at Herrevad only six degrees

(the point of sky directly above Tycho's head).

way of solving

above the horizon

star's

its

was a true innovation.

a north
far

reached

much

celebrating his instruments (figure 3.1).

Before a month had passed, Tycho had completed these tests to his
own satisfaction and was confident enough to send his findings and his
conclusions

gion

to a

that the star

few

friends.

to scholars in the

was not a comet and not

He was

more learned

in the

sublunar

re-

not so sure of himself as to send them

circles at the

University of Copenhagen.

TYCHO

SO

Figure 3.1:

One

of the

first

& ICEPLEU

instruments Tycho designed was the sextant,

used for measuring altitudes of bodies above the horizon, their azimuth
(distance

from the meridian), or

were joined with

(left)

their distances

from one another. Two

hinge (right) so that the end of one

by means of a screw (E). There were sights

at

moved along

Cand

K. This drawing

from Astronomiae Instauratae Mechanica (probably of Tycho's second

tant)

shows

it

set in the north-facing

lower culmination.
star

He

through the two

window

put the hinge end

sights.

legs

the arc

to observe the

(/) close to his eye

nova

sex-

at its

and found the

Behavior Unbecoming a Nobleman

As

approached, rather than spend more

his twenty-sixth birthday

time and effort reporting his study of the

self

51

star,

Tycho assigned him-

an entirely different project that had to be completed before the

end of the year or not

ological

almanac

impact,

it

at

putting together an astrological meteor-

all:

for 1573. If the predictions in

was necessary

to

complete

it

were to have any

it

before that year began.

Tycho's introduction to his almanac was in the form of an "oration"

that provides a

window

mind of

into the

He

and well-educated young man.

began

invoking Urania, astronomy's muse in

ceeded to describe the universe

animals, vegetables,

mense,

any

being Earth,

as

Tycho voiced the conviction

of the

who

that

rest

Creator.

changing

humans were

was

and

human

this

in

of the uni-

was so even on Earth,

soul, dissolution

especially true in the celestial realms

so redolent of God's

power and

intellect.

and change

immense, un-

In view of all this

Tycho lamented the ignorance of most people

would underlie

Moon

im-

created in the im-

at the center

even those

who fancied themselves as authorities about the heavens.

He continued by discussing his theory of meteorology, the
that

stars,

of it, so that through contemplation

itself,

where, with the exception of the

potential,

Moon,

as incorporeal,

There was, Tycho declared, no better teacher

of theology than the universe

It

Sun,

seas,

Creation they might learn something of the majesty and

wisdom of the

held sway.

by

mythology, and pro-

and omnipresent but not located

put them on Earth

good view of the

visible

classical

was a good Lutheran beginning.

age of God, by God,

verse with a

in traditional fashion

and minerals, and the Creator

eternal, incomprehensible,

single place. It

this eloquent, thoughtful,

it

because

it is

his

almanac:

theory

of the

celestial events, especially

immediately next to Earth's atmosphere

had,

he thought, a strong influence on the weather. However, one should

not put too

much

reliance

on weather prediction based on

events because there were also local conditions

on Earth,

celestial

this

realm

of chance and change, and these conditions varied from place to

place. Therefore, his

hope was not

so

much

to predict the weather as

TYCHO

52

& ICEPLER

to study the discrepancies between predicted

and actual weather and

more about how Earth and heaven were

find out

linked.

Thus Tycho

neatly sidestepped the danger that his predictions might not be cor-

Discrepancies weren't a problem; they were the leading edge.

rect.

Tycho

also

managed,

in passing, to sneer at

some of his contem-

porary astronomers and to pay homage to Danish royalty.

was not one to

sit

snug by the

fire

and

learn his

books and papers, and so he had decided to use

his

He said he

astronomy from

own

observations

rather than the Alfonsine (Ptolemaic) or Prutenic (Copernican) ta-

Furthermore, because

bles.

land, he

people owe a great debt to their native

all

would use Copenhagen

as his place

of reference in establish-

ing the meridian and the horizon. In other words, for purposes of
this

almanac, King Frederick should think of himself as the center of

the universe.

At the end of his introduction, Tycho

listed the

he had written on subjects related to the topic

busy.

and

There were

tables

at

other manuscripts

hand.

He had

been

of the risings and settings of the Sun, Moon,

planets, their configurations for each

and the predicted weather

for each

day and each lunar octad,

day of the

year.

He

urged the

need for systematic meteorological observations, and then he moved

on with
there

a flourish to quote

Ovid on the

joys of astronomy. Finally

was a verse he had written himself, lamenting that the demands

of the world, of courtly

life,

turbed the serenity that a

and the intense cold of the north

man

required for contemplating the

As work on the almanac progressed, Tycho ran

almanac predicted an

of the

eclipse

into a hitch.

Moon on December

8,

dis-

stars.

The

1573.

Investigating the astrological significance of this event, he found that

it

seemed

to predict the death

of King Frederick. Such a prediction

was a matter of national security and

nounced straightforwardly
king died,
dicted

it.

it

would be

Tycho chose

allegorical writing,

in

certainly could not be an-

an almanac.

On

the other hand,

if

the

a feather in an astrologers cap to have pre-

to clothe the

which

announcement

if necessary

could

later

in rather garbled

be interpreted, with

Behavior Unbecoming a Nobleman

hindsight and a
(It

little

help from

53

author, to predict this catastrophe.

its

did not occur.)

Soon

new year

after the

script to

began, Tycho carried the almanac

Copenhagen along with

ing the one about the

new

star.

To

in

dining

among

friends at the

he learned that

his astonishment,

Copenhagen had yet spotted

no one

He spoke of it while

the nova.

home of Charles

de Dancey, the French

ambassador. Dancey thought Tycho was chiding them

watching the sky

as closely as

manu-

several other manuscripts, includ-

he was. Johannes Pratensis,

all

for not

who was on

the faculty of medicine, sniffed that other professors at the university

could not have missed anything so dramatic. Tycho held his peace

and allowed the conversation

night came, there was the

not

at all like a

comet.

to

star,

Amid

to other matters.

and

was, as Tycho had told them,

it

the excitement, Tycho brought out the

manuscript he had written about the

publish

When a clear

move

star.

Pratensis urged

him

to

it.

Tycho had never published any of

nor was he

his manuscripts,

thinking of publishing this one. Scholarly endeavors were beneath a

man

of his rank.

nobleman might read

learning thereby, but surely not write one.

write one,
tion.

it

was surely

for the sport

of

it,

book and acquire some

And

if

he did happen to

not for public consump-

Tycho brushed off Pratensis's suggestion on the grounds

that his

manuscript was not polished enough, that he had never intended

it

to be widely read.

Pratensis did not give up. After Tycho

Pratensis sent

him some

had gone home

reports written about the

new

to Herrevad,
star that

had

only recently reached Copenhagen from abroad with the spring thawing of the sea-lanes.

When Tycho

read them, claiming he did so only

because he lacked anything to do while he was

the incompetence of those

with claims that

it

who had

ill,

studied the

was a comet only about

as far

he was distressed by

star,

and

away

particularly

as twelve to fif-

teen times Earth's radius.

Back

in

Copenhagen

to

check on work being done for him in an


TYCHO

54

& KEPLER

now

instrument shop, Tycho again encountered Pratensis. Only

he admit to Pratensis (who was not a nobleman) what the

cle was. Pratensis didn't take offense,

powerful

might publish

home
and

a letter

under

it still

To

from him became the preface to the published book.

mind and

his

rious scholarly pursuit

had got by so

If he

De

had

become

far

life

De

still

seemed

its

which was

young man who

life.

still

However,

it

not out of the

Hence he was

already

to publish this

it,

philosophical

not passionate or

as a quiet, short treatise,

Tycho reported

with the purpose of

its

of se-

too late to follow the traditional path into

and

his studies

star.

He

a matter that greatly interested

meaning but

also

its

and

his findings

soned about the location and the nature of the

merely

life

publication was, for him, another significant

Nova began

provocative.

away from orthodoxy.

step

Stella

seriously to either sort of

beyond the pale even before he decided

book. Nevertheless

major turning

of a nobleman were incompatible.

was simply not what he wanted.

distance

and overt

minds of his contemporaries,

knighthood, and government service

some

Nova was

Stella

was because he

down

settled

in fact

the

and the

far, it

had not yet

question

his

Tycho

his arm. In the end, Pratensis prevailed,

Tycho's decision to publish

point.

and suggested Tycho consult

raised the possibility that

manuscript anonymously, but Tycho returned

his

again with

Oxe

Peder Oxe.

relative

did

real obsta-

rea-

also dealt

him

not

practical significance

for surely such a celestial event could not be completely irrevelant to

humans. The

astrological predictions turned out to be

but more telling

when

came

and

dire,

last

addition to the manuscript before

of 1573,

when

Though

the star was

the front of the

still

it

visible

it

to Tycho's

went

both

own

difficult

future was a

to press in the spring

but greatly dimmed.

book included

poem by one

Professor

Johannes Franciscus praising Tycho's noble lineage, Tycho chose in

epilogue to cast scorn on the supposed glories of his
association with kings,

song.

He

class: feats

and the pursuit of frivolity, wine,

his

of arms,

woman, and

declared himself unwilling to be held back by fear of what

Behavior Unbecoming a

\ obleman
r

55

people would think of him, for his would be the greater and immortal
glory of having improved astronomy
fore.

among

His lineage was

pride only in what he

beyond anything

had been be-

it

the noblest, but he himself

would accomplish

Tycho concluded with an

would

take

himself.

allegorical flourish.

He

portrayed the

goddess Urania commissioning him to find the position, distance,

and meaning of the new

was charged
Sun,

to

Moon, and

logical

but that was only the beginning.

for

the other

all

and discover

planets,

friends, patrons,

mundane
and

interests?

scholars, but

Johannes Kepler wrote that

on meteoro-

their influences

Tycho
none

a vision, could ever

sent copies of the

to his family.

if it signified

He also

plot the paths of the

stars,

phenomena. Who, he asked, having such

lower his eyes to

later,

star,

do the same

nothing

book

Many

else,

to

years

the nova

of 1572 heralded the birth of an astronomer, the great Tycho Brahe.

In

19 4 5, astronomer

Walter Baade

what the bright object was

made

it

a project to find out

Tycho discovered

that

in the sky over

Herrevad in 1572. Studying Tycho's observations, Baade concluded

that

it

was

in

"white dwarf"

exhausted

all

probability a

star.

all its

Such

Type

supernova, the explosion of a

when an

a cataclysm occurs

elderly star has

nuclear fuel and collapsed to a sphere about the

size

of

Earth, with a mass close to the mass of the Sun. In a star that small

with a mass that huge, matter

hundreds of

sity

is

packed to almost inconceivable den-

tons per cubic inch.

of "binary systems" in which two

The

star.

As the two perform

star cannibalizes

own

mass.

matter from

The mass

its

usually a

larger but far less

their celestial waltz, the denser

pull of its

dwarf can

own

That explosion

is

attain

gravity

mass of the Sun. Once having exceeded that

a titanic explosion.

much

companion and gradually adds

limit a white

and exploding under the

is

are parts

continually circle one another.

stars

dwarf's partner in the system

massive

Most white dwarf stars

Type

is

dwarf
to

its

without collapsing

about 1.44 times the

limit, the star rips apart in

I

supernova.

TYCHO

56

& ICEPLER

Tycho knew nothing about supernovae. Knowledge about them

was more than 350 years
Latin for "new," though
less

in the future.

Tycho

modern astronomy

called the star nova,

uses the term nova for a

violent explosion.

Type
rare in

There

supernovae happen frequently in the universe, but they are

any one

is

galaxy. In

our Milky

no record of anyone

in

called a "guest star." Tycho's

Way

there

Europe seeing

it,

was one

in 1006.

but in China

it

was

nova was next in 1572, and in 1604

there

was another, observed by Johannes Kepler. There have been no

Type

supernovae in the Galaxy since. Tycho knew of no precedent

except for a report of a

new

Hellenistic astronomer

Hipparchus of Nicaea. Tycho ruled out the

star in the

second century

possibility that the star that heralded Christ's birth

was another example, on the grounds that that

nearer to Earth to lead anyone anywhere.
the fact that the 1572 nova did not

and hence was extremely

distant, well

Radio astronomers in the

tify a

move

late

and

star

He was

B.C.

from the

led the

had

to be

Magi

much

again underlining

in relation to other stars,

beyond the Moon.

twentieth century were able to iden-

source of radio emission that they believe comes from what

mains of the 1572 supernova.

the orbit of the

Moon.

They

place

it

re-

exceedingly far beyond

Having the

Best of

Several Universes
1573-1576

SPRING, WITH THE THAWING

customary season for a Dane to
a

new wife and

the

work

on

travels abroad. In spite

Herrevad, Tycho was

at

He made

spring of 1573.

set off

of the sea-lanes, was the

plans to leave

restless

of

again in the

Denmark and was even

thinking of making a permanent move. Details of his book's publication delayed the journey

He still had

tumn, when Kirsten gave birth

October

Copenhagen

Tycho

left

girl,

by the following au-

also

named

Kirsten,

first

1 1

to

Pratensis held a

mark

saw the nova.

the

first

Martinmas

feast at his lodgings

anniversary of the evening

One copy

of the invitation

still

promising sugar, almonds, chestnuts, a goose, a suckling

eighty bottles of wine.

going to
ties

and

on

10.

On November
in

baby

to a

not

eat.

when

survives,
pig,

and

They were going to drink more than they were

Although Tycho may have poured scorn on the

excesses of the

Danish

nobility, life

among

frivoli-

scholars was not

exactly abstemious.

Tycho did

little

observing in the

summer and autumn of

1573,

partly because of the distractions of publishing his manuscript.

However,

in early

December he and

his fourteen-year-old sister


TYCHO

58

& KEPLER

Sophie observed an eclipse of the

adjustments he had
calculating

when

made

and discovered that some

to the Prutenic (Copernican) Tables, while

the eclipse

than he had hoped.

Moon

would

occur,

had succeeded even

myself cannot sufficiently marvel over the

"I

fact

and without the aid of numer-

that at this early age, only twenty-six,

ous and accurate observations of the motions of the Sun and

I

better

should have been able to obtain such precise

results,"

Moon,

wrote Tycho

with unembarrassed self-approval.

Tycho and Sophie observed the

egant
It

new quadrant

eclipse

by

built to his order

was a creation of great

from Herrevad with an

specialists in

Copenhagen.

fashioned of brass and gold.

artistic beauty,

now

Evidently Tycho's financial situation had improved

could anticipate inheriting, soon, a portion of his

That inheritance notwithstanding,

a painting

quadrant reemphasized that Tycho had

heritage. It

showed

scepters, coats

on the

good

little

a table holding symbols of aristocratic

On

alive

and abundant, and seated

studying a book and a

The new quadrant

as

"By

celestial globe.

"The

life

in

a skeleton,

rest

shade was a

its

Spirit

we

Tycho's sextant, and

it

made of

The quadrant was

first

fine

must not have been very

use-

it.

However, Tycho

wood

experiment with a

clearly felt

represented the
relatively inex-

pensive model and also an exquisite trophy to celebrate his

as

an astronomer and

his

to

new

life

break with the traditions of nobility.

During the summer of 1 574 Tycho moved

is

man

declared

make such

metals rather than

a

live,"

belongs to death."

wasn't large or designed to

he made few observations with

that instruments
future.

life

the other side of the tree the branches and roots

Tycho's inscription above the picture.

ful, for

side of the

to say of his noble

the table were symbols indicating the futility of that

measurements

that he

father's estate.

of arms, ostentatious clothing, goblets, dice. Around

a withered tree.

were shown

el-

no record of Kirsten and

his

to

Copenhagen. There

daughter accompanying him, nor any

show whether Kirsten was "keeping

the keys" of another house in

accordance with Jutish law. Knutstorp was Tycho's widowed mother s

Having

Figure 4.1:

The

the Best

of Several Universes

brass-and-gold quadrant.

Tycho's aristocratic heritage

is

in the circle

from Astronomiae Instauratae Mechanica.

The

59

painting that repudiated

marked

A" and L.

The drawing

is

TYCHO

60

domain, Herrevad

was expecting

Uncle

his

second

their

& KEPLER

Steen's

and Aunt

The baby

child.

Kirstine's.

girl

But Kirsten

was born before the

end of the year and christened Magdalene.

Copenhagen

Tycho's status within the

scholarly

community had

De

been transformed with the publication of his book.

thing of an authority in astronomy. Before the

was

talk

of his delivering lectures

Nova

Stella

was a serious professional credential and established him

as

some-

summer ended,

at the university,

had never acquired an M.A. degree or intended

there

even though he

to have an

academic

career.

There had been obstacles

his

own image and

well. Since the

nobleman publishing

to a

were even greater obstacles to

There

Not only

self-image were at stake but the status of others as

Reformation, church and university had become the

domains of an educated middle

the nobility

a book.

his lecturing at the university.

who

sors,

and

after

no nobleman

scholars.

class

usually better educated than

served as bishops, lesser clergy, teachers, profes-

During Tycho's
in

Denmark

lifetime

and

for

many years

served in these capacities.

there-

An

un-

written rule of society in sixteenth century Europe was that people,

knowing

their places, stayed in

territory. It

was almost

the ladder as for a

den;

it

just did

as

them and did not

to

move

up.

then added his request to

these students of his

else

was not exactly forbid-

not happen.
this obstacle:

ble university students signed a petition

anyone

It

on other

move down

unthinkable for a nobleman to

commoner

Someone thought of a way around

who

trespass

who

own

and presented

theirs, inviting

social class.

A number of no-

The

lectures

chose to attend. After that matter

to lecture to

were

was

to the king,

it

Tycho

also

open

settled,

it

to

did

not take long to schedule the lectures.

The

first,

held on September 23, was an hour-long formal intro-

duction to the

series.

Two

years earlier,

Tycho had revealed

his phi-

losophy and beliefs in the introduction and epilogue of his almanac.

Now,

in 1574,

approaching age twenty-eight, he was

still

a religious


Having

the Best

man, deeply influenced by the

tinuing to interpret

He

lief.

human

of Several Universes

61

religious traditions

of his time, con-

activity within a context

of religious be-

spoke of Seth and Moses before moving on to Hipparchus,

Ptolemy, and Copernicus. As he had done in his almanac, he argued

for the value of astronomy in liberating

matters and turning

human minds from

them toward heaven,

and predicting the weather. That

calendars

called into question because of so

Tycho pointed out

that the

as well as for
last

Sun was responsible

Galileo was to be a notable exception) that the

to

To Tycho

it

had been

many failed predictions. However,

for the seasons

and many believed (though not everyone

the year,

tides.

usefulness

worldly

providing

seemed reasonable

Moon

of

in his time

influenced the

to think that the stars also

had

have something to do with the turbulence of weather and other

weather patterns.
Discussing the use of astronomy for horoscopes was a touchier
matter. Since Augustine of

nearly

long tradition and to

Melanchthon.
in the

human

and

fifth centuries,

began

Tycho

and follower

views about astrology.

felt

obliged to rebut

the side of Luther's disciple

this part

of the

their heads to look at Niels

cently switched his allegiance

Then

events.

come down on

When Tycho

room turned

elderly theologian

hat.

in the fourth

Christian theologians, including Luther, had opposed the

all

use of astrology to predict

this

Hippo

(usually) of

lecture, nearly all

Hemmingsen. That

Melanchthon had

re-

and attacked Melanchthon's favorable

Hemmingsen

smiled and tipped his academic

the attention reverted to Tycho.

Tycho took

this hat tipping as a delightful challenge. Philippist the-

ology (the theology of Philipp Melanchthon) had a strong hold at the

university.

with

this

Tycho hoped

jections to

it.

The

enced individual

He
all

to

heart of Tycho's argument was that the stars influ-

lives

and human events but did not determine them.

is something in man that has been raised above

God had endowed human beings with free will, and ere-

insisted that "there

the stars."

in what way his own views meshed

how they overcame Hemmingsen's ob-

show

popular thinking and

TYCHO

62

ated

man

& KEPLER

so that he can "overcome any malevolent inclinations what-

soever from the stars if he wills to

do

so."

Tycho recommended good

human

education, discipline, and other desirable

them

in rising above a "brutish life"

flecting the influence

of the

astrology, interpreted as

stars.

he did in

activities,

lay the best possibility

Tycho would never

this lecture,

for in

of de-

lose his faith in

much later when he

even

was focusing almost exclusively on astronomy.

Tycho was

a complete novice

when

it

came

to talking before a

crowd, but he must have been a riveting speaker, for

professor of law, Albert Knoppert, approached

"When

heard your attacks on the philosophers and physicians, and

even the theologians,

jurists

after the lecture a

him and commented,

so afraid that

you would

was

broke into a sweat!"

afraid that

also

launch into us

The lecture crowd dispersed, but the discussion about astrology and
free will continued at a leisurely meal hosted by Dancey. Hemmingsen
wanted

to clarify a

few points

particularly that

Tycho agreed

that

God works and acts with absolute, unrestricted freedom and that human beings also have completely free will and then declared himself

well satisfied with

The day

Tycho s views.

following this highly successful introduction, Tycho be-

gan in earnest to lecture on astronomy.

He kept no

notes,

and proba-

bly used none, except to record that he covered the theories of the

and

Moon

"according to the models and parameters of Copernicus"

and supplied copies of portions of the Prutenic Tables

audience

who

Tycho had

come

Sun

for those in the

could not afford to buy them.

not, however, rejected Ptolemaic

a convert to

Copernicanism.

He

astronomy and be-

explained Copernicus's Sun-

centered planetary theory, but then he proceeded to explore the possibility that

Copernican theory could be interpreted

to allow Earth to stand

might be "adapted

still.

to the stability of the Earth."

have to pass before he would

in

such a way

as

In Tycho's words, Copernican theory

realize this early

hope

decade would

in his

system," but Galileo's nemesis was waiting in the wings.

"Tychonic

Having

the Best

of Several Universes

deep
would not have seemed

Tycho's attitude toward Copernicus

of acceptance of a moving Earth

tling departure to the

more

63

respect that

well informed

among

short

fell

a star-

his audience.

Although Copernicus's book De Revolutionibus, which had been

published a

month

1543 (about

before that astronomer's death in the spring of

thirty years before Tycho's lectures), departed radically

from the prevailing Ptolemaic worldview, neither the scholarly nor

the religious world
the

had reacted negatively

pope did not occur

great deal of time

occurring

among

to

it.

Galileo's clash

until well after Tycho's death.

was elapsing, and no

with

Meanwhile, a

overt, dramatic conflict

scholars or theologians about

was

how

the universe

his

Sun-centered

was arranged.
Copernicus himself undoubtedly believed that

astronomy represented
universe.

made
rate.

He

literal

did not regard

truth
it

as

the prediction of planetary

However,

it

was not

what

really

was going on

in the

only a mathematical scheme that

movement

in the mind-set

simpler and more accu-

of his contemporaries to

Nicolaus Copernicus

as-

TYCHO

64

sume

De

& KEPLER

or even to recognize that he had

made any such

truth claim in

Revo lutioni bus. Aristotle had done ancient and medieval

tronomers a considerable service by drawing a

and the mathematical

mean

By

Ptolemy's day,

to invent devices such as the epicycle

that yielded reliable predictions, without

might cause the planets

to

move

devices. In fact, to declare that

move

the planets literally

moving would be

to

in the

any need

about whether

ried

and equant

what

to explain

Ptolemy either did or did not think

in the

way

these

direct evidence

mechanisms had them

one way or the

for not belaboring that question

his

re-

other, there

maybe

for

A man who wor-

mathematical system represented

was an exception. This was not an

to the ancients.

had

it

manner prescribed by those

not even realizing the possibility of such a question.

ity

that

misunderstand him. In the absence of any

mote chance of conclusive

was much to be said

way

that astronomers need not search for

Aristotelian "causes" for celestial motions.

become routine

between physics

line

sciences, including astronomy, in a

could be interpreted to

as-

literal real-

intellectual situation confined

A similar mind-set exists today at the leading edge of

theoretical physics.

Copernicus had no better view of the

were

skies

than Ptolemy, and his

was not observational astronomy: Most of

forte

less

his observations

accurate than those of Hellenistic and Islamic astronomers.

However, Copernicus accepted the neo-Platonic idea that underlying

all

terns.

the complication of nature there are simple, harmonious pat-

Nothing

so complexly convoluted as Ptolemaic

the mathematical wilderness needed to support

it

astronomy and

could represent

own system, which potentially explained

a much more spare and simple way, must,

truth. Copernicus's

tary

movement

lieved, therefore

in

be a clearer insight into

De

a desire for greater

Revolutionibus was not an easy book, and not

had the expertise

to

wade through

it,

soon found that Copernicus's math was

he be-

reality.

However much Copernicus was motivated by

simplicity,

plane-

many

but skilled mathematicians

brilliant

and extremely

use-

Having

fill.

Long

the Best

of Several Universes

6$

before controversy arose about whether or not Earth really

moved and whether

it

or the

Sun was

in the center, Copernicus's

math and astronomy had proved too valuable

more

re-

than the antiquated Alfonsine Tables based on Ptolemaic

as-

Copernican Prutenic Tables, which Tycho had found a

liable

The

discard.

to

little

tronomy, were drawn up in Protestant Wittenberg by Melanchthon's

younger colleague, Erasmus Reinhold. Melanchthon and others of

his school revered

Copernicus for

mathematics and

his

tables,

and

used these without worrying themselves about any deep cosmologiCatholic scholars used Copernicus's tables to calculate a

cal conflict.

new

and an amicable situation continued

calendar,

Catholic Church had no

the cosmos.

ready for
first

It

official policy

had managed

to propose a

moving

if all parties

which the

regarding the arrangement of

to stay largely clear of that debate al-

at least three centuries, for

standing that

in

Copernicus had not been the

Earth. There was a vague, tacit under-

could avoid declaring that any

scientific

arrangement of the universe or any scriptural cosmological

ments should or should not be treated

as literal truth,

thing would continue smoothly. That

made

when

there

was no observational evidence

state-

then every-

a great deal of sense

to argue definitively for ei-

ther theory.

The blame

for Copernicus's failure to

his theory represented reality

preted

him

lies

most

directly

make

so that

clear his conviction that

no one could have misinter-

with a preface to

was added by Andreas Osiander, who was

left

De Revolutionibus that

in charge

of overseeing

the final stages of publication. Osiander urged Copernicus to write a

preface claiming that his theory
thetically.

was intended

to be interpreted

Copernicus refused, so Osiander wrote

it

hypo-

himself anony-

mously, implying that Copernicus had penned the warning, "Beware

if

you expect truth from astronomy

fool than
If

may

when you

lest

you

leave this field a greater

entered."

Copernicus saw the preface, he was nearly on

not have understood what

it

was.

It

his

deathbed and

undoubtedly would have

TYCHO

66

angered him, but

it

& KEPLER

meshed with the mind-set of his time and was

strumental in allowing his astronomy to

whom

in-

world

infiltrate the scholarly

without seeming to pose a

threat.

had come into contact

student drew on both theories without

feeling they

as a

were engaging in

able to study Copernican

agreeing that Earth

Astronomers with

Tycho was

intellectual contradiction.

astronomy with awe and

moved and

the

Tycho

respect, while

not

Sun was the center of the system.

His use of both Ptolemaic and Copernican tables was not unusual.

However, by the early 1570s, even before the nova led to any
sis

ars

cri-

of faith in Aristotelian/Ptolemaic cosmology, a few younger schol-

had begun

to explore

more

seriously

some of the

implications of

Copernicus's theory. If Earth was in orbit around the Sun, then observers

on Earth ought

tions of the stars. This

to see an annual shift in the apparent posi-

was not a new

idea. Since ancient times the

lack of this "stellar parallax" shift

had been taken, very

even by modern standards, to

mean

Similarly, if one

of the

shift

were in a

that Earth did not

carriage, looking

tree trunks in relation to

certain the carriage

scientifically

out

at a forest,

move.

and saw no

one another, one could be

fairly

was not moving. There was another possible

ex-

planation for the absence of stellar parallax, one that the ancients had

not been willing to accept

had

originally

except for Aristarchus of Samos,

who

proposed the idea of a Sun-centered cosmos seventeen

centuries before Copernicus: Suppose the stars were infinitely or

nearly infinitely far away. Riding in the

forest extremely distant
cally

no

shift

of the

same

carriage,

on the horizon, one would

tree trunks in relation to

but with the

discern practi-

one another.

Logic therefore dictated that accepting Sun-centered astronomy

as literal truth
large.

With

meant accepting

this realization,

tances of the planets

and the

also that the universe

new
stars.

is

enormously

speculation began about the dis-

The nova of 1572

contributed to

that speculation as well as challenging belief in the unchangeable

perfection of the celestial realms.

Copernicus had concerned himself only a

little

more than Ptolemy

Having

of Several Universes

the Best

67

with questions about why the heavenly bodies should

move as they do.

How they move was

for a lifetime, let

puzzle enough to occupy a

them

alone the question of what caused

was not long before

it

began to seem a

to

man

move

little

that way.

However,

universe could be working according to both the Ptolemaic

Copernican systems
logic, scholars

and

the other

at once. In

and the

hope of preserving some semblance of

began in earnest to explore whether

to ask

it

absurd to suppose that the

had

it

to

be one or

whether there was a way to draw old and new

ideas into a coherent picture. This

was the question Tycho had decided

to try to answer.

Tycho was one of those younger

tronomy had
its

goal could

also

to be

more than

and should be

scholars

brilliant

to reveal

who

believed that as-

mathematical constructs, that

what

is

really

He

happening.

recognized that Copernicus thought he had revealed that.

Nevertheless,

Tycho

felt

obliged to reject Copernicus's idea of a

mov-

ing Earth. Because Tycho regarded Copernicus as the greatest math-

ematician of the century, this rejection, rather than being a sign of

closed-mindedness, was a

confidence as a scholar.

symptom of

He was

The only way to prove

ignorant.

to find stellar parallax,

and

ply no physical evidence to

Earlier,

when he was

his

independence and

self-

not being antiscientific or militantly

that

that Earth

was not standing

Tycho could not

show

do.

that Copernicus

a student in Leipzig,

still

was

There was sim-

was

right.

Tycho had come

to agree

with Copernicus that Ptolemy's use of the equant was offensive, and

seemed true that Copernican astronomy had removed the need

theoretical point

changing

its

it

for this

around which a planet appeared to move without

speed. So Tycho

had begun

to search for a

way to eliminate

the use of the equant without capitulating entirely to Copernican as-

tronomy. Because he did not use notes for his Copenhagen

is

only possible to surmise from

said.

He had

later

ducing everything to the

expound

"the motions of the

and parameters of Copernicus, but

stability

it

developments what he might have

declared his intention to

planets according to the models

lectures,

re-

of the Earth," thus avoiding both

TYCHO

68

"the mathematical absurdity of

was a mechanism resembling

had

yet have

this

scheme firmly

THE SPRING

In

nally fully settled

650

Ptolemy and the physical absurdity of

The result toward which he was moving at the time of the

Copernicus."
lectures

& KEPLER

dalers,

in

of 1575,

figure 4.2, although

he

may

not

mind.

when

Tycho's father's estate was

and Tycho came into an annual income of about

approximately twice the annual stipend of a senior pro-

fessor at the University

of Copenhagen, he abruptly canceled the

mainder of his

Once again he had decided

time in

style,

stayed at

lectures.

accompanied by servants and

home

in

Frederick's emissary.

dark medieval

to

go abroad,

this

a baggage train. Kirsten

blessing of King Frederick and, in a sense, as

The king had

fortress that

grandiose plans to transform the

guarded the entrance to the 0resund

Epicycle

Planet

Deferent

One of Tycho's

first

attempts to explain planetary motion without

using an equant but leaving Earth as the

moved

unmoving

center of the system:

added a miniepicycle.
along centered on the

which

is

He

some distance from Earth. He also

The planet rides on the miniepicycle, which wheels
epicycle, which in turn wheels along centered on the

the center of motion to a point

deferent

re-

Denmark.

Tycho went with the

Figure 4.2:

fi-

centered on a point

some

distance from Earth.

at

Having

Wilhelm

IV,

the Best

Landgrave of Hesse,

of Several Universes

1577 painting, probably by Caspar van

in a

der Borcht. In the lower right-hand corner there

Brahe,

shown holding an instrument

69

that

is

is

a small portrait

of Tycho

probably his sextant.

Elsinore (immortalized in Shakespeare's Hamlet) into a Renaissance

castle.

Finding Europe's best architects, hydraulics engineers, decora-

tors, smiths, sculptors, painters,

required

some

scouting,

and

this

weavers, and myriad other experts

was

suited. Tycho's personal reason for

would not have pleased

down

roots

sive scale

and pursue

than he could

Tycho stopped
grave of Hesse,

first

Frederick.
his
at

own

a task for

which Tycho was well

going was quite different and

He

was looking

scholarly passions

more

put

exten-

Herrevad.

that spring in Kassel with

who was

for a place to

on

Wilhelm

IV,

Land-

an avid astronomer himself. Wilhelm had

commissioned many astronomical instruments, clockworks, and gadgets,

and he conducted something

like

an academy for the advance-

TYCHO

70

& KEPLER

ment of astronomy. Overburdened with affairs of state, he had

found

little

recently

opportunity to make astronomical observations, but

Tycho

arrived he set aside

Tycho

that the

all

other

when

Wilhelm agreed with

activities.

nova had been beyond the Moon, though he thought

he had detected a

bit

of parallax.

He commemorated Tycho s

visit

by

having a small picture of Tycho painted in the background in his next

official portrait.

From

Kassel,

library at the

was a
ally.

staple

Tycho continued

add

to Frankfurt to

famous Frankfurt Book

Fair, a

to his personal

long-lived trade fair that

of the medieval intellectual world and

still

occurs annu-

Venturing farther south, he revisited Basel. Peder Oxe, Charles

Dancey, Steen

Bille,

and Johannes

Pratensis

had studied

all

at the

University of Basel. Tycho was favorably impressed with the mild

mate and easy

From

Basel

Venice, where

access to scholars in France,

Tycho

Germany, and

traveled south once again

more than

Italy.

and eventually reached

thirty years later Galileo

Venetian doge and senate with a

cli-

new invention,

would astound

a telescope.

the

Tycho was

invited to learned gatherings that were part of the lives of rulers of the

Venetian republic and which also included scholars from the university
in nearby Padua.

As both

nobleman and a

scholar,

he was in

his ele-

ment. In the interest of discovering experts for King Frederick, Tycho

probably viewed in person some of the
Palladio in the Veneto, the

new villas

designed by Andrea

mainland near Venice. These

architectural

gems, whether he saw pictures of them or went there himself, made a

lasting impression

When summer

on him.
ended and before the snows closed the

passes

through the Alps, Tycho journeyed north again to Innsbruck and then
to Augsburg,
itable

where he had previously spent such enjoyable and prof-

months. At Regensburg, not

far

downriver from Augsburg, he

at-

tended the coronation of Rudolph of Hapsburg, a ruler destined to play

a significant role in his future.

Romans," which made him

Rudolph was being crowned "King of the

heir apparent to the

Having considered numerous

possibilities

Holy Roman Empire.

during his journey,

Having

of Several Universes

the Best

yi

Tycho decided he would emigrate from Denmark and

On the way home to put his plan in

motion, Tycho's

settle in Basel.

final stop

on the

Continent was in Wittenberg. There he found university and

astir

city

with news of a religious conflict, an early eruption of a division

among

would

Protestants that

cause great unhappiness for

later

Johannes Kepler and make working for Tycho Brahe

Twenty

his

riod of widespread religious

and

of Europe had hoped

would. According to the

it

only option.

1555 Peace of Augsburg had ended a pe-

years earlier, the

political

upheaval

or at least
treaty,

much
only

Catholicism and Lutheranism would be tolerated within the Holy

Roman

Empire.

The

present trouble had begun

elector of Saxony, discovered that

many

when Augustus,

theologians at Wittenberg

were secret followers of another Protestant reformer, John Calvin.

Augustus took strong measures.

gians,

He

imprisoned the errant theolo-

including Melanchthon's son-in-law.

Wittenberg, they were

still

in prison,

and

When

friction

Tycho reached

had developed be-

tween Augustus and King Frederick of Denmark.

Denmark had not been

party to the religious articles of the Peace

of Augsburg, and Niels Hemmingsen, the elder scholar

who had

tipped his hat at Tycho's lecture, had been instrumental in achieving

Denmark

a consensus in

that

made no

sharp distinction between

Lutheranism and Calvinism. Hemmingsen

work
ilar

had published

that gave a Calvinist interpretation to the Eucharist,

work had appeared anonymously

Denmark,
that they

all

effective proselytizer

tus sent a

their Calvinist ideas

festivities

Hemmingsen

Since the

trail

all

University of

and

a sim-

Worse

for

from Hemmingsen while

surrounding King Frederick's wedding in

appears to have been an exceedingly busy and

who

did not pause for royal holidays.

of clues led directly to Copenhagen, Elector Augus-

complaint to King Frederick,

to his castle

in Wittenberg.

the imprisoned theologians in Wittenberg admitted

had obtained

attending the

1572.

also

Copenhagen

pastors,

who
all

immediately

endowed

summoned

professors of the

Copenhagen (including Hemmingsen and

Pratensis),

TYCHO

72

and the bishop of Roskilde

to

& KEPLER

answer the

Oxe

Peder

elector's charges.

was one of the three commissioners who examined them. Hemmingsen presented an eloquent defense of the peace and unity of belief

and

German

of the Danish church, describing

religious practice

the-

ologians as leaping about like cooks trying to please the palate of

whatever noble they served. If Denmark paid attention to them, the

would be

result

similar confusion.

but Peder

ately settled,

Oxe

The

told

difficulty

was not immedi-

Hemmingsen

privately not to

worry, and matters quieted down.

By

the

end of December 1575, Tycho had returned

and was preparing

court had

moved

to liquidate his assets for the

to Soro

Abbey

for Christmas.

move

to

to

Denmark
Basel. The

King Frederick

rel-

ished the rich food, mead, Rhenish wine, and ale of the abbot of
Soro, as well as the learned, amusing conversation around the abbot's
table.

Tycho went there

journey,
this

and

visit his

to

pay

his respects to the king, report

aunt and foster mother Inger Oxe,

his
at

time the noblewoman in charge of Queen Sophie's chamber.

Tycho had

turned twenty-nine and was an experienced

just

courtier, polished

by

his travels

and attendance

Garbed appropriately with flowing

he was an imposing

at

many

cape, feathered hat,

figure, barrel-chested, elegant,

mustache were reddish blond. In

would have made

Tycho told the king about

glowingly described this ruler

and

artists.

his visit to

it

and sword,

so in

any

though an

in Kassel

whom

and

himself with schol-

For work on Frederick's Elsinore building project,

Tycho recommended the landgrave's former hydraulics

portrait painter

nose

case.

Wilhelm IV

who surrounded

and

hair, beard,

portraits, his false

looks a fairly successful imitation, close to flesh-colored

astute portrait painter

courts.

and of distinctly

noble bearing. His eyes were light-colored, and his

substantial

ars

on

who was

from Augsburg, and

a sculptor trained in

were willing to work in Denmark.

He

also reported

Rudolph of Hapsburg's coronation. He did not mention

tion of emigrating.

expert, a
Italy, all

of

on

any inten-

Having

Tycho Brahe

the Best

in a

~3

of Several Universes

1586 engraving by Jacques de Gheyn.

King Frederick regarded the impressive young astronomer with

heightened

interest.

An

emissary from the astronomy-loving land-

grave had already informed

and recommendation

him of Wilhelm's high

regard for

that Frederick encourage him,

could read between the lines that

if

Tycho

and Frederick

he did not, Wilhelm would.

Perhaps there were rumors at court that Tycho had plans to

move

abroad. In any case, Frederick received Tycho with extraordinary graciousness and offered

Two were
of

castles

on

him not just one but

a choice

Baltic islands, rather far

among

four

fiefs.

from Copenhagen but

The others were Helsingborg, which

had commanded, and Landskrona, both of which

great strategic importance.

Tycho's father

guarded the 0resund, the sound that led to the

these castles
villagers,

Baltic.

At any of

Tycho would have power over hundreds of peasants and

with servants, knights, troops, and courtiers to serve him.

But Tycho surprised the king by accepting none of these

castles

TYCHO

74

and major

royal

& KEPLER

Instead, he politely insisted that he

fiefs.

time to think about them. Frederick had nothing better to

was

this a

lose

Tycho

matter that he could simply

let

He had no

drop.

to a foreign ruler or university. Moreover,

it

needed

Nor

offer.

wish to

was a matter

of honor that he show some form of substantial recognition for

young member of one of Denmark's most powerful

this

families.

However, while the king was pondering the problem, Tycho wrote

want

to Pratensis, "I did not

our good king so graciously offered me.

am

my own

class ...

In the two

waste

much

months following

about

it.

To maintain an
estate,

Among people

of

time."

the king's offer,

preparations for his departure, but he was

purchase an

castles

displeased with society

customary forms and the whole rubbish.

here,

any of the

to take possession of

Tycho went ahead with

still

somewhat ambivalent

aristocratic lifestyle in Basel,

and the only way to

afford that

was

he would have to
to

his portion

sell

of Knutstorp. That was a complicated undertaking, because he shared

ownership with

his brother Steen, his

mother held

a lifetime interest in

mag-

the estate, and both lived there. Furthermore, refusing the king's

nanimous
ily.

On

offer

was sure

the other hand,

to shed a
if his

bad

light

on the

as

ill

first.

connected with being lord and lady of a

equipped

as

fam-

decision was going to be swayed by con-

sideration for others, he should consider Kirsten

social duties

entire extended

he was unwilling to perform these

There were heavy

castle.

Kirsten was

duties.

Tycho's uncle Steen, of Herrevad, not pleased at the prospect of

seeing his favorite

nephew disappear over

the European horizon,

took matters in hand himself. Steen found a roundabout way to

reason

know that Tycho was

was: The royal fiefs the

would

distract

the king

was

at this

Tycho from

his

let

considering emigration and what the

king had offered involved duties that

work. As the king

later told

Tycho,

it

point in the conversation that he recalled Steen mention-

ing, a year earlier, that there

special appeal for

was an island

in the

0resund

that

had

Tycho. Frederick's next offer was designed to be

one Tycho could not

refuse.

Having

The king had

mons

in

the Best

of Several Universes

alone

do not

reveal

are alone.

February 11,

his

sum-

letter to Pratensis:

Hear now what has happened these

you two

Tycho described

a flair for the dramatic.

an excited

j$

it

As

to a soul, except
lay

restlessly

Germany time and

awake

few days

last

and hear

it

our friend Dancey, when

on

in bed, early

the

morning of

considering to myself the journey to

again from

all

sides

and figuring out how

should be able to disappear without arousing the attention of my

kinsfolk,

when

royal page

lo!

had

it

was announced quite unexpectedly that a

without delay

(it

in order to bring

was

still

dawn, and the sun did not

.1

who had hastened the

me a letter from the king

arrived here at Knutstorp,

whole night through

dark of night, towards the break of

rise for

another two hours). Therefore

bade the page, a nobleman and a kinsman, to step up to the

bed.

He straightaway produced a letter and said that he had been

commissioned by
seek

me out wheresoever I

might be found

and return immediately.

the letter to me,

ter

king to ride night and day without

his

...

and found that the king had commanded

without
so that

delay.

This

rest,

personally deliver

broke open the

let-

me to come to him

did obediently without wasting a

moment

presented myself before the king at the [royal hunting

lodge of Ibstrup, in the forest about a mile from Copenhagen]

that

same day before sundown. Through

Parsberg, he let

me

his chamberlain, Niels

be called to him in private.

Frederick received Tycho with the news that his plans to leave

Denmark were no

longer a secret.

The king

said

he also knew, and

sympathized with, the reasons Tycho had not accepted his

offers.

too,

was concerned that

fere

with Tycho's research. Frederick described a recent

Elsinore,
tle:

political

and

social duties

He,

should not intervisit

where he had been overseeing the progress of the new

As he surveyed the seascape from one of the windows,

to

cas-

his eyes

TYCHO

76

happened

to

to the southeast

in

fief,

Were

on the

fall

little

& KEPLER

island of

Hven, on the distant horizon

a beautiful, isolated place, not held

carrying with

it

by any noble

only minimal administrative obligations.

Frederick to pay, out of the royal coffers,

expenses for build-

all

ing a suitable residence there and for founding and maintaining a

re-

search establishment, there was surely nothing abroad that could

possibly lure

own

credit

Tycho away. His work

and

that of his king

answer immediately, Frederick

reply as to whether he

Tycho returned
posal but

and

Hven would redound

at

his country.

Tycho should not

but consider the matter and

insisted,

would accept

to his

this

new

offer.

to Knutstorp the next day, stunned

by the pro-

undecided. Another day passed before he wrote the

still

let-

ter to Pratensis

asking for his and Dancey's advice. Both responded

enthusiastically

on the same day

phasized,

among

erful vindication for

who

that Tycho's letter arrived.

Tycho over those

Frederick's

and fellow nobles

relatives

disapproved of his straying from their

had predicted

They em-

other things, that the king's generosity was a pow-

own

career paths

and who

a dismal future for him.

new offer implied endorsement not only of Tycho's un-

orthodox career choice but

also

of his alliance with Kirsten.

One

of

Tycho's later students reported that the king's "intervention" put to

rest

hard feelings toward Tycho

among

ished social esteem because of Kirsten's

was a

clear indication

relatives

low

of Frederick's favor and also (though the

tention remained unspoken) a provision from

haven for Kirsten and

By February
Tycho had not

who suffered diminThe gift of Hven

birth.

their

young

the royal coffers

family.

made the offer, though

accept Hven as his fiefdom,

18, six days after Frederick

yet decided whether to

he had made up his mind to stay in Denmark.

fealty to the

Danish crown

Oxes had uttered

kings of

in the

He

same words Brahes,

for generations as they

Denmark. His

yearly income.

in-

of a

began

pledged his
Billes,

and

their service to the

royal pension began, nearly doubling his

The

of

Isle

Hven

1576-1577

FOUR DAYS LATER

bor

at

Tycho rode from Knutstorp

Landskrona, on the eastern shore of the 0resund, and

across the icy

hours. Cliffs

sound

on

all

to the island of

sides

cliffs

of the island made the top in

would have loomed

tall as

in a letter to Pratensis, "Since the

on

all sides, it

From

many

places

Tycho's small boat

he drew near, and

as

he wrote

waves of the sea surround [Hven]

has difficult, often quite dangerous landing places."

Nevertheless, the boat

managed

to land

on the north shore of the

and

is-

was possible

to get

well as cold, for this was late February,

when

where there was a break

land,

set sail

Hven. The crossing took two

unreachable from the rock-strewn beaches.

these

to the har-

in the cliffs

it

to the top.
It

was a

stiff climb, as

the short winter days begin to lengthen at this latitude but bitterly

sharp winds blow across the island. Tycho soon arrived at the only
settlement, the village of Tuna.

future

welcomed

this aristocratic stranger

went beyond the

From

The

cottagers there, ignorant of the

and the havoc he would wreak

there, the

in their placid lives, very likely

with a

warm

village across the level top

fire.

Tycho probably

of the island to

its

center.

promontory where King Frederick was constructing

TYCHO

78

new

his

castle

was

on the

visible

Tycho must have thought on

Hven would be
and Mars

that

distant horizon across the water.

first

day that

island

in the foot

and observed

of Orion

this center

own

a splendid place to erect his

on the

that night

& KEPLER

point of

He

palace.

spent

Moon

a conjunction of the

from

his first recorded observation

Hven, February 22, 1576.

Tycho followed the

king's suggestion that

he take

his

time deciding

He

whether to accept Hven or choose another fiefdom.

much

spent

of the next three months there, studying the conditions, weighing ad-

He measured the

vantages and disadvantages.

island

by striding along

the perimeter at the clifftops, counting 8,160 strides. For a

had been considering emigrating

mate was not

enticing, but

and accustomed

more

serious

to

warmer

to a

Tycho was

part of Europe, the

Dane by

enduring cold and wet for

problem was that

at

man who

birth

cli-

and breeding

much of the

year.

Hven's latitude he would see

less

than he wished of those parts of the sky most interesting to an

as-

The planet Mercury would frequently be out of sight below

southern horizon. Nevertheless, as spring damp and mists gave

tronomer.
the

way

to the

promise of a hot,

idyllic

summer, Tycho was

falling in love

with Hven.

The

island's isolation

would be near enough

weighed both ways

to

Copenhagen

pearance at court or university, yet

the

commotion of

queuing up

to

the

pay the

common

toll

Hven

in his considerations.

to allow the occasional ap-

was, as he put

it,

"free

from

herd." Great sailing vessels, after

across the

sound

at Elsinore,

swept on

steady procession as though the island were invisible. His time

be his own, his work interrupted only

realized that Hven's isolation

made

ing and landscaping project.

He

dents of Tuna, a seemingly docile

He

it

cast
lot.

when he

less

chose. But

would

Tycho

also

than ideal for a major build-

an appraising eye over the

As

in a

their lord,

two unpaid workdays per week, from sunup

to

resi-

he was entitled to

sundown, from each

amount of "cartage." That seemed

farm on the

island,

very

view of the undertaking he had in mind. Besides, they

little

in

and

a certain

The

were not

By

to

the mainland.

months had

the time three

passed,

seem

distant shores

Tycho had made

making the passing

Set in a sparkling sea with a haze

its

79

Those and most supplies would need

skilled laborers.

come from

ofHven

Isle

his choice.

ships

and the

a mirage, his island's fields, pastures, village,

glowed

tiny church of St. Ibb's

in the piercing sunlight

and

of a north-

ern early summer. Frederick had offered Tycho a paradise.

There were violent legends surrounding the

but more

had been

recent years

1576, there had been

island since 1288,

little

tranquil. Until

to break the peace

when Viking

early history of Hven,

Tycho arrived

and no lord

in

to rule the

named
The

marauders, led by the vividly

Eric the Priest-Hater, paused there to demolish several castles.

rulers

who

fortresses

lived in

were

Several years

all

them

either perished or

that remained

Tycho had erected

later, after

for entertaining royalty, Frederick's

to

soon

left.

Traces of four

when Tycho came.

a palace

on Hven

suited

young Queen Sophie was obliged

spend an extra night when a violent storm made the 0resund im-

passable.

The company

gathered around the

them by recounting

students entertained
Eric the Priest-Hater.

Nordborg

ing where Tycho

came

first

had

invited her

two brothers

during the

that

ashore,

and one of Tycho's

tales

from before the time of

whose

ruins guarded the land-

had once been a formidable strong-

Lady Grimmel, whose family ruled the

hold. Lore

it

Castle,

fire,

festivities.

to a feast there

island,

and murdered both of them

Her maiden-in-waiting Hvenild was

already

pregnant by one of the brothers and gave birth to a son, Ranke, the
true heir to the throne.

ued

to rule

While Ranke grew up, Lady Grimmel contin-

from her four

castles,

and Hammer. But Hvenild did not

ery
evil

and

his father's fate,

Grimmel

into a

Nordborg, Sonderborg, Karlshog,

let

her son forget his aunt's treach-

and when Ranke reached manhood he

dungeon and abandoned her

to starve.

cast the

The name

Hven was said to come from Hvenild, Ranke's mother.

The peasants also told of "Lady Grimmel's treasure," buried
the alder fen

and guarded by

dragon (who, report had

it,

in

was only

TYCHO

80

seldom

& ICEPLEK

two golden keys

seen). Supposedly,

the treasure, and at one time two boys saw

the water.

One

of the boys revealed the

could unlock

them gleaming through

when

but

secret,

others ran

had vanished.

to look, the keys

in the sea

More scholarly accounts report Stone Age habitation on Hven,

name evidently already used for the island in the ninth century,

and

seems to have been

it

The

a hive

sea battle of Svolder

of activity during the Bronze Age.

between powerful Viking forces took

place at "Sandevolleon," the Viking

cliffs

and location

in the center

name

for

Hven. The

of the sea-lanes made

but after Eric the Priest-Hater's onslaught

citadel,

a natural

it

it

island's

was never

again fortified.

With

Tycho's

coming

about to emerge from

in the spring

this

murky

of 1576, the

legend and, in spite of its out-of-the-way location,

ter stage

island

more than

move

to the cen-

of Europe. Yet Tycho would come to seem to the

Hven, and

whom

to the descendants to

and malign

as the

ancient Lady

villagers

of

they passed on the stories

about him, not the enlightened genius of the age but

terious

was

little
little

history that was

Grimmel

a figure as

mys-

herself.

On any of the other estates the king had offered him, Tycho would
have found peasants, however disgruntled, accustomed to serving a
lord of the manor.

The

peasants of Hven, nestled in their thatched,

half-timbered village, had never experienced anything of the

They had been enjoying

their Utopian isolation

ence of a lord for almost

as

long

erations, fort)' peasant families

as their history

had

tilled

interfer-

could

For gen-

and managed

recall.

the land that could be

tilled,

had

fallen

grazed a few animals on the broken areas where the

away and other

sort.

without the

cliffs

areas that did not lend themselves to tilling, fished,

to eke out a living, a portion

provincial governor
holders, that they

of which they paid to

on the mainland. They thought they were

owned

their land.

No

free-

one had disabused them of

this notion.

The

village's three great fields

covered most of the northwestern

The

An

old

map

of Hven that

three great fields covered

the village;

St. Ibb's

is

Isle

ofHven

not oriented

strictly

Church

is

visible at the top

half of the island, near the village, with

meadows taking up

north to south.

most of the northwestern half of the

The

village's

island, nearest

of the map.

common

grazing land and

the center and the southeastern half. There were

almost no trees except for a grove of hazelnuts and the alders that

grew

in a moist area or fen,

guarding the treasure.

where the dragon was supposed

St. Ibb's

Church stood on

the

cliffs,

to be

and on an-

other high place near the village there was a great windmill. All the
islanders lived in the village,
miller,

and almost surely

part-time job

and with the exception of the

a blacksmith

(though that

combined with farm work), they were

pastor, a

may have been

all

peasants and

rural laborers.

The
Though

islanders

had been accustomed

their claim to

to

governing themselves.

be freeholders was supported by tradition, not

by written documents, each farmer believed that he owned an individ-

TYCHO

82

narrow

ual

down

set

within the great

strip

and productive

& ICEPLER
fields.

Since

it

was more convenient

farm them together, they had organized a guild to

to

bylaws and administer daily

activities,

choosing one promi-

nent villager to be responsible for maintaining the peace and collecting

annual

The

taxes.

choice had to be approved by the provincial gover-

nor on the mainland, but Hven was remote and uninteresting enough
to keep

him from

world.

Some

much notice beyond that.

Hven was more in contact with

taking

In other ways

the 0resund. Others took their swine to graze in

in the forests

islanders

had intermarried with

in

local peasant families.

tion should a lord of the

and even

sites,

the villagers as
this

flat refusal to

manor suddenly

But compared
inde-

set the stage

accept the situa-

present himself.

after considering the advantages

ious building

acorns

Hven was remarkably

day-to-day existence, which unavoidably

its

for considerable disruption

Tycho,

summer on

of Skane, on the eastern side of the sound, where a few

with communities on the mainland,

pendent

the rest of the

produce in towns along the coasts of

islanders sold their

and disadvantages of var-

chose the exact center of the island, regarded by

common

grazing land.

It

was

his legal right to

make

choice without consulting them.

On May
Tycho

23, 1576, Frederick formally granted

sailed again to

Hven.

He and his

and most of the population

marked with boulders

"Hundred Thing,"

at

party

met

Tycho the

the

bailiff,

island.

"grands,"

an area near the center of the

island,

since ancient times as the meeting place of the

the local court of law.

Tycho s

parchment document that bore King Fredericks

clerk read aloud the

seal.

The

island

was

granted in lifetime fee to Tycho Brahe of Knutstorp, "to have, enjoy,

use

and hold

tinue

his life long,

and pursue

his studia

and so long

as

he

lives

and

desires to con-

mathematical The grant required Tycho to

"observe the law and rights due to the peasants living there, and do

them no

injustice against the law,

nor burden them with any new dues

or other uncustomary innovations." For the cottagers, everything

The

Isle

of liven

83

would depend on who defined what was "customary," and

doubt

little

Soon

who

that

after the

would

formal granting of Hven to Tycho in May, the peas-

how drastic a change was

ants began to find out

their island. Instead

The

names and noting the

what Tycho's

islanders

them and

to render their labor services to

Tycho, with no payment in return. Tycho's

to assess

in store for

of paying the accustomed taxes levied in the

kingdom of Denmark, they were

their

there was

be.*

sizes

bailiff began taking

down

of farms and cottage holdings so

as

of labor were from each family.

rightful dues

soon learned about the obligation of each household to

provide two man-days of labor each week and to appear with draft

animals and wagons (the "cartage" requirement) on a prescribed

number of days each

year.

This was the peasants' role within the system,

customary elsewhere.

It

new

to

Hven but

was, in the theory of the time, not far differ-

ent from Tycho's obligation on a higher rung of the ladder to serve

the king. But the islanders were incapable of recognizing any parallel

between

their

rich robes

duty to sweat and

toil for

and plush surroundings,

nothing and Tycho's duty, in

to peer at the sky

wizardly mixtures. As for Tycho, he surely no

self as placing

of himself

duce

boil

up

more thought of him-

unreasonable demands on his tenants than he thought

as placing

unreasonable demands on his garden to pro-

plants.

Tycho spent much of the

the site he

had chosen

tural theory,

monious
again,

This

and

early

summer of 1 576 contemplating

for his palace, pacing

poring over designs, drawing

it

off,

circles

studying architec-

and squares

proportion, setting stakes in the ground, pulling

and repeatedly consulting experts and

friends.

grant was to be only the beginning of Frederick's largesse to Tycho.

the fief of Kullen, eleven farms in Skane (where the

entire district of Nordfjord in

Norway.

Hven

in har-

them out

During

his re-

He would

later

add

peasants grazed their swine), and the

TYCHO

84

cent sojourn in Venice and

become
Soon

its

& KEPLER

environs he had had opportunity to

well acquainted with the atchitecture of

after their publication in

Architettura (Four

come

Palladio.

DeW

1570, Palladio's / Quattri Libri

Books of Architecture) had become

throughout mainland Europe and England. They

for years to

Andrea

for the architecture

a sensation

set the

standard

of palaces and great houses. In

addition to being a guide to classical architectural theory, the books

could almost be used

as a do-it-yourself

manual, with clearly written

keyed to examples, detailed drawings, and ground plans.

text

Palladio

had combined

reinventing

At

first

it.

Tycho, in turn, reinvented Palladio.

glance, there

Tycho designed and

was the

a passion for the classical past with a gift for

ideal

was

little

resemblance between the palace

Palladio's simple, airy Italian masterpieces. It

of symmetry in Palladio, and the extension of this sym-

metry into the landscape, that most captured Tycho's imagination. In

Tycho's house, in the projections and the towers that adorned
in his flower beds

and orchards, he followed

Palladio's

it,

and

example of us-

ing only pure geometric shapes.

In Palladian architecture, the symmetry of a house went beyond

balancing architectural elements such as rooms, towers, windows, and

avenues.

More

had been an

ideal since the

ied the sounds

harmonic

same

subtle proportions reflected a musical

ratios in nature.

when

that

Pythagoreans in the sixth century B.C. stud-

made by vibrating

relationships

symmetry

strings

and discovered that there

Johannes Kepler would

later

are

study those

trying to discover the design of the universe.

Tycho's house plan* had portal towers on the east and west sides

of the house, each

fifteen

Danish

feet

wide and

fifteen feet long.

The

height of the facade was thirty feet (twice the width of the portal
towers), the peak of the roof forty-five feet, the side of the central

*In his

Tycho

The

book The Lord of Uraniborg, Victor Thoren has provided

these specifics about the

carried out this ideal of symmetry in the design for Uraniborg.

Danish foot that Tycho used was 259 millimeters,

little

more than 10

inches.

way

The

Isle of

Hven

85

An imaginative painting of Uraniborg, done by Henrik Hanson

on

a sixteenth-century

more oppressive than

tions

square sixty

The

It

One

progression 1:2:3:4 contains

lengths that since ancient times

human

ear.

862,

is

based

of the observatory roof sec-

and

all

sixty

form

a ratio of

the ratios of harp string

had been known

to

Similar ratios of musical

underlie the proportions of Tycho's

among

the right.

feet. Fifteen, thirty, forty- five,

pleasing to the

in

makes the house appear somewhat darker and

probably actually was.

it

shown open on

is

1:2:3:4.

woodcut.

produce sounds

harmony were

rooms and other

to

relationships

elements of the building. Without knowing the designer's in-

tentions,

it

would be

house to recognize

all

all

Tycho was convinced

but impossible for someone viewing the

these mathematical/musical subtleties, but

that they

would

inevitably

make

his

home and

landscape a harmonious whole, pleasing to the eye, conducive to

peaceful, intelligent pursuits,

Tycho designed

and inspiring

his castle-observatory to

to

any

sensitive person.

be a miniature

gem of a

TYCHO

86

& KEPLER

palace, not nearly so massive as

most noble

dwellings.

The

entire

building was no larger than even one of the four wings of Knutstorps

Borg, and there were

many larger

contemporaries. Nevertheless,
late

it

castles

being constructed by Tycho s

was a major building

project,

and

in

spring the grumbling heads of peasant households began sorting

out which younger brother, younger son, or not-so-able hired hand

could be spared with

least

inconvenience to

fulfill

the labor obligation.

They

Poorer cottagers had no choice; they went themselves.

shoul-

dered spades and trundled wheelbarrows and wagons to the center of

Hven at sunrise, worked on the excavation, and kept at it until the sun
set. The group changed constantly as men rotated in and out, fulfilling
each household's obligation of two man-days of labor in a week.

There were no trained masons, carpenters, stone

workers, and certainly no hydraulics engineers
antry, so

Tycho sought out and hired more

part he didn't have to look even as far as

on

his

own

building

site across

among

carvers, or tile

the local peas-

skilled labor.

For the most

Copenhagen. King Frederick,

the sound, was employing not only

Danish craftsmen but Dutch and Flemish

Tycho man-

artisans as well.

aged to convince the king or his architect that George Laubenwolf of

Nuremberg was

the only

man

alive

with adequate

skills to

build the

fountain that the king wanted for the central courtyard of his

While Laubenwolf was

close by, just across the sound,

Tycho

castle.

also en-

gaged him to design a water system for the palace on Hven. In an

as-

tounding innovation, water would not only supply a magnificent

fountain in the lower central hall but would travel through "pipes
reaching in

all

directions, to the various rooms,

both in the upper and

lower story."

Meanwhile, while Tycho was overseeing the work on

most on

a daily basis, he

holdings. That

first

still

attended to the

rest

his

house

al-

of his extensive new

summer, he was constantly on the move between

Skane, Sjaelland, and Hven, taking boats across the sound and riding

back and forth with a retinue across country, on horseback or by

riage,

enjoying his

new

role.

car-

The

As the plans

for his palace

as excited as he.

Dancey

of liven

Isle

87

took shape, Tycho's friends were almost

would supply the cornerstone.

said he

began to organize a ceremony for putting

Pratensis

in place

it

and

an appropriate inscription. Dancey ended up writing the

draft

to

in-

and died

scription himself, for tragically, in June, Pratensis collapsed

while giving a lecture at the university. Tycho grieved for this friend

who had encouraged him

with

far less certainty

his happiest

so enthusiastically

than he did now, and

when he had

who had

faced

shared

life

many of

moments.

Tycho studied planetary positions

to find

propitious for laying the cornerstone, and

what date would be most

when

be delayed, he studied them again.

He

ment

university,

officials, professors

8.

to

High govern-

and Tycho's noble

rela-

day before. Tycho had commandeered hospitality for

tives arrived the

homes of

his guests in the

everyone could gather

perennially the

from the

ceremony had

the

chose August

the beleaguered villagers of Tuna so that

at the

building

most beautiful time of year

mists hovered over the fields

summer was
on Hven, when at dawn
made long shadows that
Late

site at sunrise.

and the

trees

touched the horizon. In any direction Tycho and

his guests looked,

they could see the bountiful crops and grasslands of Tycho's domain,

with the sea glowing beyond.

might be expected
0resund,
a place

at least

in the

not

at

It

was not such

a wild landscape as

middle of a northern estuary

daybreak on a halcyon day

in

like the

August.

It

was

of soft, shimmering, tranquil beauty and of great expanse. The

inscription

on the stone

that

Dancey cemented

into place

and "con-

secrated with wines of various kinds" dedicated Tycho's future palace

to the
it

contemplation of philosophy, especially astronomy, and named

Uraniborg, the castle of Urania, muse of astronomy.

Only

the absence of Pratensis darkened that golden day, but the

tragedies of that

summer and autumn

did not end with his death. In

September, Tycho's and Kirsten's older daughter, Kirsten, nearly

three, died in
at

an epidemic in Skane. They buried her in the church

Helsingborg, and Tycho

moved

his wife,

who was

pregnant again,

TYCHO

88

and the baby Magdalene

to a

& KEPLER

more remote region

farther north

on

the eastern shore of the 0resund.

when

In the late autumn,

weather, Tycho himself continued to live

which wasn't

palace,

far

enough along

14, his thirtieth birthday,

his first observation

he wrote in

on Hven, but not

to be occupied.
his journal that

of the Sun from the

on the twenty-fourth and

servations

work slowed with

building

island.

He

On

colder

in the

new

December

he was making

also recorded ob-

twenty-fifth of December, so he

spent Christmas there. Kirsten and Magdalene must not have been

with him, for Kirsten was in Vasby, higher up the coast, on January

when

their first

son was born. Tycho never saw the baby boy,

lived only six days.

The

son" of Tycho Brahe, as

tence at Helsingborg,

During

make

him

gravestone at Vasby called

young

calls

Kirsten's

bronze plaque,

2,

who

the "natural
still

in exis-

her his "natural daughter."

that winter of 1577,

Tycho began

for the first time to

systematic observations from Hven. Ten to fifteen times a

month, he would go out

either at

noon

for

an observation of the Sun

or in the evening for positions of a planet. His astronomy was inter-

rupted in
throne.

late

Tycho

May by the

christening of the long-awaited heir to the

retrieved his court attire

from Knutstorp and with a

but without

went

full

complement of servants

the

more than two weeks of festivities. His mother,

and

his brother Steen

responsibility as well.

They asked

to cast the horoscope of the infant Prince Christian, to discover

what the
It

to join in

his uncle Steen,

were godparents, but the king and queen gave

Tycho an enormous honor and

him

Kirsten

stars

promised for him and the kingdom.

was not an assignment

to be taken lightly. If it

was accurate, the

horoscope would be an extremely valuable document, making

sible for the prince to anticipate personal

and

political crises.

began by using both the Prutenic and Alfonsine Tables

the positions of the planets at the

moment of the prince's

it

pos-

Tycho

to calculate
birth.

Then

he employed the observations he had made during the past winter to

correct the positions for the Sun,Venus, Mars,

and Jupiter, only

rely-

The

on the older

ing directly

Isle

ofHven

tables for

89

Mercury, Saturn, and the Moon.

With

these

and further

calculations,

pages.

The

royal family

was

Tycho already had twenty-seven

to have a state-of-the-art horoscope.

Tycho predicted, with plenty of supporting

that Christian

would be "well-formed,

astrological reasoning,

righteous, charitable, nimble

and capable of hunting and warfare, and equally nimble of mind

a broad

spectrum of cultural and

come news was

that the

sensual pleasure, subject to danger

would have

to

when

overcome adversity

would have few

The

intellectual interests."

young man would be

it

came

little

wel-

"over fond of

to religious matters,

win honor and

to

less

for

and

riches,"

children. This second part of the horoscope

added

another forty-four pages.

Tycho pointed out

that even if an astrologer

produced a superbly

accurate horoscope, as he was certain he had done, an error of as

tle as

four minutes in the royal clock establishing the time of birth

would render the document

Hemmingsen had
it

was possible

Christian later

He

useless.

also repeated

what he and

agreed on at the time of the lecture in 1574, that

for either divine intervention or

by the

avert the fate predicted

managed

stars.

human

free will to

(Presumably that was

was

it

into

still

after

High German,

presented

with the

it

the language with

He

most comfortable.

The second

dated

to the king at

Tycho

than sixty fishponds,

earth

July

trans-

which Queen Sophie

1577, and soon there-

1,

Castle at Elsinore.

on Hven was

well under way,

of Tuna again laboring every day but Sunday. With

the foundations completed and

the walls rose,

it

Kronborg

year of construction

villagers

how

to have eighteen illegitimate children.)

Tycho had finished the horoscope by the end of June and

lated

lit-

and rock over

set

more

skilled

workers taking over

as

the peasant laborers to digging no fewer

filling

them with

water, trundling the excavated

to build the perimeter wall for his garden, level-

ing the area within the wall, and planting the

first trees

and shrubs.

Tycho's tenants were particularly displeased with the job of carting

and planting

all

the trees,

which struck them

as a frivolous

and

te-

TYCHO

go

& ICEPLER

men

dious bit of make-work. Others of the

on the mainland

to cut

wood and

boat

it

were sent to Kullagaard

back to Hven to

fuel fires

for brick

making, for Tycho had noticed the potential of the great

forests in

Kullen

when he had

taken Kirsten and Magdalene north to

escape the plague.

With

work going on and

this

all

the islanders increasingly dis-

gruntled as no end seemed in sight, the

moner" on Hven, who knew the

faces

were missing. Younger

them

to

Hven were

bailiff, overseer,

villagers well,

men

and "sum-

began to notice that

with no wives or children to

finding ways to escape the island.

The

tie

desertion

of some of his most able workers troubled Tycho, and he was not

about to allow
ing

it

possible to take such

in his stride

life

he was find-

management problems and

exasperation

to continue, but at this stage of his

it

and

still

not neglect his astronomy.

much-improved quadrant, and with

it,

He had

new and

among other observations, he

recorded lunar eclipses in April and again in September.

Later in that
usual

autumn of 1577,

and mysterious

spectacle,

the skies provided a far

one of the most

more un-

thrilling events

of

Tycho's career as an astronomer. In the early evening of Wednesday,

November

13,

Tycho was out

dinner in one of his

fields

new

in the gathering

dusk catching

fish for

ponds. Looking toward the west across the

of his island, he saw an exceptionally bright

star.

The only

planet in the evening sky at the time was Saturn, and Saturn was

never so bright. Fish and dinner were forgotten, and Tycho watched,
transfixed.
tail.

As the sky continued

to darken, the star

comet! Ever since the nova

longing to see a comet.

grew a long,

five years earlier,

fiery

Tycho had been

Worlds Apart
1571- 1584

THE COMET REFLECTED

in Uraniborg's

tumn and

in the skies

early winter of

577 hung

ponds

in the au-

of all Europe and

far

beyond. Thousands of awestruck men, women, and children went

out at night to peer at

what

this apparition

it

with curiosity and superstitious

would do and what

it

Germany,

hand and followed her up the

hill

of Leonberg, where she pointed out the bright

not see
the

it

clearly, for his eyesight

comet

to

fear,

wary of

One clear evening

boy named Johannes Kepler clasped

in southern
his mother's

a small

meant.

above the

star

with a

little

tail.

town

He did

was poor, and he was too sleepy

for

make much of an impression. More unusual and rewarmth and companionship of the mo-

markable, for him, were the

ment with

his

mother

an

exceptional instance of grace in a harsh,

dreary childhood.

Johannes Kepler was

five years

old

had been born on December 27, 1571,

Weil der Stadt, a small
Stuttgart.
tail

that

The time of his

was

city

the comet.

in his grandfather's

on the edge of the Black

birth

carefully written

when he saw

was two-thirty

down

hold, for in this era astrology was

Forest near

in the afternoon, a de-

this disorganized

house-

a respected discipline.

Tycho

even in

still

He

house in

TYCHO

92

Brahe had celebrated

& ICEPLEK

twenty-fifth birthday earlier the

his

same

December.

The

Keplers had once been a noble family. At Whitsuntide in 1433,

Emperor Sigismund had bestowed

knighthood on Johannes's

great-

great-great-great-grandfather for valiant military service at the Tiber

Bridge in Rome.

By

the time his descendants had emigrated to Weil

from Nuremberg, about

financial circumstances

men,

still

Later,

fifty years

before Johannes's birth, straitened

had brought them down

to the level of crafts-

cherishing tales of better days and a family coat of arms.

when Johannes was

in his mid-twenties,

horoscope" of his ancestors, and the notes he

his grandparents

he drew up a "birth-

made

for that describe

and parents and some of the events of his childhood,

including seeing the comet. Kepler was usually respectful and loyal in

of his

his treatment

that he

made

cation, he

age.

However, in these fragmentary jottings

solely for his personal use

for publi-

his severely dysfunctional

about himself.

Keplers evidently maintained a reasonably good public im-

Grandfather Sebald, head of the family, had been burgermeister

of Weil der Stadt for ten years

trait

and never intended

was devastatingly candid about

family, as well as

The

relatives.

when Johannes was

born, and a por-

of him shows a well-dressed, distinguished, bearded

man

with a

ruddy complexion. Johannes's notes said that though Sebald was not
eloquent, he gave wise counsel in the city and had a strong enough
personality to see that his opinions were respected

heeded. This proud civic figure did not, however,

in the privacy of his home. Kepler described

born, sensual, and irascible, with

who

little

and

come

him

across so well

as arrogant, stub-

affection for the grandchildren

spent their early years underfoot in his house. "His face betrays

his licentious past,"

wrote Kepler.

Johannes gave an equally unsympathetic picture of

mother. She was a
clever, "blazing

his advice

liar.

She was

restless

woman,

his grand-

thin, fiery- tempered, resentful,

with hatred," "violent, and a bearer of grudges," and

also devoutly religious.

Worlds Apart

93

Johannes's father, Heinrich, was their fourth son, and he, by his

own

son's report,

"He destroyed

was

immoral, brutish, uneducated man.

a vicious,

everything.

He was

wrongdoer, abrupt, and quarrel-

some," and he "beat his wife often." Theirs was "a marriage fraught
with

Through

strife/'

combination of bad behavior and bad luck,

Heinrich had brought the Kepler family to an unprecedented low.

Before Johannes was three, Heinrich set off adventuring and fighting
as a

mercenary.

dren,

and

The

He

returned only occasionally to his wife and chil-

were not happy.

his short stays

were seven children, four of

mainly

to their

prominent

civic

mother

his brothers

whom

adulthood

and

survived to

there

sisters

fell

mother, Katharina. She was the daughter of another

leader,

Melchior Guldenmann.
his

and

task of raising Johannes

the btirgermeister of nearby Eltingen,

who was

as small, thin,

also

an innkeeper. Kepler described

dark-complexioned, garrulous, quarrel-

some, not a pleasant woman. Her acquaintances regarded her

as

an

evil-tongued shrew.

Young Johannes,

the eldest of the children, resembled Katharina in

Thev were

appearance.

also alike in

having

restive,

inquiring minds,

but Katharina had no education, and her interests were herbs and

homemade

mixtures for healing.

What

in her son

would develop

a rich intellectual curiosity was, in her, often only nosiness.

Heinrich was

at

into

When

home, she responded with pouting and stubbornness

to his harsh, rude treatment.

"She could not." wrote Kepler with

pity,

"overcome the inhumanity of her husband."

Kepler also described aunts and uncles and some cousins
lived in the

Sedaldus,

house

who was

in

Weil der Stadt.

Among them

who

were Uncle

"an astrologer, a Jesuit, acquired a wife, caught

the French sickness, was vicious,"

and Aunt Kunigund, who was poi-

soned and died.

In the spring of

and

575 Katharina Kepler

his infant brother in the care

low her

soldier

of these

left

three-year-old Johannes

relatives

and went off to

fol-

husband Heinrich. In her absence Johannes nearly died

TYCHO

94

& KEPLER

A copperplate drawing of Weil der Stadt,

of smallpox, probably the

illness that

the

town where Kepler was born.

impaired his vision.

The prodigal

parents returned after a year.

With both nature and nurture decidedly

against the

brothers, their future looked bleak. Johannes

sighted. Heinrich,

two

called that Heinrich

him.

He

threatened to

home, much

"sell

re-

was beaten roughly, and animals frequently

bit

epileptic.

nearly froze to death, nearly died of illness,

his apprenticeship to a baker

when

his father

him." After that he appeared only occasionally

at

as his father did, often returning bruised

and broken,

way back by

begging. All

robbed of everything he had, making

his life

was puny and weakJohannes

years younger,

nearly drowned,

and ran away from

was an

two Kepler

he died

at the

age of forty-two

his

his

mother considered him

the bane of her existence.

The younger Kepler

children turned out better. Margarethe, a

gentle, sympathetic girl, later married a clergyman,

close to

times.

and she remained

Johannes and loyal to her mother even through the worst of

The youngest

surviving sibling, Christoph, grew

up

to be

an

Worlds Apart

95

honorable, correct man, though not so unfailingly loyal as his

He became
The

little

city

of Weil der Stadt, surrounded on

duchy of Wiirttemberg, nevertheless enjoyed the

city

rial free

Holy Roman Empire was

Empire, the standard and

all

sides

status of

Though
some way

in

fairly accurate

its

sent its own reprename implied that the

the legatee of the

quip

that

is

it

units

Prague and the Imperial Diet,

duchies

oprics,

like

Roman

was made up of many

cities like

Weil der Stadt, bish-

that today have

become Germany,

and the Czech Republic,

as well as parts

of Poland, France,

principalities

and Holland and sundry other

Under

bits

and

pieces of Europe.

Augsburg each

the 1555 Peace of

decided

local leader

whether Catholicism or Lutheranism would be practiced in

An

main.

holy,

and other

Austria,

Wiirttemberg,

it

Roman

was not

not Roman, and not an empire. Ruled in theory by the Holy

in

by the

an impe-

Roman Empire and

within the Holy

sentative to the Imperial Diet.

Emperor

sister.

a respected craftsman, a pewterer.

Stadt: If

made

exception was

for free imperial cities like

both religions had previously been practiced

his

do-

Weil der

there,

both

were allowed to continue. The duchy of Wiirttemberg, which sur-

rounded Weil, was by decree of

hemently Lutheran. Weil
Lutherans there

nority

as well.

itself

The

its

powerful duke

officially

and

ve-

was mostly Catholic, but there were

Keplers were part of this Lutheran mi-

a not entirely comfortable situation,

Sebald seemed not to have found

it

though grandfather

an impediment to

political ad-

vancement.
In

1576 Johannes's

Weil and moved

his

father

renounced the right of citizenship in

young family

of Lutheran Wiirttemberg.

It

to Leonberg, not far

was from the

hill

away but part

above that town that

Katharina and Johannes viewed the comet.

TYCHO BRAHE
disquiet about the

and other

comet

felt

by

scholars,

less

though not immune to the

educated people

like the Keplers,

TYCHO

96

undertook
first

step

to study

zealously

it

was to write a

& KEPLER

from a

scientific

point of view. Tycho's

and make

careful description

The

a drawing.

comet's head was seven to eight arcminutes in diameter and bluish

white, the color of Saturn.

through smoke. To pinpoint

tance from two prominent

tail

Its
its

was reddish,

position, he

stars.

nova, finding out whether

Looking

it

measured

Tycho wanted

away from Earth the comet was, and

like a

angular dis-

how

to find out

that meant, as

displayed any parallax

for the comet's parallax presented

its

flame seen

new

it

had

far

for the

shift.

challenges.

It

was

positioned too near the Sun to be visible except for an hour or so just
after sunset,

on Earth

and

was too short an

that

interval for Tycho's position

change sufficiently to provide any perspective on

to

Furthermore,

it

was known that comets were

nova, Tycho had been able to assume that any

against the

in

motion. With the

movement

background was a manifestation of parallax.

sume no such thing

for a comet. Its

background would be

partly,

maybe

it.

it

displayed

He could

as-

change of position against the

totally, attributable to its

own

motion. Without knowledge of what that motion was, any attempt

to

measure parallax would be

futile.

Partly due to cloudy weather and the wait for longer evening
bility as the

he

first

autumn days grew

shorter,

saw the comet to determine that

it

it

took Tycho ten days

visi-

after

moved an average of about

three degrees of arc per twenty-four hours. Because every twenty-

four hours brought Tycho back to the same viewing position, that

had

motion could not be

attributable to parallax:

own motion. Three

degrees of arc per twenty- four hours

It

to be the comet's

seven and a half minutes of arc per hour. Tycho next

tions three hours

comet's

hour

and

own motion

five

it

about

observa-

interval the

the seven and a half minutes of arc per

should have moved

utes of arc. If

minutes apart,

made

during which

is

it,

he calculated, about twenty-three min-

appeared to move more or

ence would be attributable

less

to a parallax shift.

than that, the

Tycho found

differ-

that the

Worlds Apart

comet appeared

move only

to

gj

twelve minutes of arc. Parallax

he

shift,

concluded, had to account for the other eleven minutes of arc

That

was disappointing.

result

this

amount of parallax

the

Moon. Further study soon

two degrees than

comet was above or below

yielded something
daily intrinsic

He

three.

by

bolstered the case for the

when

January,

the

it

left

over to be accounted

comet having

virtually

for the last time

end of December

no

parallax at

all.

on the twenty-sixth of

Moon, which had drowned out the comet's light

to allow him one last glimpse. He

two weeks, had waned enough

for

had already begun

Tycho
than the

to write his conclusions.

he had settled the question of whether comets are closer

felt

Moon

or farther away. Aristotle had been

wrong about

"unchanging" heavens. This comet was a change, and

putably beyond the

how

far

Moon, though Tycho could not

carried

ing farther

He
was

it

out very rapidly in front of the Sun, but after that

away from Earth. Then the Sun had begun

Tycho concluded
began

ous,

difficult to

more
still

that the

to plan a book.

that followed

was

indis-

The comet moved in the

move, and this movement had for the first

had moved more slowly and become dimmer, suggesting

again.

was

specify precisely

a second conclusion.

same direction the planets

week

it

the

beyond.

Tycho reached

it

decisive.

motion and found

parallax. Additional observations near the

Tycho saw the fading comet

more

did the calculations again, and

time he discovered almost no motion

this

for

was a borderline case whether

indicated that the

Tycho reconsidered the comet's

closer to

It

blindly.

he could use

Tycho

his

comet rather than

own
rely

up

previous experience that

his colleagues

and the public

His new book needed to be more rigor-

detailed, longer, than

visible,

was mov-

to catch

comet was orbiting the Sun.

He knew from

change the views of

them

it

it

started a

its

competitors. While the comet

notebook of star observations so that

coordinates for reference stars to locate the

on the old

catalogs.

TYCHO

98

The

order of business, however, was to

first

the king.

It

& KEPLER

was only a

comet two days

little

earlier

than Tycho. Someone

the court was lodged at the time, had pointed

been preempted in

it

a private report to

came

to

Soro Abbey, where

at
it

out.

Tycho had

also

by one Jorgen Dybvad, an

his royal reporting

open-minded man when

file

embarrassing that Frederick had seen the

Copernican astronomy but pre-

occupied in the present case with what the comet portended. His

pamphlet predicted bad weather, crop

pestilence, war, even that "the

day of the Lord ...

Dybvad was an ambitious and powerful

and

university

religious troubles,

failure,

a potential competitor.

at

hand."

and

in the

is

figure at court

Tycho saw an opportunity

to

best him.

His report to Frederick began with a description of the comet,

cluding technical details that he promised to expand on in a

more formal

mous
his

as

but Tycho saw

it

as a

way of reinforcing

an expert and giving greater credence to

tions as an astrologer.
to

The

his interpreta-

next part of the report obviously referred

poor Dybvad: "Pseudoprophets

who

have thought [that comets

might presage the apocalypse] and have mounted too high

arrogance and not walked in divine

Tycho was

later,

publication. This material could not have been of enor-

interest to Frederick,

image

in-

wisdom

not, however, ready to say there

will

in their

be punished."

was nothing

to

worry

about. Historically, he reminded the king, comets had always meant

"great scarcity

sonings of the

air

great disunity

many

fiery illnesses

and

by which many people

among reigning potentates,

pestilence

and

also poi-

lose their lives quickly

violent warfare

and blood-

shed and sometimes the demise of certain mighty chieftains and secular rulers." Because of
tics, this

great mortality

With

its

position in the sky and other characteris-

comet was worse than usual and augured "an exceptionally

among mankind."
now brought to

his reader

the point of despair,

Tycho ad-

vanced the more soothing and optimistic theme of the arguments

he had made in his

first

university lecture

that heavenly events

do

Worlds Apart

gg

not determine the future. Resorting to anguished prayer was not the
proper course, he advised, for rational exercise of free will and ap-

The king

propriate action could change the effects of the comet.

might even prepare

in

advance to reap the benefits

if

the prediction

about the "demise of certain mighty chieftains and secular rulers"

should turn out to apply to Ivan the Terrible of Russia.
Frederick

would be wise

comet had

to get ready for "Spanish treachery" if the

reigning lords." Tycho continued in this vein,

Frederick.

and

special "significance over the Spanish lands

interpretations

knowing

their

that these

terms of political policy would appeal to

in

When

And

it

came

and astrology to the king

to

demonstrating the value of astronomy

and implying

that

it

was an extraordi-

nary advantage to have Tycho himself at the king's right hand rather
than a defeatist like Dybvad

The
it

Tycho was playing

it

to the hilt.

report also revealed a trend in Tycho's thinking

was merely rhetoric

shared.

Tycho painted himself as

politics

of court

than personal

punishment

life

or perhaps

but also longed for peace and justice on a wider

The comet, he wrote, might mean

scale.

for

may not completely have

man who not only abhorred the

that the king

inhumane

tyranny,"

ated with [violence and warfare]

and

for "those

who

those

"well-deserved

who were

are always

associ-

on the prowl

[causing] great injury to others."

on Hven had been

If the peasants

able to read their master's hy-

perbole about "well-deserved punishment for

inhumane

tyranny,"

they might well have responded with rude noises, for during the

same

visit

peasants

Tycho asked Frederick

who were

correctly but
villeinage

The

fleeing

also

Hven. These

self-righteously,

and thus placing

made

king's reply

also applied

for assistance in dealing with the

it

a greater

deserters,

Tycho pointed out

were violating the law of

burden on those

who

remained.

clear that the law that applied elsewhere

on Hven: Tenants could

leave an estate only with the

permission of their lord.

It

was possibly

also

on

this

occasion that Frederick reiterated his

TYCHO

ioo

promise to Tycho of the canonry

He

of an incumbent.

& KEPLER
at

Roskilde Cathedral on the death

could look forward to the incomes from en-

dowments of the Chapel of the Magi

Tycho's
as the

ties to

there.

the king grew even stronger in the

summer of 1 578

construction progressed at both Uraniborg and Kronborg, the

new palace
moved

at Elsinore.

swiftly

Craftsmen, materials, and architectural ideas

back and forth across the sound.

For his "architect" Tycho had

choice.

Hans van Steenwinkel was

made an unlikely but inspired

a Dutch master mason who came

to

work

to

Hven, hoping he might be trainable

for

King Frederick

at

Kronborg. Tycho brought him across

as a

He

master builder.

gave

Steenwinkel some instruction in astronomy and geometry, explained

the symmetrical scheme of the building and grounds, and set

work drawing more

was a quick

detailed plans. Steenwinkel

him

to

study.

Before long he had mastered classical and Italian Renaissance architectural theory as well as perspective

signs for

windows,

spires,

drawing and was producing de-

domes, and other architectural

details that

pleased even the exacting Tycho. So great was Tycho's confidence in

Steenwinkel that he put him fully in charge of the construction.

A few

months

after

Steenwinkel came, Tycho engaged a twenty-

three-year-old university graduate

assist

him

in astronomy, alchemy,

named

Peter Jacobsen Flemlose to

and other work

would

procession of assistants and students that

Johannes Kepler. Flemlose,

witted.

Tycho taught him

delegated to
stars for the

him

like Steenwinkel,

the

of a long

first

finally

end with

was able and quick-

to use the cross staff

and the sextant and

new

catalog of reference

the task of compiling a

comet. Flemlose also liked to draw, and from

forward whimsical pictures adorned Tycho's

star catalogs

this

time

and obser-

vational journals.

When

the building season slowed

down once again

in the

of 1578, Tycho's interest turned back to the comet and

gathered

comet

all

the observations he had

made of

to twelve stars, as well as descriptions

his

distances

autumn

book.

He

from the

of the observing condi-

Worlds Apart
tions (the weather

the observations),
usual

way

its

and other things such

and put

much

the

first

The book was

an un-

for

anyone

unusual in

also

his capacity to analyze

why

night of observation, the posi-

comet figured from the twelve

position figured from the

chapter

was unprecedented

admit error and

On

had occurred.

tion of the

It

data with his readers.

author's willingness to

the error

moonlight that affected

as

this material in the first

to begin in Tycho's day.

to share so

101

Moon. Tycho

stars

was

left this

at

odds with the

discrepancy in the

book, permitting his readers to see the conflict. Later,

when

printing

was almost completed, he found the reason for the problem and

added an "annotation by the author derived from

later observations

of the Moon."

With

so

much

introductory material,

Moon. By now he was more convinced than

and that the comet moved

and the
that the

planets,

ever that

in a great circle, like the Sun, the

though with

comet came no nearer

distance of the

In

took Tycho ninety pages

of the matter: whether the comet was higher

to get to the real crux

than the

it

it

was,

Moon,

He

estimated

to Earth than six times the

minimum

a less regular

motion.

Moon.

December another

royal prince

was born, and that meant an-

other horoscope, but Tycho was not averse to setting his

book

aside.

There was already a plethora of commentaries on the comet coming

off the printing presses of Europe.

Tycho knew

that he

would have

to

produce something extraordinary to make an impact, and, curious

about what his competitors were saying, he began collecting,
through friends abroad,

all

the publications

on the comet

that they

could put their hands on.

After Heinrich Kepler

four-year-old Johannes,

Stadt to Leonberg in

moved

his family, including

away from the overcrowded house

in

Weil der

576, he stayed with them only about a year be-

fore leaving again to sell his services to the Belgian military.

Home

TYCHO

102

became a more peaceful place

Heinrich's Belgian adventure

& KEPLER

disaster.

he had and nearly ended on the gallows.

and announced that they had

and her

for Katharina

was a

to

sell

children.

But

He lost what little fortune

He trudged back to

the house.

The

family

Leonberg

moved

to a

rented property in Ellmendingen. After three years of near destitution,

they

somehow managed

and return

there. It

was

to acquire
at

about

some property back

Jacob and Rebecca in the Bible, decided that

he would take them

trast to his

move back
doned

as a

if

he should ever marry

unstable and undependable parents. Five years after the

to Leonberg,

when Johannes was

his family forever.

Johannes never saw

repeatedly, tragically disrupted

him. Nevertheless,
well.

Leonberg

model. Their faithfulness was a marked con-

sixteen,

by the

Heinrich aban-

his father again.

Johannes would grow up an ardently religious

him

in

time that Johannes, reading of

this

man whose life was

political/religious strife

at the start, the religious

around

establishment served

The Lutheran Church's commitment

to education pro-

vided a singular stroke of good fortune in an otherwise hopelessly

bleak childhood.

The Lutheran duchy of Wiirttemberg had

lished a fine free school system,

Much more

and

this

information survives about Kepler's school days than

about Tycho Brahe's. Johannes began

in Leonberg,

estab-

system rescued Johannes.

German

at the

Schreibschule

where pupils learned to read and write the German

they needed for everyday

young mind and

life.

transferred

His teachers recognized an exceptional

him

to a "Latin school."

Wiirttemberg had established such schools

The dukes of

in all small

towns

like

Leonberg.
Johannes's transfer was a significant advancement, for Latin
schools were the Lutheran substitute for the monastery schools that,

before the Reformation, had provided primary education for boys

who would become civil administrators, clergymen, and scholars.

Latin was the common language in which educated men all over
Europe communicated,

lectured, debated,

Leonberg's Latin school set

its

and wrote books; and

boys firmly on

this

path by requiring

Worlds Apart

them from the

start to

Latin, or not at

all.

103

converse with one another day and night in

In the

they learned to read and write the

first year,

language; in the second they endured endless

grammar

drills;

in the

third they read the classical texts.

It

took Johannes

five years to

move

to

eight

and had been a pupil

complete the three-year course. The

Ellmendingen interrupted

his

him

him

to

During

that pe-

heavy agricultural labor

to continue in school.

hellish for Johannes, for

when he was about

in Latin school for a year.

riod of abject poverty, his parents set

rather than allow

education

Those two

years were

not only was he an undersized weakling of a

child, pathetically unsuited for

such work, but he loved school. His

one source of happiness had been snatched away. However, when the
family fortunes improved, his parents reenrolled

him

at age ten.

years later, in 1584, he passed the competitive examination

the

end of Latin school and moved on

seminary"

more

at the

two

free,

cour-

years there he advanced to the "higher

former Cistercian monastery

years of study.

marking

to the "lower seminary" at

Adelberg, where his room, board, and tuition again were

tesy of the duchy. After

Two

Maulbronn was

at

Maulbronn

for

two

a preparatory school for the

University of Tubingen.
It

was

at

about the time that Kepler

Adelberg that he

first

the Protestant world.

became aware of a

He

left

potentially explosive

Calvinists. Twelve-year-old Kepler

letter

same

faith.

at length against the

At

who

adhered to

slightly differ-

the age of thirteen, he wrote a

requesting that the University of Tubingen send

Martin Luther's disputations. Kepler decided to make

whenever he heard

in

went away deeply worried about

harsh controversy between those

ent confessions of the

rift

heard a sermon in Leonberg given by a

young deacon who spoke vehemently and

this

Latin school to enter

a preacher or lecturer argue

him
it

copies of

a practice,

about the meaning of

the Scriptures, to consult the passages himself rather than to take

anyone's

word

terpretations

for

what they meant.

He

usually decided that both in-

had good points. This was not a healthy attitude for a

TYCHO

104

& ICEPLER

young man who was hoping someday

pulpit

indeed

for

political/religious milieu

centuries. Rather than

make enemies
to see
I

all

sides

all

to find himself in a

Lutheran

anyone wanting to survive unscathed

of the

win

late sixteenth

and

in the

early seventeenth

friends in both camps,

it

was

likely to

round. As Kepler recalled his youthful inclination

of an argument: "There was nothing

It

was a

his

life.

could not also contradict."

would remain with him

all

gift,

could

and sometimes

state that

a curse, that

Palace Observatory
157S-J5S5

THE LATE 1570s

In

continued to

soar.

and

early

The long-promised,

Cathedral and the incomes from the

Magi

the

there were finally Tycho's

580s, Tycho Brahe's fortunes

prestigious

canonry

endowment from

when

The Chapel of the Magi was no ordinary

at

Roskilde

the Chapel of

the incumbent canon died.

chapel.

It

was and

still is

one

of the most lavishly decorated in Denmark, housing a tomb, then under construction, for King Frederick's father, Christian

Though

the earlier agreement had been that

the canonry he

would

a higher total

search.

He was

him

to

keep both, giving

income than any other scholar

Frederick was setting a

received

relinquish the fief of Nordfjord in Norway, he

successfully appealed to the king to allow

him

III.

when Tycho

in Europe.

new standard of royal support

also spoiling his

young

who was

favorite,

King

for scientific re-

learning to

think of himself as the equal of kings and to assume that his priorities

would always be

clearly recognized as the priorities

of the kingdom.

Tycho's grandiose dreams for the island of Hven were becoming a

reality.

ter

On the plot so carefully and symmetrically laid out at the cen-

of the island, a magical structure was

and

his family

rising.

would not occupy the house

Even though Tycho

for another eighteen

TYCHO

io6

months and he wouldn't

tumn of 1581,
and Dancey

it

declare the building complete until the au-

1579 Tycho sent messages

in July

that

& KEPLER

would be

There was ornamentation

to his friends Vedel

well worth their while to pay a

done on the

to be

still

visit.

exterior of the

house, and inside only the framing was finished, but the grounds

were

out according to plan, and

laid

was possible

it

to see the shape

of things to come. Kirsten lived in temporary quarters on

summer, and

Hven

that

was there that she gave birth to another daughter,

it

Elisabeth.

"House" hardly sufficed

to describe the magnificent vision that

confronted Vedel and Dancey on the old

its

common

lands of Hven. In

geometric extravagance, Tycho's design rivaled Ptolemy's scheme of

the cosmos.

An

earthwork wall surfaced with stone

the peasants had

foot-square area.

dug

The

to

make

(built

up of earth

the fish ponds) surrounded an 839-

plot enclosed by the wall

formed a compass

(see

color plate section), with four avenues leading from the compass

points to the center where the mansion stood.

One

of these avenues

ran from the house to a two-story gatehouse at the east corner.

identical gatehouse mirrored

it

at the

An

west corner. Later, kennels

perched above these gates would house English mastiffs to announce

the approach of visitors
ters

were

at the

and frighten off intruders. The

servants' quar-

north corner of the compound, and Tycho's printing

establishment would later be situated at the south corner, with both

buildings designed as miniatures of the

main house.

Inside the earthwork wall were fruit-bearing

trees,

eventually three

hundred of them, each one

and ornamental

a different variety.

This orchard/arboretum enclosed another inner square,

low wooden

set off

garden of flowers and herbs

ples as could be

as

many interesting and exotic examWooden fencing also lined the

brought to Hven.

four avenues and a central circle where the house stood facing
It

by a

fence, with geometrically laid out beds for a botanical

was a palace

like

no other

east.

in the world, a whimsical bauble

carved sandstone ornamentation and

with

a remarkable roofline notice-

Palace Observatory

107

ably lacking castle turrets or crenellation (see page 85).

Crowning

building instead was a large pavilion with clock faces on

its

east

the

and

west fronts. At the roof peak, sixty-two feet off the ground, a smaller

cupola housed the clock chimes.

observatories

Two

cone-shaped wooden roofs

They were

the roofs of Tycho's primary

and were connected by

galleries to smaller, similarly

flanked this central block.

roofed projections in a hen-and-chicks arrangement.

spires,

dome, cupola, chimneys,

rations suggested
a Palladian villa.
to reinforce the

more an

and other

galleries,

illustration

from

The appearance of Tycho's

Pyramids,

fantastical deco-

a northern fairy tale than

castle

image the peasants had of him

as

cannot have

failed

a golden-nosed wiz-

them of their freedom, and

ard brooding over their island, robbing

performing strange incantations, experiments, and transmutations

in his subterranean alchemical laboratory.

However,

was other method

practicality rather

Steenwinkel

harmonic

in addition to the underlying

design, there

than whimsy necessitated

built.

The

galleries

rationality of the

in this architectural madness,

made

observatories accessible to one another

much

and

of whatTycho and

the primary and secondary

making

it

unnecessary to de-

The chimneys ventilated no fewer than fourand sixteen alchemical furnaces. The weather vane that

scend to the floor below.

teen fireplaces

topped

it all

off

a golden Pegasuswas connected with a mecha-

nism so that the wind direction could be read from inside the house.

The

triangular panels of the cone-shaped observatory roofs could be

removed individually

to allow

Tycho and

his assistants to

study one

part of the sky or another.

Finally, in the early

winter of 1580-81, Kirsten had a house to

which she could "keep the keys." More than the immediate family

moved
tory,

in, for

the building

and spacious family

students and assistants.

sufficient

manor of the

fying since

Roman

combined

living areas,

observatory, alchemical labora-

and

What Tycho had

sort that nobles

times, not only a

also

provided quarters for

created was not only a

had been building and

self-

forti-

mansion that incorporated the

TYCHO

108

and

architectural
also

& KEPLER

aesthetic principles of the high Renaissance, but

something that could operate

like a university professor's

board-

ing house.

Tycho had woodcuts made of Uraniborg, including

and wrote a description of what the house was

which he

ter

which he marked D,

floor,

of

included in his sumptuous book Astronomiae

later

Instauratae Mechanica. His floor plan

ground

a floor plan,

like inside, all

of both family and scholarly

showed

a large

that he indicated

life,

room on

the

became the cen-

where most of the dining and

and even some of the research took place. In the summer, the

talking

moved

focus of activity

facing windows. In the

ground

room on

to a

the floor above, with west-

a corridor

first years,

from the entry on the

through to the middle of the house. There,

floor led

at the

geometric center of Uraniborg, stood the remarkable fountain designed and engineered by Laubenwolf, with a rotating, hydraulically

run figure that sprayed water into the

Not only was

the house

Queen

it

beautiful, but

running

Elizabeth

Sometime

room Tycho

air in all directions as

III

of

of France could not

the Louvre.

the wall between the entrance corridor

indicated as

turned.

that even Tycho's contemporaries

Hampton Court and

later,

it

also called attention to a feature

of England and Henry

boast of having at

water

it

and the

D was knocked out, so that the entry steps

led directly into "the winter dining

room

or the heating installation."

Since fourteen rooms had hearths and chimneys, Tycho probably

meant
stove,

that there

keeping

it

was always a warm

fairly

assistants to read

and

fire

tile

comfortable for him, his students, guests, and

study, even in a bitter

room* was probably wood-paneled with

hung with

burning here in a huge

Danish winter. The

beamed

ceiling, its walls

paintings and shelves for books. Kirsten and their chil-

*The description of the room and of

a meal that

comes from John Robert Christianson,

based his description on Tycho's
practices in other

in his

would have been served

book On

own account and on

Danish manor houses.

in

such a setting

Tycho's Island. Christianson, in turn,

accounts of similar rooms and dining

Palace Observatory

109

Figure 7.1: Tycho's floor-plan drawing for Uraniborg, from Astronomiae

Instauratae Mechanica.

dren joined Tycho and his scholarly retinue here to eat the long meals
that fused the ceremonial dining habits of the

Danish nobility and a

mealtime atmosphere more characteristic of a professor's household.

According to custom, a great oak table would have been placed so

that

Tycho and Kirsten

one

side of this "high table")

and

assistants,
less

their guests

importance

bles set before

(seated

sat

them

students, assistants,

there

is

all

middle of

arranged in order of rank. Those of

either side, with ta-

too, leaving the fourth side of the

who

room open

for

included a jester but often were the

and guests themselves.

record of a typical

no reason

seat" in the

on benches along the walls on

serving and for entertainers,

Though no

on the "high

were flanked by their children, Tycho's

to think that

relatives.

The menu

cluded a

first

menu

Tycho

in another

ate

Brahe

survives

any

less

from Uraniborg,

well than his Brahe

castle for a single

meal

in-

course of soup, carp, pike with turnips, venison with

currant sauce, chicken pate, goose liver with cucumbers, sugar cakes,

and beef with horseradish; the second course was crabs and

lamb with

beets, followed

by an almond sweet and a

tart.

It

roast

took

TYCHO

no
time to eat a meal
or more, but

it

like this,

meant

& KEPLER

with each course possibly lasting an hour

that once a day, for

Tycho had

his staff

sion of the

work they were doing,

and

visiting scholars together for lengthy discus-

and

other's ideas, songs, stories,

as well as for

to have specified

the family were ready to

should be

set up,

and

there

was a

who

in

retire,

win-

lived in such castles in

"bedrooms." Beds were portable.

When

they told the servants where the beds

was done.

it

room Tycho marked

Across the corridor, in a

large section

Tycho would soon

same room

slept in this

was not the practice among those

Denmark

enjoyment of one an-

theatrical skits.

Tycho and Kirsten probably often

ter. It

his years at Uraniborg,

all

E on

his floor plan,

on the south end of the west wall where

erect his magnificent "mural quadrant,"

and

Steenwinkel would draw the architectural portions of the mural.

and

G were

guest chambers with, in Tycho's words, "desks for the

collaborators." T, a circular library,

would house Tycho's

three thou-

sand books and his great globe. The globe was important enough to
rate

its

own

designation as

W on the plan. Above the

observatory with

same

its

library

room was

reached by a staircase off the south wall of the

removable roof panels. Below the library by the

was the subterranean alchemical laboratory, with

staircase

and

the south

teen furnaces of nine different kinds. Four of

them were

six-

visible in

niches around the walls in Tycho's elevation drawing (see color plate
section). Later,

Tycho moved some of his alchemical work even more

into the heart of the house.

room

itself so that it

He

installed five furnaces in the dining

was possible

to keep

an eye on lengthy

distilla-

tion processes without having repeatedly to interrupt a meal to

traipse

down

the basement

stairs.

The

smells of alchemy mingled

with the smells of the food.

The basement
house

level

in all directions,

tion to the laboratory,

wood

cellar,

extended a few

and
it

its

feet

beyond the

rest

windows were aboveground.

housed

pantries, a

wine

of the

In addi-

cellar, a salt cellar,

and the deep well that supplied water

for the water sys-

A
tern.

Palace Observatory

At the opposite end of the basement from the

laboratory, an-

other staircase led up to the ground-floor kitchens that balanced the

library in the symmetrical plan

of the house. So integrated into that

plan were the kitchens (balancing the library, no

that this

less)

may

have been Kirsten's domain rather than an area for servants only.

On the floor above the ground floor, the central block consisted of
more

living

"red"

and "blue" chambers and

accommodations. Looking toward the

were the

east

chamber" be-

a "yellow octagonal

tween them. Here was the Queen's Chamber, which Queen Sophie
occupied

when

she visited, and the King's

Chamber

though

the

The west half of the second floor was

"summer dining room"; Tycho

king never stayed the night.

taken up by the fifteen-yard-long

called

room" because the

the "green

it

The windows looked

tures of plants.

0resund and gave

the observatories

was painted with

pic-

view in the distance of ships passing through the

tollgate at Elsinore.

ceiling

over the great west wall to the

The

areas

above the library and the kitchens were

whose roof panels could be opened and

in

which

Tycho's instruments stood like fabulous sculptural masterpieces.

There were
satellite

What
less clear.

open

galleries

connecting the main observatories with the

observatories supported by single pillars (see page 85).

the interior of the central block was like above this floor

Another

flight

spiral leading

the house, the

and a clock

of

stairs

spiraled upward.

If

up into the dome and the pavilion

dome would

have served

face in the ceiling

as a skylight

would have been

a "free view in

at the

all

top of the staircase,

directions"

from

outside "on the top of the house

there.

itself,"

is

a large

top of

ventilator,

from

far be-

the wind

from the weather vane outside. Certainly there was a

around the wall

ble just

at the

and

visible

low. This clock face registered not only the time but also

rection

was

it

di-

gallery

for Tycho wrote of having

There was another

the arches of which

gallery

are visi-

under the cupola on Tycho's elevation drawing.

Between the second

by the same

floor

spiral staircase,

and the dome

itself,

probably accessed

was an area Tycho dubbed "the upper


TYCHO

112

& tCEPLEU

story" or "the very top of the house,

side

of the entrance tower] are

where round windows [on

visible [on Tycho's elevation

either

drawing]

warm

with eight unheated bedrooms for the collaborators." The

room below was

dining

haven indeed.

One

of the marvels of

Uraniborg was the system Tycho had for communicating with the
tic

chambers. Cords within the walls ran to small

rooms

to allow

hanced
guests.

his

Tycho

image

He would

to

as a

summon

tor's

and thin

system for

this

whisper a student's name, and that student would

immediately walk through the door

walls

Tycho en-

individual students.

magician by demonstrating

at-

each of the

bells in

air.

Tycho had

as if called

by magic through the

in fact pulled a cord

noticing, then waited until he

knew

without his

the student

visi-

must be near-

ing the door before whispering his name.

Tycho kept
diary.

It

was an

scholars,

home

a record of the visitors to

illustrious procession

and royalty who came

Hven

in his meteorological

of nobles and their wives,

to his island

to be wined, dined, entertained,

and

remarkable

his

and amused by the commu-

nication system and the revolving fountain, to take the air in his gardens,
in

and

to

compose

love

poems and heroic

Danish and Latin.* Nor was

phere of sobriety.

letter

all this

from Tycho

evidently written at the dining table

panions were drinking "one

and exclaimed
art in itself,

and

least

mug

verses for

one another

accomplished in an atmosto

Bartholomew Schultz

reported that he and his

after the other, filled to the

that such drinking "to the very dregs"

combrim"

was a learned

though what they were drinking was "not philosophical

of all theological."

"We

sound of trumpets, recorders and

dedicate these toasts to

lutes,

you

to the

and with the sound of sweet

song," he told Schultz.

As the

years passed, the interior of the house

elegant in decorative detail

*Tycho's
Latin.

poem "Urania

Titani"

is

became

increasingly

and furnishings, and the gardens sprouted

widely considered the finest

poem any Dane

has written in

Palace Observatory

113

not only exotic trees and plants but also aviaries and gazebos. Tycho's
goal

was

water

who

also cultivated

imported

and

plants, animals,

He was genuinely interested in

a paper mill,

no other

collection of facilities sprang

an instrument works, and

later a partly subter-

The Uraniborg complex, supported by the rest of

Denmark and Norway, was like

ranean observatory.

Hven and

the study of

birds.

Beyond the earthwork wall an odd

many of

fruit trees, herbs, fresh-

ponds, game birds, and animals, he was more than a col-

fish in

lector for collection's sake.

up

of Eden, but unlike

to create the Renaissance ideal

noble peers,

his

Tycho's other fiefdoms in

castle or

stronghold of its time. Nevertheless,

it

fulfilled

ad-

mirably the concept of manorial self-sufficiency, with Tycho's definition of

much

including

it

would not have thought

Marring

this

halcyon vision was the continued unhappiness of the

of Tuna.

villagers

European aristocracy

that the majority of

essential.

The

king's reply to Tycho's

complaint in 1578 had

been a defeat for them. They were well informed enough, however,
to

know

that they also could appeal to the king. In the

1580 they

Tycho with demanding "harmful, uncus-

did, charging

tomary burdens of boon work,

ily's

move

cartage,

into the house required

under cultivation for Tycho

and other

labor."

much heavy lifting, and with land

own fields, the peasand threshing

own. The heating and chemical ovens were

sumers of the

wood

that

The fam-

in addition to their

ants were doing his plowing, sowing, reaping,

as their

summer of

had

to be hauled across the sound.

Such complaints were not ignored. Tycho made a formal

commission
findings

visited

and reach

for the villagers.

laid

down

what

his

Hven and
a decision.

new

ants of Hven

It

reply.

then took more than a year to study

The

A
its

outcome was an even worse one

charter issued

in precise detail

were to them.

as well

insatiable con-

by the king and

his ministers

what their obligations were to Tycho and

established once

and

for

all

that the peas-

were crown tenants, not freeholders. Tradition and pos-

session without written charters

and deeds had proved

valueless.

The

TYCHO

U4

new charter

decreed that the villagers even had to pay Tycho a fee to

on the acorns

graze their swine

him

the next-to-best swine

Hven. Such a
lected

it

& ICEPLER

fee

in Tycho's forests in

when

Skane or

else give

they brought the herd back to

was customary elsewhere, but no one had ever

from these

islanders.

Tycho's attitude toward his peasants and his treatment of

were not unusual. There were exceptions, of course, such

Steen,

who

as his

them
uncle

reportedly acted toward his tenants at Herrevad "like a

mild father" and "did not lay new burdens upon them," which
of them "acknowledge to

do miss

col-

their

this

day and bemoan with

many
they

tears that

good master." However, the charter of Hven served

a prototype for other similar

documents

all

over the kingdom.

It

as

did

not seem hypocritical for Tycho, in the context of the times, to talk

of Uraniborg and

mankind and

Hven

a love

constituting a glorious link between hu-

whose

force drove the universe, nor did he

fulfill

to

their obligations.

Though
some

deny

humankind. They simply had

that his peasants were part of that

his tenants

such

rival scholars

better opinion of him,

riod of his

life

He had many
went with

had come
as

to regard

Tycho

monster, and

as a

Jorgen Dybvad must have had a scarcely

most of Tycho's acquaintances during

this pe-

probably found him to be an amiable, charming man.

of the unconscious attitudes and assumptions that

his birth

and breeding, but he was not

a social snob.

He

a commoner for his life partner, and he preferred the

company of those who belonged to a scholarly class whose social po-

had chosen

sition

was considered beneath

tion of Uraniborg,

and

his

own. However, with the comple-

mounting wealth,

close association with the king,

particularly with the remarkable lack of opposition he

was meet-

ing as he pursued his dreams, he was undeniably developing an increasingly

elitist

attitude

and an

inflated ego that

problematical because they were in

With

success following

on

many

success,

were

all

the

more

respects well founded.

Tycho was beginning

"good" with "what contributes to the splendid work

to equate

am

doing."

Palace Observatory

115

Students, assistants, and peasants should feel privileged to contribute

to this magnificent venture that

providence. There were those

be their

as likely to

own

who

closest

seemed

to be favored

by

God and

did indeed see working with Tycho

brush with greatness. Tycho did not

man to those who

saw things in this light, whose plans supported his own lofty ambitions, or whose intellects were in sync with his. He was also subjugating himself to this great cause of reforming astronomy. He could not
stop being an amiable, charming, even considerate

think
altar,

it

unreasonable to expect others to burn willingly on the same

be grateful for the opportunity, and be respectful of the unique

was

responsibility that

The

his.

cause to which Tycho was dedicating himself and his great

building project, and everyone around him, in the late

achievement of

by

to

produce instruments

wanted. At Herrevad he had recognized that

have his

become

own shop where

specialists

close supervision.

was making sure

craftsmen

and devote

all

it

was

who were

like those

essential for

he

him

already skilled could

their time to his needs,

That had not materialized

it

570s was the

contemporaries. Even the finest instrument

his predecessors or

makers had never been asked

to

of observational precision undreamed of

a standard

there.

under

his

At Uraniborg, he

did.

Tychos 'workshop

for the artisans/' as

he called his instrument

shop, was admirably well equipped, beyond any other such shop in
existence, with 'mills driven partly

by horses and partly by water

power." Instrument building was costly in material and labor, with

some instruments taking

six

trained people three years to manufac-

ture while peasant labor kept the mills running.

Tycho kept meticulous records of the manufacture and use of his

struments.
nova:

He had

learned a lesson from the controversy- about the

Not only did he need

satisfaction,

in-

to achieve instrumental accuracy to his

own

but he also had to be able to prove to others that he had

achieved such precision.

To

that end, records

had

to

show which

in-

strument he used for each observation and be cross-referenced to iden-

TYCHO

n6
tify all

observations

made with each instrument. For cross-checking,

had

lated observations

& ICEPLER

All this recording

made with

to be

re-

different instruments.

and documenting,

as well as the

versation at Uraniborg in the observatories

and

everyday con-

at the

dinner table,

used a vocabulary of astronomy that was elementary to Tycho and

his associates

and students, and much of which

is,

in fact, utilized

by

modern astronomers. Ancient and medieval astronomers, and most

thought of the

in Tycho's time,

but the concept

is still

observer on Earth
is

stars as fixed

sphere" centered on Earth. (That term

tial

is

used.)

is

onto an

The dome of sky visible

hidden below the horizon. The

move

planets as they

stars, fixed

is

night by an

points

turning on

celestial

motion of the Sun,

reveals that the stars are

its axis,

and

rotate. Stars rise in the east

on the

across this background.

Observing the sky long enough

"fixed." Earth

at

literally,

half the complete celestial sphere; the other half

sphere, serve as reference points for tracking the

Moon, and

invisible "celes-

no longer taken

not

really

so the celestial sphere appears to

set in the west.

Their positions in

re-

one another do not change while an observer stands and

lation to

watches them

at night,

but their positions in relation to that observer

and the horizon do change.

The

celestial sphere, like Earth,

which

tor,

axis

is

on

the celestial equait

has an

of rotation that can be thought of as an extension of Earth's

of rotation. Just
its

has an equator

a plane with Earth's equator. Also like Earth

South

north

of rotation runs from

Pole, the celestial sphere's axis

celestial

its

axis

North Pole

to

of rotation runs from the

pole to the south celestial pole.

The horizon
lestial

as Earth's axis

is

another great

circle (see figure 7.3) that, like the ce-

equator, divides the celestial sphere in half. However, while the

celestial

equator

(like Earth's

ferent places, the horizon

different

from what

in Basel. Stars

it

is

equator)

is

the

not. For Tycho,

same

for observers in dif-

on Hven, the horizon was

would have been had he

set

up

not have done so in Basel. Thus for any observer

his observatory

Hven would
on Earth who is not

whose paths dipped below the horizon

at

Celestial

Palace Observatory

117

sphere
North celestial pole

South

On

Figure 7.2:
Poles.

On

celestial pole

Earth, the equator

is

midway between

the celestial sphere, the celestial equator

north and south

celestial poles,

on

a plane

is

North and South

the

midway between

standing on Earth's North or South Pole, the horizon

lation to the celestial equator.

the observer

two

points,

is

located.

one

east

The

zenith

is

How much

celestial

tipped in re-

tipped depends on where

observer.

They

are like

at

two

(see figure 7.4).

the point directly above an observer's head, regard-

of what happens to be up there

server

is

equator and the horizon meet

and one west of the

hoops hinged together

less

The

the

with Earth's equator.

at the

happens to be standing on the

moment

face of Earth.

or where the ob-

Hence,

as

is

the

case with the horizon, an observer can think of the zenith as belong-

ing to

him

or her personally, while the celestial poles and the celestial

equator do not

they

are public property, worldwide.

TYCHO

118

& KEPLER
North pole of celestial sphere

Zenith

South pole of

Figure 7.3:

Anywhere an observer

stands

or South Pole, that observer's horizon

the celestial equator. In

more

is

on

celestial

Earth's face, except

sphere

on

its

North

tipped in relation to the equator and

technical language:

The

observer's horizon

is

in-

clined at an angle to the celestial equator.

There
7.5):

is

one more hoop hinged into

arrangement

this

Tycho and most of his contemporaries believed

bited Earth, completing one orbit in one year,

around Earth.
the Sun, there

(In fact,
is

when

that the

moving

still is

or-

the discussion involves only Earth and

no way of deciding which

was and

Sun

in a great circle

is

orbiting which.

arrangements are geometrically equivalent.) Astronomy's

that circle

(see figure

the ecliptic.

The

ecliptic

is

The two

name

for

not the same

as

ng

Palace Observatory

North celestial pole

/
Celestialequator/

__

y'

y<\

Horizon

Celestial equator

and horizon meet

at two points

South

Figure 7.4:

Two

celestial pole

"hoops," the horizon and the

hinged

celestial equator, are

to-

gether and tipped in relation to one another.

the celestial equator, because Earth's axis of rotation (the line

between the North and South Poles) does not run

angle to Earth's orbit. Like a fishing

of the water, Earth

the

summer in

Sun.

is

bob

tilting in relation to the surface

tilted in relation to the

plane of its orbit. During

the northern hemisphere, the north pole

When it is winter in the northern hemisphere,

away from the Sun, while the South Pole

The

and the

planets

tion of the sky

tional

due

of them appears to

same

to the rotation

move

tilts

the

tilts

of Earth, but they

observer,

in a great circle

also

have addi-

most of the time, each

around Earth. These

orbits

as the horizon, the celestial equator, or the ecliptic.

are inclined at angles to these

is

tilts

toward the Sun.

and

to

one another. However, the

angle between the orbit of a planet and the ecliptic

Pluto's orbit

toward the

North Pole

take part in the apparent daily rota-

movement of their own. To an

are not the

They

Moon also

drawn

at a ninety-degree

much more

inclined than the others, but

is

never large.

Tycho and

his

TYCHO

120

& JCEPLEU

North celestial pole

South

celestial pole

Figure 7.5: For a Ptolemaic astronomer, the ecliptic was the great circular

path along which the Sun appears to travel

"hoop," with

its

contemporaries

and planets never strayed outside the

on the ecliptic

orbits Earth.

It is

zodiac

stars in that

belt: in

another

the

Moon

zodiac, a belt of sky about ten de-

(figure 7.6).

could be pinpointed by saying where

sight

it

celestial equator.

knew nothing of Pluto. They did know that

grees wide, centered

ground

as

plane tilted at an angle to the

it

was

The position of a planet

in relation to the back-

other worlds, where a straight line of

drawn from Earth through the planet would end

in the zodiac.

(Other terms that are useful for understanding the descriptions of

Tycho's instruments are defined in appendix 2.)
It

was possible

calculate

for

from one

Tycho and

set

to the ecliptic,

its

contemporary astronomers

to

of measurements to another. For example,

knowing the position of

could calculate

his

a star with reference to the horizon, they

position with reference to the celestial equator, or

and vice versa. To make such transformations, they of-

an

ten chose to use a shortcut, an instrument called an armillary

arrangement of rings showing the

on the

celestial sphere.

relative positions

Tycho spoke of

of these

circles

armillaries disparagingly as

Figure 7.6:

The

from

found near the

width of which

121

angle between the orbit of a planet and the plane of the eclip-

tic (the straight line

are always

Palace Observatory

is

B in

to

ecliptic,

marked with

this

drawing)

is

within the band

lines

zxA and

never large, so the planets

known

as the zodiac,

the

B.

who shun labor," but he built and used several of

One of the wonders of Tycho's island that guests

devices for "people

them

himself.

would

later gaze at

with awe was an armillary larger than any other

that has ever existed.

The
ing

last

instrument Tycho commissioned before he began produc-

them himself at Uraniborg was

his

quadrans mediocris orichalcicus

azimuthalis, or "medium-size azimuth quadrant of brass."

his favorites in a lifetime

was one of

of instrument production and a landmark in

the evolution of his instruments.

(see figure 7.7)

It

The procedure

for using a

quadrant

was straightforward enough, but the degree of accuracy

Tycho wanted created problems. The study of the movements of the

planets, as well as positions

required

more than

of such phenomena

as

comets and novas,

precise viewing of the object in question.

It

also re-

quired a background catalog of fundamental star positions to serve as

reference points.

Compiling such

a catalog (for

he did not find anyone

TYCHO

122

else's

nearly dependable

sential tasks

of Tycho's

enough

career,

& 1CEPLER

for his needs)

and

it

was one of the most

continued for

es-

many years. The im-

provements he made in the development of the quadrans mediocris

orichalcicus azimuthalis represented significant breakthroughs

were

essential to

The

age-old

what he was trying

method was

to sight

through pinholes. Few astron-

omers before Tycho had demanded enough precision

the deficiencies of this method,

However, Tycho found that

through and find the

star,

much

annoyed by

to be

do anything about them.

less to

the holes were large

if

that

to achieve.

the sighting was not precise.

enough

to see

The

would

star

not necessarily be centered exactly in the holes, and the position could

be off by a fraction. Thus, "driven by necessity" to seek an improve-

ment, he came up with a better alidade (the straight piece of an observing instrument that connected the nearer and farther sights).

such a rousing success that he included a drawing of

much

book Astronomiae Instauratae Mechanica.

later in his

With
raise or

this

new

lower

it

was

It

(figure 7.8a)

it

alidade set

until

on

its

sides,

he could see the

it

was possible
through

star

Tycho

for

slits

to

he marked

AD on his drawing, lined up precisely with the side HE at the other

end of the
as

alidade, while at the

same moment lining

it

much of the star could be seen through the slit BC,

FG. In

line

that

way he measured

above the horizon). At the same

slit

C-D

BA

up

the altitude of a star

moment he

so that just

sighting
(its

on the

distance

could look through the

toward the side G-H, and simultaneously through the

slit

toward the side FE. That gave him the azimuth measurement

(distance

from the meridian;

see

appendix

2).

To study

the Sun, he

could adjust the instrument so that the Sun's rays shone through the

round hole

in the far sight

of the clover sight (not

and

visible

further innovation that

filled a circle

on

drawn on the inner

Tycho came up with

racy of sighting was the use of a cylinder as the

Later, for his great

side

his drawing).

to

improve accu-

more

distant sight.

mural quadrant, he positioned the cylinder

rectangular opening in a wall of his house.

in a

Palace Observatory

123

Figure 7.7: Tycho's "quadrans mediocris orichalcicus azimuthalis" or

size

azimuth quadrant of

Mechanica. To use

this

brass," in a

"medium-

drawing from Astronomiae Instauratae

quadrant, Tycho positioned

it

so that

its

plumb

lines

G in the pictureshowed that one of its straight edges was precisely horizontal

and the other

precisely vertical, pointing straight

rotated the quadrant

through the
of the

on

star or planet

its

whose position he wanted

star or planet (its distance

360-degree

circle

corresponds to the center of a

move

freely

along the

that

end (D) of the alidade

had

it

pointed

at the star

to measure.

was attached

at the

He

The azimuth

The

pie.

Like the hand of a clock,

arc.

Tycho and

until, sighting

or planet.

The

its

other end was

his assistants raised or

along

arc

sighting arm, a

point of the quadrant that

it

lowered

from the other end (E), they

was marked off like

ninety degrees represented by this segment of a complete

measure the altitude of the

zenith.

from the meridian) could then be read off the

within which the quadrant rotated.

straight piece called the alidade,

able to

up toward the

pivot so that the curved edge, or arc, passed

star (its distance in degrees

circle,

a ruler into the

allowing one to

above the horizon).

TYCHO

124

& KEPLER

Figure 7.8
a.)

new alidade, in Astronomiae

The clover-shaped end (letters

Tycho's drawing of his

Instauratae Mechanica.

A, B, C, D) was the end of the alidade nearest the ob-

The

server.

square end

G, H, E) was at

(F,

clover
actly

had

slits

on four

sides,

corresponded to the square

alidade.

The width of the

slits

ing one single screw, that

tion,"
all

forming

Tycho wrote,

the

slits

"it is

is

far

end,

arc.

The

its

the end that could swing freely along the

a square that ex-

at the

other end of the

was adjustable. "By turnby one

possible to

single

manipula-

widen or narrow

simultaneously without any trouble or

waste of time."

Using

b.)

more

cylinder as the

distant sight:

The diame-

ter

of the cylinder was the same

as

the distance between

in

slits

lined
star

the near sight.

up the

two

sights so that the

appeared equally bright on

both

y,

Tycho

sides of the cylinder

when

he moved his eye from one

_
KK

slit

to the other.

c.j

Transversal points:

The

zigzag lines of

dots on the arc of an instrument

made

it

possible to fine-tune adjustments so as to

have the line of sight passing through

one of these points, allowing much more

precise measurements.

.A

Tycho made one

final

Palace Observatory

12s

modification ro his quadrans mediocris

orichalcicus azimuthalis, at last hilly utilizing the transversal points

had learned about years before when working with

his

drawing of the quadrant

dots that enabled

him

to

(figure 7.7), the zigzag pattern

make much

finer

he

his cross staff. In

measurements was

of the
visible

on the curved edge.

Having

his

own instrument shop

at

Uraniborg proved to be an

enormous advantage. Xot only was Tycho

out of the shop by using

tifying

its

ing them.

for observation, studying

its

it

came

quality, iden-

problems, and experimenting with innovative ways of solv-

He

could easily return the instrument to the shop any

number of times
or rebuild

it

manu-

able to supervise

facture closely; he could also evaluate each instrument after

it

to

make

the necessary adjustments

and corrections

completely. Instruments he had only been able to

of at Herrevad were about to become a reality

at

Uraniborg.

dream

8
Adelberg, Maulbronn,

Uraniborg
1580-1588

Life AT THE SEMINARIES

in Adelberg,

where Johannes

Kepler, just barely in his teens, matriculated in 1584,

and Maulbronn,

where he went two years

day began

later,

at four a.m. in

was severely regimented. The school

summer,

five in winter,

when

all

the stu-

dents, dressed in identical sleeveless knee-length coats, gathered for

psalm singing. Every hour had

its

assigned work, with

no

free time.

All conversation continued to be in Latin, but at this level there

instruction in

and

his

Greek

as well,

now

schoolmates

and

also in rhetoric

read the classics and the Bible in both Latin

and Greek, thus mastering the

time assimilating the ideas,

classical

faith,

languages while at the same

and values of Western

The higher seminary introduced them to

Though school may have provided
Kepler's childhood

rambling
tains

it

list

many

"spherics"

and

the happiest

and youth, he was oppressed by

and imagined physical ailments and had

group when

came

was

and music. Johannes

to getting along

of "only those

who were

statements such as

civilization.

arithmetic.

moments

in

a series of real

difficulties typical

of his age

with fellow students. His long,

hostile over long periods" con-

"I willingly

incurred the hatred of

Adelberg, Maulbronn, Urani

127

went

Kloster Adelberg, where Kepler

school, in a cut-out

Seiffer

because the

from an old

rest

hated

he had not harmed me. ...

me through my own

to school after

forester's

him
I

he had completed Latin

map.

too,

and

provoked him although

have often incensed everyone against

fault ... at

Adelberg

it

was

my treachery

[under

strong moral pressure from his instructors, Kepler had acted as an informer]; at Maulbronn,

particularly hurt

of them

progress,

all

and

could have

was

my

defence of Graeter." Kepler was

of insults because of his

also the butt

all

it

when

there

father's reputation,

was envious

talk

about him:

but he was

"Why were

the time jealous of competence, industry of work,

success?"

Each of his schoolmates

come up with

did enough to write

it all

at this

age probably

a litany similar to Kepler's. Kepler

was can-

down.

Kepler was not the colorless, drab individual that some authors

and

made him out to be. He had enthusiasms in

own report he, as a boy, "devoted [himself] whole-

historians have

abundance. By his

heartedly and energetically to games." In his teens he "had a high

TYCHO

u8

& KEPLER

opinion of sense of duty, self-control, and industriousness," but "a

man who

is

ment but

also ardor

"I didn't

really useful has to

have not only the power of good judg-

and passion." Perhaps following

obey reason

until

my

that last

maxim,

twenty-sixth year" (the year he wrote

these words).

Earnestly but exuberantly religious, Kepler had a vivid and adven-

turous

life

of the mind. In his spare time, which was scarce, the

teenage Kepler took pleasure in attempting to write original poetry

of meters, imitating the ancient forms.

in a variety

and

jokes

puzzles, loved allegories

and

He

reveled in

riddles, liked to play

with ana-

grams, was pleased with paradoxes. Purely for enjoyment, he tried to

improve

memory by

his

tempting to memorize

The way

his

mind

learning the longest psalms by heart and at-

all

the examples in one of his

flew quickly

him, rarely a problem. In

full

among

grammar books.

various subjects was a joy to

fact, all his life his

writing continued to be

of peculiar and interesting leaps from one train of thought to an-

him puzzled by

other, leaving readers attempting to follow

his

men-

tal track.

Though Kepler may not have chosen

serious student,

to

"obey reason," he was a

and he thought and prayed

a great deal about the re-

ligious controversies

some of

Kepler's

Tubingen and

and

young

afire

his private reactions to

teachers, fresh

from Lutheran university

of the Holy

Communion

espoused

Calvinists. Kepler stubbornly followed his usual practice

cepting

little

at

with their newly acquired learning, were partic-

ularly eager to refute the doctrine

by the

them. At Adelberg

except what he had worked out for himself

of ac-

after listen-

ing carefully to the sermons or arguments, praying, and studying his

Bible.

He was

approaching the awkward conclusion that the correct

interpretation of the Bible

demned by

his instructors

was exactly the one he was hearing con-

and from the

pulpit.

Kepler was particularly disturbed about the idea held by some

that

God damns

the heathen

who do

not believe in Christ. That

doctrine he could not accept, nor did he keep quiet about

it.

He

Adelherg, Maulbronn, Uraniborg

was so bold

also

recommend peace between Lutherans and

as to

Calvinists,

and claimed

course that

would have

would, in

fact,

Tycho Brahe

129

be "just to the Catholics," setting a

also to

consequences for him

tragic

eventually leave

later,

him no choice but

and

that

to appeal to

for a job.

1587 Kepler became

In October

a registered student at the

University of Tubingen, but the "Stift," where he was to lodge as a

scholarship student supported by the

room

He

available for that year.

Maulbronn,

as a "veteran,"

duchy of Wiirttemberg, had no

remained

and ended up taking

for

a third year at

his

examination and

completing his B.A. degree by examination the following September,

though he had not yet attended a

WHILE KEPLER WAS

class at the university.

a schoolboy, mastering subjects that

he and others thought essential for his future, Tycho, with

error

and

his

own

and

superior inventive intellect as his teachers, contin-

ued to explore the

else

trial

frontiers

considered essential.

great instruments of

of astronomy with a rigor that no one

One

splendid result of this effort were the

Hven, unique and unsurpassed among the

as-

tronomical instruments that predated the telescope.

The

first

masterpiece Tycho produced in his

own instrument shop

was a giant globe that became the centerpiece of Uraniborg's

The instrument maker

it

Schissler

in Augsburg had begun

under Tycho's guidance in 1570, but Tycho had

join his dying father in

not see

it

until

Denmark before

he returned

warped, and there were

Nevertheless,

it

five years later.

splits

between

inserting

globe to

By that time

his artisans filled in the cracks

pieces

to

the

wood had

the pieces.

Tycho had not forgotten the globe languishing

many hundred

sit

Augsburg

was completed, and he did

Augsburg, and in August 1576 he had the poor

Hven, where

left

library.

to construct

relic

and restored

in

brought to

its

shape "by

of parchment." Tycho allowed the

two years longer while he watched

for seasonal changes in

TYCHO

130

its

wooden

& KEPLER

structure. Finally in 1578, satisfied that "it stayed

pletely spherical at every point,"

he had

it

com-

surfaced with brass sheets

"with such great care and accuracy that one might believe the globe to

be of solid brass." After waiting another year to find out whether the
globe would

still

stay completely spherical, he

had the equator and the

zodiac etched onto the brass "and divided each degree of these circles
accurately into sixty minutes of arc

by means of transversal points

ac-

cording to our custom." By the time he had finished, his remark that

he had the globe made

All this effort
piece.

The

no small

"at

cost"

was an understatement.

and expense were not merely

globe represented the

celestial

to

produce a decorative

sphere and allowed one to

view that sphere from the "outside." Transforming trigonometrical coordinates,

which was necessary

azimuth of a
lination

and

celestial object

right ascension (see

ing in Tycho's day.

Tycho

later

The

astronomer knew the altitude and

if an

and wanted

globe

to calculate

appendix

made

2),

from them

its

dec-

was a tedious undertak-

this process considerably easier.

included a drawing of this remarkable instrument (see

book Astronomiae

color plate section) in his

Instauratae Mechanica,

which shows the globe girdled by a platformlike ring resembling a ring

of Saturn. The ring represented the horizon for an observer
Uraniborg.

meridian

The circle seen

(see

appendix

the north celestial pole

outlining the perimeter of the globe was the

2).

(I)

at

The

globe rotated on an axis running from

to the south celestial pole (K).

There was an-

other rulerlike strip (somewhat right of center in the drawing) running

from the zenith

(B) to the horizon,

curved edge of a quadrant.

globe. Fixed at the zenith,

It
it

could be moved around the horizon at

other end to measure azimuth.

visible in the

Two

from the ground

globe

other lines

drawing were the equator

near the top of the globe) and the

itself

which was the equivalent of the

allowed Tycho to measure altitude on the

Tycho proudly

(farthest to the left as

ecliptic.

to the horizon ring,

measured almost

The support

was about

six feet in

on the globe
it

its

that are

reaches

for the globe,

five feet high,

and the

diameter.

referred to his great globe as "a

huge and splendid

Adelberg, Maulbronn, Uraniborg

piece of
finely

work" and wrote that

boast.)"

globe of this

"a

so solidly

size,

worked, and correct in every respect, has never

now

constructed up to
if

131

It

anywhere

in the world.

and

think been

(May I be

forgiven

became the chief conversation piece of Uraniborg and

the envy of visitors.

He

entered on

had observed and cataloged

His goal was a thousand

it

the positions of

all

the stars he

as they would appear in the year 1600.

the stars that are just visi-

stars, "so that all

ble to the eye were entered on the globe." Defending the length of

time

it

took him and his artisans to finish the globe and for him to

catalog the stars

would

Tycho used words

and enter them on

quire about twenty-five years

taken as a motto for

all

his

it

the task

eventually re-

many

that

have

work: "If it has been done well enough,

it

has been done quickly enough."

In the next two and a half years after the completion of the globe
in 1580,

Tycho and

his artisans

on Hven produced more

large in-

struments, most notably two quadrants, inaugurated in 1581 and

1582. Tycho

named

the

first his

"large quadrant"

and henceforth

re-

ferred to the old quadrans mediocris orichalcicus azimuthalis as his

"small quadrant."
artistic as

The second was

well as scientific masterpiece that

other instruments has

Tycho

his "great

come

to symbolize

mural quadrant," an

more than any of

mural quadrant into the structure of

built the great

his

Tycho Brahe.
his

house, using a section of wall constructed along an astronomically precise

north-south

line.

The

feet in radius, five inches

the wall.

On

the observer.

ing

Tycho

this

quadrant the curved edge of the pie

Movable

later

sights

were clamped onto the

them

set

assistants peering

slice

arc.

was nearer

The

engrav-

between these near

sights

near twenty and seventy-five, with

through the one near twenty. There

was no physical connection (such

rants)

mounted on

included in Astronomiae Instauratae Mechanica (see

color plate section) shows

one of Tycho's

instrument, a solid brass arc six and a half

wide, and two inches thick, was

as the alidade

and the

was

farther sight

the opening in the wall visible in the upper

left

in earlier

quad-

the cylinder in

of the engraving.

TYCHO

132

& KEPLER

Before 1587, the wall on which the quadrant was

mounted proba-

Then Tycho commissioned Steenwinkel, who had

bly remained blank.

helped design and build Uraniborg, to paint scenes symbolizing

Tycho's palace and his work, framed by six arches. Steenwinkel's paint-

ing showed the basement with

the library

on the

tory above that.

was working

floor above

Hans

its

it

alchemical laboratory and furnaces,

with the great globe, and the observa-

Knieper, the finest landscape

and Tycho brought him

at Elsinore,

artist in

Denmark,

Hven

to paint a

to

distant landscape for the background, visible through the arches of the

observatory level and above them. For the

life-size portrait

seated in the foreground within the arc with a

arm

his

dog

of himself,

at his feet, raising

to point at the front sight of the quadrant,

Tycho commis-

sioned Tobias Gemperle, a painter he had met during his 1575

European sojourn and brought

Frederick had

named him

court

missioned him to paint the

to the attention
artist,

altar

of

of King Frederick.

and Tycho had previously com-

St. Ibb's

Church. Tycho was ex-

tremely pleased with the portrait in the mural quadrant. "The likeness

could hardly be more striking," he wrote, "and the height and stature

of the body

mural

is

Tycho was
sisting

also

realistically."

He regarded the background

masterpiece of Uraniborg.*

experimenting with

armillaries,

of arrangements of rings showing the

various circles
tial

rendered very

as the artistic

equator,

on the

and the

celestial

ecliptic.

instruments con-

relative positions

of the

sphere such as the meridian, the celes-

Tycho planned

to

do extensive work on

the planets, and armillaries were particularly useful for calculating

the coordinates involved in planetary observations.

work

in

1577 on a small model with only three inner

The engraving also shows a man

vation, while another opposite

were not part of the mural

in Tycho's

book.

rings.

in the lower right-hand coiner noting the time

him

itself.

He had begun

transcribes the observation into a log book.

They were

of the obser-

These

part of the engraving of the mural as

it

figures

appeared

Adelberg, Maulbronn, Vraniborg

Figure 8.1: Tycho's

Mechanica.
devices

marked Cand

the points

and

Drawing from Astronomiae

armillary.

Instauratae

ring represented the meridian (see appendix 2).

on the meridian

ring

on which the next smaller ring

latitude of the place at

(from which hangs a plumb

is

attached.

line)

which the observer was

representing the zenith.

The

ried a fourth ring for

next smaller

istence,

Tycho

still

5 8

knew he

to accomplish.

flex

tions.

As

which

car-

latitude.

having spent considerable money,

and ingenuity on producing by

hoped
and

measuring

THE EARLY

time,

located, with

ring served to carry a slightly smaller ring representing the ecliptic,

In

The

D represented the north and south celestial poles and are

could be raised or lowered along the meridian ring until they corre-

sponded with the

first

The outermost

far the best

instruments in ex-

lacked the tools necessary for what he

a case in point, his armillary tended to

bend

unpredictably as the rings were adjusted to different posismaller, lighter armillary

would not

give

him

fine

enough

TYCHO

134

readings, while a larger

set his

mind

one would bend and

his

order to

accommodate

even more. Tycho

and

this time, as

he

mural quadrant, he thought big and,

same time, simple. He came rapidly

at the

flex

to solving these particular problems,

had done when he designed

level

& KEPLER

to the conclusion that in

a successful design he

would need

a ground-

observatory beyond Uraniborg's perimeter wall.

By 1583, Uraniborg was too crowded. Tycho and

his assistants

were stumbling over one another. Instruments already in use or in

various stages of construction threatened to overflow the space available,

and Tycho had not by any means stopped planning new

ments.

The

large ones

with access to

all

he

now had

in

360 degrees of the

large observatories

nor the smaller

instru-

mind would work much

sky,

better

which neither Uraniborg's

satellites

provided. Outside the

perimeter wall, with some excavation, he could have the advantage of

being able to build an amphitheaterlike structure around each instru-

ment, allowing an observer to position himself on a

The

the base of the instrument.

shelter

level

high above

of the amphitheater would

prevent gusts of winter winds from affecting sensitive readings, not to

mention

chilling the observer.

tory as a

way of separating

trol

Tycho

also

his assistants

over the accuracy of their findings.

saw the

and

auxiliary observa-

establishing better con-

Some would continue to make

new "cellars." They

observations from the castle, others from these

would not
sults

get in

one another's way and would

and make adjustments

findings that disagreed

There was a small

to

also

them before he had

not compare

re-

a chance to study

and think about the implications.

the landscape not far

rise in

beyond the south

corner of Uraniborg's outer wall. Tycho decided that a structure

there

would not

spoil the

the wall and the house

symmetry of the house or the gardens, and

would block only an

insignificant

low por-

tion of the northern heavens, the least interesting direction.

He

the islanders digging again, and he constructed "with no small

culty
it

and expenditure,

a subterranean observatory."

Stjerneborg, "Star Castle."

He

set

diffi-

christened

Adelberg, Maulbronn, Uraniborg

US

Figure 8.2: Tycho's drawings of Stjerneborg, the partially subterranean obser-

vatory that he built outside the perimeter wall of Uraniborg, from Astronomiae
Instauratae Mechanica.

Stjerneborg (see color plate section) was designed with five great
or amphitheaters to house a giant armillary that figured

cellars

largely in Tycho's observational plans, a revolving quadrant, a zodiacal armillary, a large steel

had

cellar

quadrant, and a four-cubit sextant. Each

removed or swung

a roof that could be

ample storage

for other instruments as well,

Tycho's design also did not neglect his

sistants.

There was a "heating

clearness of the sky,"

and

and space

own comfort

installation," a

accidentally there were clouds

bed

to use

a second larger

for

Tycho "when

users to achieve, Stjerneborg

a constant

bed to be shared by

others.

an observatory that pushed the

as

boundaries of what such a building should be and what

its

them.

or that of his as-

and we could not enjoy

Despite being purpose-built

low

There was

aside.

was

far

from

strictly

it

should

al-

functional in

design and decor. Tycho and Steenwinkel drew plans with the same
attention to symmetry, harmony,

Uraniborg
time

itself.

much more

and wealth, with

living

and

significant difference

detail

was that Tycho was by

preoccupied with his self-image

classical roots, the

astronomers,

occupying

that characterized

as a

man

this

of stature

equal of kings, the greatest of

preeminent place

in

all

history.

Stjerneborg was laden with symbolism to convey this image. Above


TYCHO

136

& KEPLER

the entrance stood three elaborately carved lions with crowns

on

their

heads.

On the back of the portal an inscription in gold letters sang the

praises

of Tycho and his instruments. Beyond the entrance and several

steps

down from

round

it

and

cellars,

poems

lished with

was the warming room that gave access

to the five

and other subterranean rooms were embel-

this

inscribed in gold

letters.

The warming room

walls

displayed seven portraits of astronomers from the ancients to Tycho,

with an eighth portrait of a future astronomer named "Tychonides."

The message was

tronomers in

from

own

his

Tycho was the equal of the

clear:

and he anticipated

history,

that Tychonides

greatest as-

would come

lineage.

Tycho was diverting some of the attention previously reserved

The

Figure 8.3:

great equatorial armillary as illustrated in Astronomiae

Instauratae Mechanica.

To

find the position of a

an observer stood on a

star,

of the amphitheater, behind the half circle (O) representing the

tor.

Through

the movable sight (R),

this half circle,

he peered toward the

of the

axis pole. Rulerlike

new position of the sight,

tier

equa-

which could be positioned anywhere along

axis pole (B)

half circle until, looking through the

sides

celestial

slits

of the

and moved the sight along the

sight,

he saw the

star

on both

markings on the half circle indicated, from the

the right ascension of the star (distance in degrees east

of the prescribed meridian established by the position of the Sun

at the vernal

equinox). In order to compare this finding with the right ascension of another
star

whose position was already known, two observers sighted from the half cir-

cle,

one

sions

for each star.

They learned

by noting the distance on the

To

find a

star's

the difference between the

arc

stars' right

ascen-

between the new positions of the

sights.

declination (distance above the celestial equator), assistants

pivoted the armillary on

its

axis until the large

toward the observer and the other toward the

the "fan blades" that

on the

large ring.

(F). Like

met

hands on a clock, the alidades were fixed

saw the

star

moved one

on both

sides

To double-check an
its

informed

axis

until, sighting

at the center

observation,

and moved

along the alidade, the ob-

of the central cylinder (E).

The new position

star.

Tycho gave the

and used the other alidade

his readers, "the

with their other ends

those ends at two positions on the ring,

of the sight indicated the declination of the

turn on

There were two alidades

in the center at a cylinder (E)

The drawing shows

along the ring. Assistants

server

complete ring had one edge

star.

for the

entire apparatus a half

same measurement. As he

two values found should agree with each

other."

for

Adelherg, Maulbronn, Uraniborg

137

TYCHO

138

astronomy

and highborn

detoured in their travels to

that,

realize

He

promoting that image.

to

scholars, intellectuals,

also

b KEPLER

though

more

for the stream

curiosity seekers,

who

of

regularly

visit

Hven,

his

descendants could never be noble

and

to recognize his greatness

Brahes, the mantle of their father could

far

was eager

fall

onto their shoulders

in a

significant way.

Tycho's "great equatorial armillary" (figure 8.3) was destined to

become

the

most famous of Stjerneborg's instruments. Like the

mural quadrant inside the house,

The foundation

structure.

1584, but

was not

it

for

its

it

axis

was

built into the building's

was put

until the following

great

December

in place in

summer

solstice that the

massive instrument was ready for use.

It

was

difficult to see that the

most of the

familiar rings

instrument was an armillary, for

(compare with figure 8.1) seemed

to be

missing. Except for brass alidades (the two "fan blades" that ran from

the center at

E on Tycho's

graduation strips to act

armillary was

as rulers

made of wood

distortions caused
axle (the pole

drawing to the outer edge, marked F) and

on the

for easier

by the weight of metal.

marked B

rings, the great equatorial

handling and to minimize the

It

in the drawing).

pivoted on a hollow

At

first

steel

glance, the entire

apparatus looks to be strangely skewed from plumb, but take a globe

of the world and

makes

tilt it

so that

Denmark

on "top" and the skew

is

sense.

Tycho supported the giant armillary

at its

lower pivot point with

a half-buried stone pillar (partially visible at the lower left corner of

the picture) topped by a globe supported by a splendidly carved

ure of Atlas.

fig-

A wishbone-shaped stone structure supported the upper

pivot point, and the two legs of the wishbone flanked the door to the

passage to the

warming room and

the crypt beneath the armillary.

After the completion of the mural quadrant and the great equatorial armillary,

Tycho and

wood quadrant and

ing

it

to

a stronger base

his

shop went on

revamp the old 1581

and

to

produce

a revolving

"large quadrant"

a pivot at the top to stabilize

it.

by givIt

was

Adelberg, Maulbronn, Uraniborg

henceforth

known

finally felt that

as the "great steel

quadrant." This done, Tycho

he no longer needed to use his older,

instruments to check daily observations.

his newer, larger

fident that

He had

ijg

When

less successful

observations with

instruments agreed with one another, he was con-

he had achieved an extremely high degree of accuracy.

made enormous strides toward

instruments to create a new astronomy.
at last

fulfilling his

dream of

Contriving Immortality
1581-1588

WAS NOT ONLY

It

in

design and symbolism that Stjerne-

its

borg was a direct bid for immortality. The urgency with which Tycho

went about

instrument development and the construction of the

his

new observatory stemmed

as early as

1581 about

If Copernican

in large part

astronomy or

correct, the planet

from a decision he had made

his future research.

Mars came

his

own evolving Tychonic system was

venerable Ptolemaic system was correct, Mars never

the Sun.

Hence

there

One way

pare

it

as close as

Mars

does, in fact,

come

closer than the

of doing so was to measure Mars's parallax and com-

No observation

had a

parallax.

quire

all

had ever been able

Tycho took on the

his ingenuity

this point,

and the

Tycho had not

how one might

devise a

to

show

that

challenge, a project that

finest

Mars even
would

re-

instruments in the world.

yet conceived in full his "Tychonic

system of the world," but he had

about

came

with that of the Sun. However, Mars's parallax had never been

measured.

At

did. If the

was a way of deciding the contest between the

systems: Find out whether

Sun.

Sun

closer to Earth than the

come

good way

in his thinking

compromise between Copernicus and

Ptolemy. Three years after the Copenhagen lecture

series, in

which

Contriving Immortality

141

he had attempted to retain the essentials of the Ptolemaic system

while eliminating the need for an equant, he had been considering
the possibility, suggested by others, that

Venus and Mercury orbit the

Sun, while the Sun and the outer planets orbit the unmoving Earth.
In 1580 a

months

four

young scholar named Paul Wittich had spent

at

Uraniborg and shared

his

own

same problems. Their conversations were a

However, although he would

attempts to solve the

great stimulus to Tycho.

claim to have done so

later

three or

earlier, it

probably was not until 1584 that he finally arrived at the

Tychonic system in which

Moon

and

scholars
that

orbit Earth

who opposed

all the planets orbit the

an arrangement

would guard with

moving Earth,

of

was, in

it

Tycho had used

fact,

Though

it

and that he

retained an un-

the geometric equivalent of the

(see figure 9.1)

parallax

measurements

to try to find the distances

nova of 1 572 and the comet of 1 577. In order to use the equiv-

alent of

two eyes

(as in

the finger-before-the-face demonstration) in

observing the parallax shift of Mars against the background

"eye"

Jesuit

intellectual child

his life defending,

self-destructive paranoia.

Copernican system,

to the

rest

Sun, while the Sun

embraced by

was the beloved

Galileo. This

Tycho would spend the

later

full

must be very

far

away from the

other.

About ninety

stars,

one

years after

Tycho attempted the measurement, Gian Domenico Cassini succeeded in measuring Mars's parallax by placing one observer in Paris

and another

in

Cayenne

available to Tycho,

in

South America. Such an option was not

nor were Cassini's telescopes. However, Tycho had

another method, the one he had used for the nova and the comet:
observer could stay in place and
(or

of the Earth,

if he

thought

one viewing position to the

object viewed in this

the rotation of the celestial sphere

like a

other.

manner

Tycho knew that the

let

is

Copernican) transport him from

A shift in

the position of a celestial

called diurnal parallax.

parallax of Mars as viewed

be tiny and that the attempt to measure

ity

An

it

would

from Earth would

stretch his capabil-

of precise observation to the maximum. Mars does of course

TYCHO

142

& KEPLER

7
7

Earth

Moon

Sun

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Earth

Moon

Mercury

Venus

Sun

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Moon

Sun
Mercury

Venus
Earth

Mars
Jupiter

Saturn

The Copernican system

Figure 9.1:

The Tychonic system of the

and Copernican systems.

world, compared with the Ptolemaic


Contriving Immortality

come

143

nearer to Earth than the Sun, but not so near as to

diurnal parallax ever

make

its

more than twenty-seven arcseconds. Observing

Mars's parallax shift was, in fact, not possible with Tycho's instru-

ments, but he did not

was much closer than

know

that.

actually

it

Tycho,

is,

and

that

arcminutes rather than the nine arcseconds

If three

Mars's parallax

it

it

still

was three

to be.

if the

Ptolemaic

away than the Sun,

farther

three arcminutes. But if

evolving Tychonic system) had

it

right,

to within half or even a third the distance to the

Mars

Sun and,

did, have a noticeably larger parallax than three arcminutes.*

make

best time to

the measurement was

approach to Earth, and that was when

closest

parallax

we know

would always be smaller than

Copernicus (or the

would come

The

its

thought the Sun

arcminutes was the right measurement, and

model was correct and Mars was always

when

in fact,

on the opposite

of Earth from the Sun.

side

Mars

closer to Earth than

tions

when Mars was

do

closest

others,

were

in

it

when Mars made

was

Some

its

at "opposition"

oppositions bring

and unfortunately, the opposi-

summer, when the Danish nights

were too short for making the measurement. Nevertheless, Tycho

hoped

that

Mars would approach near enough

to Earth at the winter

oppositions. If the Copernican or the Tychonic system was correct, he

judged that Mars's diurnal parallax

about

five

at the

winter oppositions would be

arcminutes, a shift that would be just barely possible to ob-

serve with his best instruments.

On

this tiny possibility,

he pinned

all

his hopes.

The

great mural quadrant

was ready

in

June

582, and Tycho be-

gan using that magnificent instrument, placed so conveniently

across the corridor
tions of the

December and

his staff

'Recall that the closer

ground appears

his winter

background reference

parallax. In late

Tycho and

from

to be.

made

one holds

dining room, to find the posi-

stars

he needed for measuring the

January,

Mars was

at opposition.

observations of Mars on the eastern hori-

a finger to one's eyes, the larger the shift against the back-


TYCHO

144

& KEPLER

zon in the evening and near the western horizon

The

morning.

in the

observations showed no parallax.

So

far

it

was victory

for Ptolemy, defeat for

Copernicus and Tycho.

However, that was not to be the end of the matter. This campaign

would involve Tycho

and be

for

much of the remainder of his life at Uraniborg

his chief motivation for building

struments and the

new

Tycho had

essential

to wait

precise

and powerful

in-

observatory to support them. Searching for an

answer that they would never

were doing the

more

find,

he and

his assistants, quite

background research

two

years, after the

for

unaware,

Johannes Kepler.

1582-83

observations, for

the next opposition of Mars, in January 1585. This time his results

were nonsensical

a negative parallax. Also, Mars's retrogression

the "backing up" that occurs during opposition

expected. Perplexed, he
Earth's

wondered whether the

was

smaller than

refraction of light

by

atmosphere might be to blame.

Refraction

is

the change in the direction of light waves as they pass

from one medium

to another, in this case

from empty space

to the

The most familiar demonstration is the way a rod apbend when partly immersed in water. Refraction was not

atmosphere.
pears to

well understood in Tycho's day. In 1585,

though he had encountered

refraction in studies of the Sun, he did not

was refracted

or, if it

was, whether a planet

gree of refraction. But

it

evening,

Mars was

suffer the

starlight

same de-

was reasonable to suspect that refraction

might be affecting the accuracy of

Tycho was using

know whether

would

his

Mars

observations. In the

a few degrees closer to the horizon than the star

for comparison,

might cause Mars to

and he wondered whether

suffer greater refraction than the star.

this

Tycho be-

gan to devise observations that would help him determine the degree
of refraction to be expected for

stars.

As he continued

problem, the instruments of Stjerneborg

finally

came

When Mars next came into opposition in March

and Stjerneborg were poised
equatorial armillary

to

ponder the

on-line.

1587, Uraniborg

for the assault as never before, with the

and two

large

azimuth quadrants

installed in

Contriving Immortality

Stjerneborg and

numerous

Kassel, voicing his

March 10 was

assistants awaiting Tycho's orders. Shortly

Tycho wrote

before that opposition,

14s

a letter to

Landgrave Wilhelm of

optimism about finding the

a typical night.* In

some

parallax.

cases there

were simulta-

neous observations with the sextant and the quadrant, and sometimes with the equatorial armillary.

Most of them were noted

in

Tycho's handwriting.

6:27 p.m.

the horizon as

a meridian altitude of Jupiter

it

crossed the meridian]

[its

made

altitude above

using the revolv-

ing quadrant, followed by a series of lunar positions and then a

measurement of Mars's declination,

all

made

using the equato-

armillary.

rial

Just before 7 p.m.

measured

the star Regulus, then between

distance between

Mars and

Mars and Cauda Leonis, and

then between Mars and Arcturus.

For the next hour

stars,

triangulation of distances between these

then some measurements of Saturn and Jupiter.

8:30break
9:45

few observations of Regulus and Spica "for learning

the refraction of Mars"; and shortly after that a few positions of

Moon.

the
1

1:22-12:02 (twenty minutes before and

passage of Mars)
torial armillary

meridian

assistants recorded distances with the equa-

and

trigonal sextant.

Shortly after midnight

piled

after the

up on the beds

bedtime.

in the

[Perhaps

underground room

many of them
at the center

of

Stjerneborg.]

"Owen

Gingerich and James Voelkel are two modern-day experts on the

Brahe and the astronomy of his

era.

They have

life

and work of Tycho

studied Tycho's journals and laid out in

paradoxical intricacy the chronology of Tycho's campaign to find Mars's parallax.

struction of the activity that took place

"Tycho Brahe's Copernican Campaign."

on the night of March 10 comes from

The

all its

recon-

their article

TYCHO

146

4:145:16 a.m.

and

armillary

new

& KEPLER

set

of Mars observations with the

once more for finding

sextant,

its

from Arcturus and Cauda Leonis (which by

angular distance

time stood

this

above Mars in the sky) and to Spica. [The Mars to Arcturus

measurements showed that refraction was

altering Mars's posi-

by an amount that was consistent with Tycho's

tion

refraction

table for the Sun.]

Night

after night in the starlit

and sheep

Hven

darkness on

near the grazing cattle

... the trigonal sextant carefully adjusted against the sky

the great equatorial armillary swinging around into place

from

sites

tories in the castle,

from the amphitheater

sitions

sunken obser-

steps of the

of assistants and interested visitors stayed up

carried out this systematic

or was

and pin down a planet

it

and understand

Tycho put

the observa-

his retinue

to capture

all

the Sun?

motions

its

since the

as

program of observa-

that

had so

tantalizingly

world began, to

no one had

data together and

all this

ever

done

computed what

fix its

po-

before.

meant, cor-

it

recting the position of Mars to take refraction into account, based

his solar refraction table.

He was

measured a diurnal parallax

for

elated with

it

Sun

did.

The

what he found.

Mars of about

arcminutes, meaning that the planet did

the

the magnificent barrel-chested, red-bearded

most of the night and

orbited Earth

the planet

vatory beyond the walls

tions ...

of the revolving quadrant

blinking against the

astronomer and

five

come

parallax agreed with Tycho's

should be in the Copernican model. For a

reason to hope that he

on

He had

and three-quarters

closer to Earth than

computation of what

little

while,

would indeed be remembered

the greatest achievements in the history of science

Tycho had
for

one of

overturning

Ptolemaic astronomy.

During
1577,

this

much

same

1587, Tycho's book about the comet of

year,

of which he'd written shortly

ance, was finally

on

press,

and Tycho

scribing the position of the

comet

felt

after the comet's appear-

he had to add a chapter de-

relative to the planets.

This was no

Contriving Immortality

small decision, for in doing so he

147

would have

to

announce

con-

his

clusions about the planetary system.

THE DETAILS OF
together in Tycho's

mind

the

full

Tychonic system had begun to come

about 1583. After

in

Room,

lengthy discussions in the Winter

that,

during numerous

nights of observations

and

days of calculation, he refined his model. In 1584, though not yet

completely satisfied with

on

piece of chalk

there the crack

he sketched out

it,

a green tablecloth for a guest, Erik Lange.

man

someone

into

with a

And just

would eventually turn

at

this

proud, well-

times resembling a wounded, cornered

animal. Perhaps the change had started earlier and happened

gradually, but this

is

appeared in Tycho's supreme self-confidence.

first

chain of events began that

focused

his precious idea

where

it first

more

appears in the surviving documents

about him.
Erik Lange was a good friend and a relative by marriage.

been present

Bygholm

at the

dedication of Uraniborg.

Castle in Jutland,

came with

which meant

a considerable retinue.

young man named Nicolaus Reimers

the son of a pig farmer
gifted

gratiate himself with

Tycho and
sinister,

problem

likely

He composed some
his

when he

them,

visited

this time,

Bar, a surveyor.

from the Dithmarsch

mathematician and a

assistants.

By 1584 he governed

that

Among

He had
he

was

Though he was

in Holstein,

Bar was a

candidate to join Tycho's band of

flattering verses in

an attempt to

in-

Tycho.

household sensed something underhanded, even

about Bar, and Tycho took a distinct disliking to him. The

initially

taining Lange

had

to

do with the

and other noble

fact that

guests,

leafed through Tycho's manuscripts,

while Tycho was enter-

Bar lurked in the library and

making notes on

scraps of paper.

He also surreptitiously examined and sketched Tycho's instruments.

One of Tycho's assistants, Anders Viborg, called attention to this peculiar, secretive behavior.

Viborg baited

Bar, leading

him

into pre-

TYCHO

H8

& KEPLER

posterous arguments, which ended with Bar in a rage. Tycho silenced

one of

his outbursts at the dinner table

"Those German fellows

taking the matter
cloth,

are

lightly.

all

with the jocular dismissal,

half-cracked."

But Tycho was

from

far

Before he sketched his system on the table-

he insisted Bar leave the room, and he erased the sketch before

Bar returned.

The

investigation of Bar

moved

to a

new

His quarters were

stage.

changed so that he shared a room with Viborg. While Bar

slept,

Viborg managed to empty one of his pockets and found "four whole
handfuls of tracings and writings."
his surreptitiously written notes

When Bar discovered that some of

were missing, he began "shrieking,

weeping, and screaming so that he could hardly be calmed down."

Both Tycho and Lange promised that anything that

to

him would be

returned,

and both men, on the

actually belonged

surface, treated the

episode as a disagreeable joke. But Tycho worried that Bar might have
seen material having to do with Tycho s

new

planetary model.

In the spring of 1586, Bar surfaced at the court of Landgrave

Wilhelm IV of Hesse,

where Tycho himself had

in Kassel,

with such success eleven years

earlier.

Tycho was

friendly correspondence with the landgrave

carrying

still

who had

visited

on

so enthusiasti-

cally

encouraged him and praised him to King Frederick. Wilhelm

now

heard from Bar of a

new

planetary system that Bar claimed to

have invented during the past winter.

The

pressed and commissioned a mechanical

When
for his

Tycho took up

his

pen

in

1587

book about the comet, he was

giarized his model. His unease as he

landgrave was deeply im-

model of Bar's system.

still

to write the

new

material

unaware that Bar had

remembered

Bar's visit

pla-

was nev-

ertheless sufficient motivation for publishing his planetary system as

quickly as possible.
scribing his model,

He ended his
much refined

manuscript with great

flair,

Hven. All the planets revolved around the Sun, while the Sun
volved around Earth.

The

orbit of

de-

during ten years of research on

Mars

re-

intersected the orbit of the

Sun, which was quite possible, Tycho insisted, because the orbits

Contriving Immortality

were not spheres made of

ther than shattering the

crystal.

149

But Tycho's iconoclasm went

spheres"

"crystalline

tronomers had harbored some doubts even

about

as early as

had concluded that the comet's velocity was

as-

Ptolemy.

He

irregular as

He even moved beyond Aristotle,

and Copernicus by suggesting that

cular as he
all

its

orbit

had previously thought and

moved

it

around the Sun, defying another ancient assumption, that

motion must be uniform.

fur-

which

celestial

Ptolemy,

was egg-shaped, not

as earlier

cir-

astronomy required

orbits to be.

Tycho finished the book with

a critical overview of all other liter-

ature about the comet, a feature that

would become

a standard part

of any scholarly monograph but was revolutionary for his time.

Tycho's

book became

the definitive

model

for future scientific publications

and

book about the comet of 1577.

Mysteriously,

Tycho

said nothing in his

book about having ob-

served the diurnal parallax of Mars in 1587.

During the
sault
to

when Tycho was planning and

years

on Mars's

parallax,

he was

executing his as-

also involved in a related

campaign

ensure and link the futures of his family and his

Uraniborg. Tycho was nearing

at the

forty.

By

all

work

outward signs he was

at

still

height of his physical and mental powers, but in the sixteenth

century a

man

could not expect good health to

The work he had begun, he felt, was

lowed to expire when he did. Accordingly,
forty.

last

much beyond

too important to be

al-

the dedication stone of

Stjerneborg was inscribed with words prophesying that posterity

would preserve
the glory of

observatory for the advancement of astronomy,

this

God, and the honor of Denmark. The

portrait

on the

wall inside representing "Tychonides," the future master astronomer

who would

carry

on

that work,

was a blatant claim that

this as-

tronomer would be none other than one of Tycho's children. The

symbolism and rhetoric were

problematical.

The

in place.

The

future of Tycho's sons

observatory were, in

fact, precarious.

practicalities

were more

and daughters and of his

Both Danish law and tradition

TYCHO

ISO

& ICEPLEU

dictated that because of their lowborn mother, Tycho's children

could not inherit the

Kirsten and

fief

of Hven.

Tycho had found ways

to adjust to the

problems

cre-

ated by her status. She was mistress of the household at Uraniborg and

probably enjoyed

and

tants

as

much

servants as

respect

he always went without

Tycho's

sister

herself,

her.

christenings,

When

noble and royal

Sophie served

mistresses

and loose women,

whom

visited Uraniborg,

ominous new

whom

banquets and

as "an evil,

royal ordinance

scandalous

life

as if

they were their good wives."

The ordinance

de-

that the clergy separate such couples and, if the couple re-

all

over

Denmark

rites

of the church.

pastors of parish churches

to the lords of their manors,

it

was

owed

their jobs

difficult to enforce the

ordinance

Communion

perhaps

among

the nobility.

so as to

deny the church the opportunity of banning him, or

things less

"wives,"

with

[men] keep in their houses and

deny them the sacraments and

went on

such as

they openly associate, brazenly and completely without

shame, just

Since

visitors,

as hostess for the splendid

condemning common-law marriages

sisted,

funerals of aristocrats,

and James VI of Scotland,

In June 1580 there had been an

manded

and

Tycho's relatives and Kirsten's never mingled.

festivities.

with

assis-

any noble lady would have. However, when

Tycho attended the weddings,

Queen Sophie

and deference from Tycho's

awkward

Tycho did stop going

for the pastor

living as before.

and

this

of

to

St. Ibb's.

to

make

But he and Kirsten

Other noblemen married

their

provoked yet another royal ordinance,

in

non-noble

June 1582,

which reinforced the ban on children of such marriages inheriting nobility,

land, estate, coat of arms, or family

however,

made

it

clear that a father

name. The same ordinance,

could give

property to these children while he was

still

money and

alive,

personal

which they could

keep on his death.

Even before the two

trive a

way

royal ordinances,

to link the future of Uraniborg

Tycho had begun

to con-

and the future of his

dren. Kirsten had given birth to a son at Uraniborg in 1581,

chil-

and they

Contriving Immortality

i$i

had named him Tycho.

A daughter,

second son, Georg,

1583. In 1584 Tycho's old preceptor, Anders

came

Vedel,

in

Cecilie,

was born

and the two men wrote

for a visit,

in 1582,

and

a draft for a royal

patent granting the island to Tycho and his male issue, provided they
use

it

and

its facilities

for the pursuit

of mathematical studies. To

grant a fief in perpetuity was rare, to grant

heard

of,

but

it

it

to

commoners was un-

was not unheard of for commoners to hold the posi-

tion of university professor or

head of a secularized monastery with

an income derived from a landed benefice, in some ways the equivalent

of a

fief.

Tycho and Vedel,

Uraniborg had more

tional

fief,

in

in drafting the patent, implied that

common with

a university than

and that the directorship of Uraniborg was

with a tradilike a profes-

sorship or headship.

Tycho and Vedel had judged the

situation well.

When Tycho

sented .the proposal to Frederick, the king readily approved

the queen as witness. Unfortunately, nothing was written

no

actual patent

King

was

Frederick's

with

it,

down, and

issued.

ill

health had been a source of concern for

than a year, and he died on April 4,

more

588, not long after he had given

verbal approval to Tycho's proposal. Frederick's son Christian

still

a child,

Denmark. In

of the inevitable atmosphere of upheaval, Tycho

for concern, for the

his friends, relatives,

for the future

of

and

Hven

to the

new government was packed with

In August 1588 he presented his plan

allies.

Regency Council, which not only

sued the patent with a glowing statement of

the astronomical

Uraniborg with

all,

was

and a regency council assumed the government of

spite

had no reason

church

pre-

offices,

work on Hven
ecclesiastical

implying

the patent laid

it

down an

Tycho had children.

is-

desire to perpetuate

far into the future,

but also endowed

incomes from canonries and other

could be headed by a commoner. Best of

order of succession for Uraniborg, giving

preference to Tycho's sons or sons-in-law.

dants as "Tycho Brahe's

its

own"

It

referred to these descen-

the only official recognition that

TYCHO

52

As favorable
rest there.

moil or

as this

outcome was, Tycho did not allow matters

To avoid any confusion

later

when

the

& KEPLER
to

either in that time of political tur-

young king came of age, he obtained

a patent

He

also per-

signed by the entire Rigsraad and the Regency Council.

suaded Queen Sophie to put in writing that she could remember her
late

husband Frederick

Brahe's

own

children

II

stating his intention that

would become head of

seemed that Uraniborg would,

as

one of Tycho

the observatory.

It

the inscription at Stjerneborg

prophesied and Tycho had hoped for so long, become a permanent

research institution under the directorship of his heirs.

10
The Undermining of

Human Endeavor
1589-1591

In

15

Tycho Brahe was

8 9

scholarly circles throughout

birthday. Johannes Kepler

opening
available.

at the Stift in

at the

peak of his

Finally, in

through the

him only books and

forests

River.

castle

of Hohentubingen
that

sat like a

huddled beneath

set off

young man

like

a stark

Tycho

it

mother hen over the uni-

in the valley

of the Neckar

with closely packed high-gabled houses led

streets

from the riverbanks

threaded his

an

along.

town

Narrow

for

of the Schonbuch, he

few personal possessions,

contrast to the accoutrements that a wealthy

would have taken

in

September, space was

Already in possession of a baccalaureate degree, he

carried with

The

renowned

his forty-third

was seventeen years old and waiting

Tubingen.

for university. Traveling

versity

career,

Europe and approaching

to the foot

way through

would study and have

of the

these streets

his lodging.

castle

promontory. Kepler

and found the

The

Stift,

where he

buildings were old, for this

had been an Augustinian monastery before the Reformation. In

Kepler's time

it

was a seminary

for scholars

who were

poor, pious people, with an industrious, Christian

character."

Somehow

"children of

and God-fearing

the question of Kepler's father's piety and in-

TYCHO

154

The

Stift in

& KEPLER

Tubingen, where Kepler

lived

and studied during

his univer-

sity years.

dustry had been overlooked, and Kepler had been accepted. His instruction,

room, and board were

free,

and he had

a scholarship of six

gulden annually for other expenses. Katharina's father had placed

his grandson's disposal the yield

dignified upbringing."

moved

of one

meadow

Thus Kepler was

into the Stift with other

"for better

at

and more

well provided for as he

young men

in their teens

from

all

over Swabia who, like him, aspired to careers of service to the duke
or the church. In his second year,

magistrate of his native

city,

on the recommendation of

stipend of twenty gulden. There were few periods in his

was so

free

of financial worries

Tubingen,

as

like the University

would

when he

years.

of Copenhagen, was steeped in the

and seminary teaching. Though

at the Stift led to a specific goal

choices about what they

life

during these university

Philippist philosophy of university

education

the

Weil der Stadt, Kepler received a further

learn,

it

and allowed students few

was not a narrowly focused

trade school. Theological studies didn't even begin until the third
year.

Before that, in the Philippist tradition of broad education,

Kepler had to complete two years of ethics,

dialectics,

rhetoric,

The Undermining of Human Endeavor

Greek, Hebrew, astronomy, and physics.

marked the end of

the second year

came two or

After that

closely supervised

155

An exam

in the spring

three years of theological work. Kepler was

and received grades every

The

quarter.

regu-

Stift

had

lated student behavior almost as rigidly as the lower schools he

attended, and

expected

it

orderly student

life

had

candidates in theology to avoid the dis-

in his

all

this

young man been

most of an opportunity. Soon he had

the

teachers

in the university.

element amid

for the taking. Rarely has a

make

for

its

enjoyed by others

Johannes Kepler was

and students

being good

horoscopes

Brahe's experience attested.

to avoid

bursts of

temper and

knowledge

better

a highly valued skill, as

According

to Kepler's

own

a thoughtless

to

with

man named

"Although [Kolin]

Tycho

report,
a

prank or two, but he

problems getting along with some of his fellow students.

friend.

equipped

a reputation

conspicuous shortcomings except for

he disliked one young

to be

being diligent, sedate, and pious, and also

for

at casting

managed

of

these studies in the arts faculty.

he-

few out-

had

still

Particularly,

who wanted to be
once made friends with me he always
Kolin,

his
ar-

gued with me," wrote Kepler, and complained that an argument

with Kolin was more like a "lovers' spat," though most of these argu-

ments seem
a sharper

to

have been about work. "With nobody

work

habits,

have

though they were certainly productive, were

(and would continue to be

He was

permanent
"Although

in a state

loss
I

am

all

his life) a source

of some disquiet for

of 'permanent repentance about

of time through

my own

very industrious,

am

fault."

He

lost

time and

also admitted,

the harshest hater of work.

work for my thirst of knowledge. am never lacking an object

my desire, my burning eagerness, to do research on difficult mat-

But
of

did

and longer competition," Kepler wrote.

Kepler's

him.

else

ters."

His enthusiasms often went beyond

through on them. "In

my

eagerness,

his

things that looked easy, but that were difficult

in the carrying-out,

because the

mind

capacity to carry

talked myself into a lot of

is

and time-consuming

finer, faster,

and quicker

TYCHO

56

& KEPLER

than the hand." His mind continued to leap quickly from one matter to another,

talk well

what

and

sometimes among apparently unrelated

write well, as long as nothing

have already thought

ually start thinking about

new

ments,

insights

what should not be

Among

of,

is

subjects. "I

me

pushing

but in reading and writing

new things,

except

contin-

words, figures of speech, argu-

and understanding, what should be

and

said

said."

the activities that tempted

him from

his studies

were the

theatrical productions that the Stift students presented at Shrovetide.

The

subject was always either biblical or classical,

women

and

since there

Johannes who were

slight

of stature and not too loutish or clumsy played the female

roles.

were no

at the Stift, students like

Johannes had the part of Mariamne in a tragedy about John the

Baptist. Unfortunately the play
place,

and Shrovetide was

ment caused him

was performed

in the

open market-

That and the

in midwinter.

to contract a "feverish illness"

overexcite-

one of many bouts

of bad health that threatened to hamper his studies.

Early in his university career, Kepler foresaw that theology and

mathematics, including astronomy, were always going to be linked in

his quest to discover for himself what

was fortunate
ics

to have

was true and what was not.

Michael Mastlin for

his teacher

of mathemat-

and astronomy. Mastlin had won Tycho Brahe's admiration

1578,

when Tycho was

1577 through
others.

He
in

collecting publications about the

comet of

friends abroad. Mastlins report stood out

from the

Compared with

Tycho's sophisticated methods, Mastlins

He had

observed the comet by holding up a taut

were primitive:
string to line

up reference

stars

and then looked up those

Copernican Prutenic Tables to find

their positions.

of great interest to Tycho, for both

men had

The

stars in the

results

were

reached the same con-

clusion, with Mastlins observations being slightly

a gracious letter written through a third party,

more

accurate. In

Tycho suggested

that

they exchange observations and indicated that Tycho would be

pleased to promote Mastlins career in any

way possible. At

that junc-

The Undermining of Human Endea vor

Michael Mastlin, Kepler's mentor

friend

ture,

at the University

157

of Tubingen and lifelong

and correspondent.

Tycho was willing

to share his

work and

findings with other as-

tronomers and engage in an exchange of ideas.

The

University of Tubingen in Kepler's day

still

officially

taught

Ptolemaic astronomy, and Mastlin gave his students a good grounding in

it.

However, though he was a cautious

man and

far

from out-

spoken on the subject, he was one of a mere handful of scholars in

all

Europe who believed that Copernicus's system of the cosmos

should be taken
fact orbit the

literally,

Sun.

that the planets, including Earth, did in

TYCHO

158

& KEPLER

Kepler also encountered the writings of Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa,

who had

insisted a century before

Copernicus that Earth did not

motionless in the center of the universe. Kepler reported,

degrees
lected

all

"I

partly out of Mastlin's lectures, partly out of myself

col-

which Copernicus has over

the mathematical advantages

Ptolemy." Kepler soon came to agree with Mastlin, and he added a

ligious spin

own to Copernican astronomy that made it seem

of his

him even more

likely to

lie

have by

re-

to

be correct.

God,

In a universe created in the image of

made

it

sense that the

Sun, the brightest and most splendid of all objects, the source of light

and warmth, should symbolize

things. This

was not an original

some Pythagoreans,
that they

made

in a

pagan

its

Creator and be the center of

idea.

As

society,

all

early as the fifth century B.C.

had thought

similarly, except

the center of the universe not Earth or the

Sun but an

educated Kepler was not ignorant of the

invisible fire. Classically

Pythagoreans.
Kepler's idea

went

nican systems, the

further. In

stars

both the Ptolemaic and the Coper-

were in the outermost sphere. This sphere

enclosed the universe and defined the extent of

the sphere of the stars symbolized Christ, the

its

space.

To Kepler

Son of God. Kepler

further reasoned that a sphere was generated by an infinite

of equal straight

lines radiating

tween the symbol of God

God

from

its

center.

number

Hence, the area be-

the Father, in the center,

and the symbol of

the Son, encompassing the universe, represented the third

member of

the Christian Trinity, the

Holy

Spirit. In

keeping with

Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three united in one. Neither in

the spiritual universe nor in the physical universe could one of the
three exist alone.

Each required the

others.

Kepler came openly to the defense of Copernican astronomy in

two formal academic debates during

religious

his university years.

arguments along with others that

He used his

sounded more

like those

of an astronomer. For instance, he argued that the time each planet

takes to complete

its

orbit,

and the

planets' distances

from the Sun,

The Undermining of Human Endeavor

made

better sense in the

source of

all

Copernican arrangement. The Sun was the

change and motion, and therefore

prising to find that the closer a planet

traveled

a line of thought that

the years to

From

159

was

it

would not be

sur-

to the Sun, the faster

would prove

fruitful for

it

Kepler in

come.

the Pythagoreans and Plato, as well as from neo-Platonic

thinkers of Kepler's

own

era,

he absorbed another idea that under-

girded his preference for the Copernican system and guided his speculation

ophy

and the course of his research from

that

had impelled Copernicus

the universe

that time on.

The

philos-

put the Sun in the center of

to

and had inspired the design of Tycho's Uraniborg was

the worldview insisting that a profound hidden harmony, simplicity,

and symmetry must surely underlie

all

and complexity of nature. This notion

entific

the apparent complication

set fire to the spiritual

imagination of young Kepler.

and

universe created by

sci-

God

could not be other than the perfect expression of such underlying order.

What

the goal of transforming astronomy was for

the search for this

sion that

harmony

would occupy him

Although during
pily

the

in nature

became

an obses-

for a lifetime.

his student years

Kepler worked busily and hap-

on astronomical questions and even wrote an

movements of

Tycho Brahe,

for Kepler:

the heavens

essay about

how

would look from the Moon, he ap-

parently remained oblivious to the possibility of pursuing any career

He

other than theology.

end of his education

didates,

passed the examination that signaled the

in the arts, placing

and received

second among fourteen can-

his master's degree in

August 1591.

He was

nineteen. In a letter requesting that his scholarship be continued, the

university senate paid

him

a tribute:

"Young Kepler has such an

ex-

traordinary and splendid intellect that something special can be ex-

pected from him."

Kepler began the course of theological studies

as

continued. He
men who opposed Calvinist teach-

rebel, at least privately, for his earlier religious scruples

now entered

the realm of powerful

something of a

TYCHO

160

& KEPLER

ing as ferociously as they did Catholicism.

On

such questions Kepler

wisely chose to keep his thoughts to himself, not even sharing

with those mentors

vacy of his
pressed

who most cherished him as a pupil. But in

own mind, doubts about some Lutheran

him

that he

had

to, as

cated matters and sweep

received

he put

it,

push aside

doctrines so opall

them completely out of his

these compli-

heart

when he

Communion.

Meanwhile, the theological infighting that he

more

them

the pri-

closely as a student of theology in

repelled Kepler that he

that such behavior

grew

now

witnessed

one of the leading schools so

to despise the entire controversy.

was completely

at

odds with

and he believed more strongly than ever

He felt

Christ's teaching,

mutual tolerance be-

that

tween the divisions of the Reformation church was the only appropriate course.

He was

it

came

would not mindlessly accept the

However much
shook

and

a devout Christian,

ued to mean that when

his life this contin-

all

to the intricacies

of doctrine, he

dicta of others.

Kepler's professors guessed about his views or

defend Copernican

their heads at his occasional attempts to

theory, they nevertheless continued to recognize his promise. Kepler,

though inwardly nagged by doctrinal doubts, had good reason

vision a
ical

smooth road

lying before

him and

to en-

to imagine himself in cler-

robes in a pulpit. Meanwhile, immersed in his studies, he was

spending one of the happiest periods of his

clude that whatever other forces
into his talents, unfavorable

came

end

to his happiness

He would

into play

judgment about

or simple bureaucratic irrationality

that brought an

life.

it

was

and

his

later

con-

exceptional insight

unorthodox views,

definitely the will of God

set in

motion a sudden and

staggering change of plans.

The

year" of sorts, during

ies

Tubingen was probably

a "holding

which students who had completed

their stud-

third theological year at

sought and found jobs. Just short of the end of this

year,

Kepler

re-

ceived the devastating news that his time at his beloved university was
to

end

abruptly,

and not

in the

way he had

intended.

Protestant

The Undermining ofHuman Endeavor

seminary school in Graz,

ematics teacher

Styria, in

southern Austria, needed a math-

who knew history and

the University of Tubingen,

161

The

Greek.

school appealed to

and Tubingen chose Kepler.

Graz seemed impossibly remote, in an area that was completely

foreign to him.

He

He had no

plan or desire to be a mathematics teacher:

loved the subject and thought he might have a talent for

considered himself not at

He had been
Surely,

accomplished yet

as a

and

but he

mathematician.
serve his church.

he thought, the move to Graz could not be God's will any

more than

On

all

certain of his calling to be a pastor

it,

it

was

own.

his

the other hand, Kepler's faith

ence of the
his sense

way God guided

and

the lives of

his

knowledge and experi-

men and women, as well as

selfish. He hadn't been

of duty, told him that he must not be

put into the world for himself alone. If it was God's will that he go to

Graz and teach mathematics, he should not

he had a

insist that

"higher calling." Furthermore, he had promised himself,

when he had
when

seen friends employing every device possible to avoid obedience

faced with similar distant postings, that he
it

happened

that he

would be more

to him. Recalling that noble resolve,

had thought he was "tougher than

dignified if

he admitted ruefully

actually was."

Though

Kepler consulted his two grandfathers and his mother.

disappointed that they would not see
best to follow the advice of the

engineer a compromise that

service in the church,

The

transfer

was

left

and with

set in

him

Tubingen
open the

in the pulpit,
faculty.

all

thought

it

Kepler managed to

possibility of returning to

that settled he agreed to

move

to Graz.

motion. Kepler could not go without the

permission of the duke of Wiirttemberg. Officials at Tubingen and

the inspectors of the school in Graz sent letters requesting that

Kepler be allowed to leave the duchy, and the duke gave his approval.

The twenty-two-year-old Kepler

March
into

13, 1 594, with a heavy heart.

alien

territory.

Wiirttemberg

still

left

his

beloved Tubingen on

The move

to

Even the calendar was

Graz was

a venture

different:

Because

used the old Julian calendar, Kepler lost ten days

TYCHO

i6i

when he came

He

arrived in Graz,

by that calendar, on April

Kepler trusted the will of God, but he could not have imagined

how
was

where they used the newer

to the border of Bavaria,

Gregorian calendar.
1 1

& KEPLER

essential this strange, unexpected,

him

in getting

to his future, to

While Kepler was

seemingly senseless journey

Tycho Brahe.

k ng

and during the

begun

first

in the rarefied scholarly

atmosphere of the University of Tubingen,

at the close

to fray a little

built

Uraniborg and Stjerneborg had usually

enjoyed good relationships with most people.

He did have serious con-

with the peasants on Hven, but the customs of the time and the

islanders'

made
have

had

around the edges.

The Tycho who had

flicts

of the 1580s

years of the 1590s, the Utopia of Uraniborg

unusual immunity from those customs prior to his

arrival

those conflicts almost inevitable. Otherwise, Tycho seems to

commanded genuine

He had founded and presided ably

respect.

over an entirely unprecedented institution that drew both

dents and a scholarly
in those days

elite

when an

from

all

aristocrat

humble

stu-

over Europe and Scandinavia. Even

could expect obedience, he had to

have been a skilled manager. Students and assistants worked for him
untiringly

and apparently with

the potential of

them

men

great devotion. His ability to recognize

of lower

classes

to the level of valued colleagues

point

set

him

apart from

most of his

and

his willingness to elevate

Steenwinkel being

a case in

He

seems to

aristocratic peers.

commoner wife, concerned about

popular among commoner scholars and friends such as

have been a faithful husband to his

his children,

Pratensis,

and

well liked

Wilhelm of Kassel. To

by royalty such

King Frederick and

as

a remarkable extent for a

nobleman

end of the sixteenth century, Tycho had chosen

between the

social strata

and had managed

His relationship with a

new

assistant

living at the

to ignore the

chasms

to bridge them.

who came

exemplified his continuing success in doing

so.

to

Hven

in

1589

Longomontanus,

as

The Undermining of Human Endeavor

the

man

called himself,

was the Latinized name

163

farm where

for the

he was born in western Jutland to a poor peasant family. Poverty and

the need to help his

widowed mother run

had delayed

the farm

church had

Longomontanus's education, but the pastor of the

local

recognized his potential and seen to his schooling.

Longomontanus

was twenty-six by the time he entered the University of Copenhagen.

Scarcely a year

later,

in 1589,

he came to Uraniborg on the recom-

mendation of his professors and was soon one of the most

exacting astronomers there. His

becoming one ofTycho's

ily.

Tycho trusted him

humble

favorites

skilled

and

origins did not prevent his

and an intimate friend of the fam-

sufficiently to

make him

his personal secretary.

Longomontanus was popular with Tycho's two

Tycho and

sons,

Georg, and Tycho chose him (perhaps because of his maturity) to

chaperon them when they traveled to

visit relatives.

Nevertheless, in spite of his lack of regard for social divisions and

the scorn he

an

had poured on the

aristocrat. It

was

ditional nobility
rade, the

blood and upbringing.

in his

If for

had stopped being much more than

symbolism of Stjerneborg indicated that

much more

planted by a

much

vigorous and

which Tycho saw himself the

Ptolemy, and Copernicus,
dust.

Tycho had not ceased

nobility,

heir

by divine

men who

Nor had Tycho shed

become

tain extent,
in fact, than

the tra-

weary cha-

had been sup-

older aristocracy, in
right to Hipparchus,

kings like Frederick in the

left

the trappings

and pride of

had transformed them, with embellishments,

kingdom. Here, the old

it

him
a

to be

to

adorn

nobility.

He

this different

social class distinctions really had, to a cer-

extinct,

but Tycho was

still

on the top

higher,

he had been in the old order, and potentially more of a

tyrant.

The

picture of Tycho that has chiefly

autocratic,

vere him.

and

few years

and paranoid

to Kepler,

a sympathetic one,

The

finer side

later

come down

in history

is

not

he would appear mercurial,

who was

initially inclined to re-

of Tycho never disappeared completely, and

previous instances of tyranny and paranoia

may

have escaped the

TYCHO

i64

records, but evidence points to a

early

590s. In the

change in

his

temperament

autumn of 1 590 he imprisoned his

man

days before the

& KEPLER

succeeded in escaping from

in the

tailor for three

Hven by

night. In

dwarf named Jepp, tried to flee from

Uraniborg, andTycho had him beaten. None of that was perhaps out
1591 Tycho's

jester,

of character for the lord of a

was increasing evidence of a

fief,

but

as the

less likable

decade continued, there

aspect to Tycho's personality.

In the spring of 1591 Tycho's concentration on astronomy suffered serious disruption

ant,

Rasmus

Pedersen,

from an embroilment with

who

lived

was part of Tycho's holdings

incident began

when

as a

on

a small

manor

gentleman tenin

Zealand that

canon of Roskilde Cathedral. The

Pedersen purchased from Tycho a

life

tenancy

of Gundsogaard, an unprofitable estate with only nine cottages and

the ruins of a

manor house

that

cannot have charged him very

chagrined

when

had recently burned down. Tycho

much

for this holding,

Pedersen unexpectedly turned

it

and he was

into a thriving es-

tablishment and rebuilt the house into something large and quite
splendid. Pedersen
his fishing rights

may or may not,

and exploited

his

in the process, have overstepped

nine peasant families beyond the

usual norm. There were reports that after using their free labor for his

building project, he forcibly ejected

that the land could

become

labor again to build

new

fields

them from

their small plots so

of the manor, then used their

cottages,

and

finally obliged

them

to

free

buy

the cottages from him.

Motivated either by concern for the peasants or a desire for the

manor house, or both, Tycho attempted to renegotiate the lease and,

when Pedersen refused, seized the manor and expelled him without
a refund. But Pedersen was persistent:

Gundsogaard

fields at

tainers

sow

sowers.

Tycho

fifty-two

to be

and

When

Tycho ordered the

plowed and sown, Pedersen had

a half bushels of rye right

escalated the conflict. His

was dining and brought him

men

in irons to

his re-

behind Tycho's

seized Pedersen as

he

Hven, while others of

Tycho's agents confiscated Pedersen's business records and detailed

The Undermining of Human Endeavor

Tycho imprisoned Pedersen

reports about the estate.

six

weeks

165

at

Uraniborg for

By

until Pedersen agreed to sign a capitulation.

the spring

of 1591, Tycho had brought the matter to court.

few months

later,

Tycho's appeal to the king and the Rigsraad

when even Tycho's

failed

pected to side with

ment of Pedersen

home

to

aristocratic peers,

who might

one of their own, were unwilling

as

normal behavior

have been ex-

to view

On

for a feudal lord.

Hven, the disgruntled Tycho voiced

his

his treat-

the

way

disappointment by

composing a Latin epigram complaining of this unfair

decision.

He

did not drop the matter. His next maneuver was to try to link

Pedersen with a drowning in a well. That

failed.

Tycho was holding Pedersen's brother and

There

is

no record of the

result

By November 1592

a servant as prisoners.

of a second hearing, for which Tycho

was allowed to nominate some panelists to participate in the decision,

but two years

later

he seems to have regained possession of the

manor house of Gundsogaard. There

are

no further records concern-

ing Pedersen.
Possibly while

Hven, a young

Tycho was holding Rasmus Pedersen prisoner

man named Georg Ludwig

at

Frobenius arrived. As

Frobenius described events in his memoirs,* he had received his master's

degree from the University of Wittenberg, worked for a year as a

tutor in Saxony,

and gone

to

Denmark,

afire to visit

Uraniborg and

He made the initial mistake of seeking entrance after everyone had gone to bed. He might have been forgiven for think-

meet Tycho Brahe.

ing that since this was an astronomical observatory and

tiful, clear,

and calm

night," the entire household

However, despite the glowing

letters

it

was

"a beau-

would not be

asleep.

of introduction that Frobenius

presented, the porter at the gate turned

him

away.

With

the savage

barking of the mastiffs kenneled above the gatehouse ringing in his

ears,

Frobenius walked off to spend the night hungry in a

*Frobenius's story remained

in the late

1980s.

unknown

until

field.

John Robert Christianson discovered

his

memoirs


TYCHO

166

& KEPLER

Early the next morning Frobenius tried again at the gate, and

Tycho granted him an audience. After conversing with Frobenius

and reading

his letters

of recommendation

Tycho's friend Caspar Peucer

He would

a student.

Tycho agreed

one

of them from

to accept Frobenius as

have free bed and board and an assigned seat

at

the dinner table.

Though several languages were spoken at Uraniborg, Danish was

common, and Frobenius knew no Danish. From the start he

the most
felt

excluded, particularly at meals, where he was seated beside a stu-

dent from Bergen, Norway. However, things must have gone rather

about a month

well, for

after his arrival

Tycho asked him, through

other students, whether he would like to remain at Uraniborg "to

serve

him

cally.

He would

of astronomy." Frobenius replied enthusiasti-

in the study

be pleased to stay for one, two, or three years,

if

terms of employment were acceptable. Since most contracts for

vice at

Uraniborg were for three years or

less,

the
ser-

Frobenius had not asked

for special favors.

Nevertheless, at this point there was a mysterious alteration in

Tycho's attitude toward Frobenius.

Tycho

laid

them down, seemed

The

conditions of the contract, as

intentionally framed to

possible for Frobenius to accept. Frobenius

what affronted
question.

it

im-

was shocked and some-

to hear that one, two, or three years

He would

make

have to commit himself for

were out of the

six years

minimum,

pledge never to reveal anything about Tycho's inventions to anyone

either

now

or after he

left,

take

no notes

for his

own

benefit or later

personal use, and "serve without hesitation wherever [he] could fruit-

be used, in any of [Tycho's] astronomical or pyronomical

fully

labors."

He would

eat at Tycho's table, but there

or clothing provided by Tycho,

ever

happened

to

who

would be no

preferred "to grant to

salary

me what-

come my way."

Frobenius took a deep breath and asked for time to consider.

Then he
years.

replied that he could not agree to such a long period as six

He wanted

to visit foreign lands

and

learn foreign languages

The Undermining ofHuman Endeavor

as

in

Tycho himself had done

and

167

eventually probably pursue a career

medicine or law. Though he was willing to promise not to reveal

or spread abroad any information about Tycho's inventions or observations, he

was reluctant

promise never to

to

gained at Uraniborg to benefit his

own

utilize

studies, for

knowledge

would be

it

waste of time to learn things he could never use in the future. Also,

he needed a fixed

not just bed and board.

salary,

Contract negotiations with prospective assistants were not un-

and Tycho was often willing

usual,

and adjust other

clauses.

Not

to

bend on the length of service

so in the case of Frobenius.

Meanwhile

Frobenius learned that his situation was disturbingly paradoxical, for

though Tycho's terms of employment seemed designed

to leave, other students
difficult to get

benius,
less

assistants told

him

that

it

was extremely

away from Uraniborg. Hans Crol, who was,

German,

said

it

would be impossible

like Fro-

to escape the island un-

he could find a good pretext.

The
ters

and

him

to force

distraught Frobenius recalled that he had in his possession

let-

of reference to other people besides Tycho, one of which might

him with an

provide

would simply not

to Heinrich

excuse to take a leave of absence from which he

return.

Rantzau

The

letter that

looked most promising was

in Holstein. Frobenius requested leave for only a

few weeks to go to Holstein, claiming to have been entrusted with an

oral
first

message to Rantzau that could not be delivered by anyone

else.

Tycho, perhaps suspecting Frobenius's intentions, refused

permission. Frobenius then offered to leave

trunk

at

Uraniborg

as security for his return.

sides.

Tycho and Frobenius

his

his belongings in his

all

Tycho

with the strange requirement that Frobenius

At

finally acquiesced,

seal the

traveled together to

trunk on

Copenhagen.

all

When

they parted so that Tycho could attend a meeting of the Rigsraad,

Frobenius found a ship bound for Liibeck, hurried aboard, and sailed

away with only

"a

couple of

shirts, a cloak,

and handkerchiefs

in a

black linen satchel."

It is

tempting to wonder whether some of Tycho's

assistants

were

TYCHO

168

& KEPLER

playing a practical joke on poor Frobenius, whether he

story up, or whether he was perhaps a difficult

Tycho

himself.

in fact allowed

many

all

and he viewed

over Europe. Crol,

it

as

the

and vindictive person

students and assistants to leave

Uraniborg for posts elsewhere. Most continued to be

friends,

made

his

good

an advantage to have a network of them

who warned

Frobenius about the difficulty of

escaping, was at the time an embittered

man

death of his son. Crol himself never

Uraniborg and died in the

autumn of

memory

that

same

as a fine

year.

Tycho grieved

Conflicting opinions and reports

people around them.

either

lives for

him and

praised his

On

are,

of course, not unusual about

one reason or another tower over the

the one

hand

there are those

do not experience or choose

others regard as insulting or abusive.

who, wearing

for

because of the recent

goldsmith, instrument maker, and observer.

men and women whose

them and

left

who

revere

to forgive treatment that

On the other hand there are those

different spectacles or having

fallen foul, experience that greatness as

somehow

inadvertently

having a nasty side indeed.

1 1

Years of Discontent
1588-1596

THAT SAME SPRING

In

Tycho's

of

dungeon and Frobenius was

Uraniborg, Tycho received a

Kassel, asking

letter

591,

when

Pedersen was in

upstairs plotting his escape

from

from Wilhelm, the landgrave

in

about an animal that Wilhelm called a Rix. Wilhelm had

heard that a Rix was

taller

than a deer and native to Norway, and he in-

quired whether Tycho might have a picture painted of a Rix and sent
to

him. Tycho suspected that the landgrave meant a reindeer and was

hinting that Tycho might send not merely a picture but the animal
self.

Tycho did not have a

send

that.

No, the landgrave

not a reindeer he wanted

it

reindeer, but

had not survived

Nevertheless, he

in the climate

elk brought

mounted

beer supply, and

consumed

to get

back

of Kassel.

down

the stairs

until

it

the steps of the

so

much

and

it-

he offered to

elk,

and

it

was

of those before, and

A Rix was what he wanted.

elk or

from Norway

home

at his niece's

tunately, the elk

elk, so

he already had an

He had had one

either.

would not turn down an

Tycho had an
was to wait

replied,

he had an

to

two

if offered.

Copenhagen, where

it

could be shipped. Unfor-

manor

beer that

it

house, got into the

fractured a leg trying

died.

In the course of correspondence with

Wilhelm around

this pitiful

TYCHO

170

story, the first

hint

& KEPLER

came from Tycho himself that he was not

entirely

happy.

He went

that he

might choose to venture into other climes, the sky above be-

so far as to

tell

Wilhelm

ing available for study anywhere.

bling him. Perhaps
like

did not specify what was trou-

was only a temporary low

it

mood or annoyances

Pedersen and Frobenius that he had largely brought on himself.

But there

and

He

in rather cryptic language

reason to suspect that one cause of Tycho's discontent,

is

poor handling of those annoyances, was something more

his

nificant

sig-

a crushing disappointment in his astronomy.

Tycho did

not, in this correspondence with

visit to Kassel,

book about

but Bar had never been

far

Wilhelm, learn of Bar's

from Tycho's mind. Tycho's

the comet, with the chapter about the Tychonic system,

had come out

in April

588.

He mentioned nothing about the success

of the 15 87 parallax observations in the book, but not long

after its

publication he wrote to his friends Caspar Peucer and Christoph

Rothmann, saying that he had observed

1582. That claim

flatly

the parallax all the

way back

in

contradicted an earlier letter that he had writ-

ten in 1584 to a professor with

whom

he had studied

at

Rostock,

Heinrich Brucaeus. Tycho had reported to Brucaeus that in the observations

made

in 1582,

he had been unable to find a parallax for Mars,

and that the Copernican hypothesis had therefore

1587 he had seemed a

little less

had written Wilhelm,

in Kassel, that (based

servations) he

Rothmann

(still

that

all

the

letter to

way back

in

Then,

stating

re-

once again

1584

years before his

in

same 1582

November 1589 he

Thaddeus Hagecius,

1582 (two

parallax.

referring to the

observations) that he had finally succeeded. In

peated that claim in a

when he

on those same 1582 ob-

was more confident he would find a

1588, he told Peucer and

to be rejected. In

certain of that negative result

letter to

Brucaeus saying the opposite) he had observed a diurnal parallax and

that

it

had been

large

to Earth than the

Sun

enough

to convince

does. In the

same

him

that

letter to

Mars comes

Hagecius, Tycho also

spoke of the Tychonic system that he had "thought out

six years ago."

closer

very nearly

Years

The

puzzle was, and

ofDiscontent

why

is,

171

rhe 1582 observations were so im-

making contra-

portant to Tycho that he kept harking back to them,

about their

dictor}- claims

results.

instruments after 1582 that were

measurement. Kepler

later

He had designed and built several

much more capable of making this

examined Tycho's observations of 1582

and reported that he could find no evidence

allax.

there could have been

1589 Tycho's

The
to

no evidence of one

letters insisted there

for a

Mars

par-

Bar. Six

months

after

Tycho published the book with the

1

Fundaments ofAstronomy. In

entitled

claimed was his

own

588, Bar also published a

it

that Bar

to establish priority,

and

he

some

invention. Except for

Tycho's system. Tycho s nightmare had

most importance

to

laid

out a system he

details,

come

make

it

it

was

true. It

identi-

was of ut-

indisputably clear

had learned of the system from Tycho, not Tycho from

One way

to

accomplish

this

was

Hven. Certainly

this

its

superiority; predated Bar's

provided ample motivation for

other scholars in which Tycho

Bar.

to prove that not only the idea of the

system, but observations to demonstrate

visit to

1588 and

there. Yet in

was.

chapter about the Tychonic system in April

cal to

them

explanation for the contradictor}- claims" almost certainly had

do with

book

in

Subsequent knowledge of the solar system has confirmed that

made

tions. In fact, the date itself was far

letters to

claims about the 1582 observa-

more important than

the findings,

and that was fortunate.

In the

autumn of 1589,

after

he had written to Hagecius, Tycho

almost immediately turned his attention again to the problem of

fraction.

He

did so with considerable trepidation.

confidence in his Mars observations of

have

as

much

tion, the table

Mars

He had

587, but he

re-

complete

knew he

did not

evidence to support the use of his table of solar refrac-

he had used in 158^

when

correcting the positions of

to take refraction into account.

"Gingerich and Yoelkel point out the mysterious contradictory sequence ofletters and explain

how

they have arrived at this explanation in "Tycho Brahes Copernican Campaign."

TYCHO

172

The

result

He found
fact,

of Tycho's

new

& KEPLER

study of refraction was heartbreaking.

that his solar refraction table

found no parallax

for

Mars

was badly flawed.

in 1587.

He

had, in

Tycho never again claimed

he had discovered a parallax for Mars, nor did he make any more
rious attempts to find

it.

The

se-

oppositions of Mars in 1591 and 1593

took place in summer, when the nights were too short to try to measure a parallax.

While Tycho undoubtedly made

some of

his

problems worse by mishandling, in other cases he acted with extreme

The

patience and care for his family.

Sophie was one of the

sad love story of his

sister

latter.

Twelve years younger than Tycho, Sophie had always been a

when

fa-

When she was a child, he had taught her some astronomy, and,

vorite.

she was fourteen, she had assisted

him

in the observation

of a

lunar eclipse at Herrevad. Since then Sophie had married a rich no-

bleman, borne a son, and lived in splendor

In 1588, Sophie's

husband

died,

tance as well as her husband's she was

Sophie was a frequent

of 1589, and

ter

it

cated, well-traveled
as part

Eriksholm Castle.

left

a wealthy

inheri-

young widow.

Uraniborg in the autumn and win-

was there that she met Erik Lange, the well-edu-

young gallant who had

first

brought Bar to Hven

of his retinue in the autumn of 1584.

Sophie
a

visitor to

at his

and with her own family

fell

in love

with Lange, an exceedingly foolish choice for

wealthy widow, for Lange's

own

considerable fortune was rapidly

vanishing, squandered to support his obsession with a futile branch

of alchemy devoted to trying to turn base metal into gold. In

the

590,

same year he and Sophie Brahe were betrothed, over the objec-

tions of

all

Sophie's siblings except Tycho, Lange had been forced

to sign over his estate

of Engelsholm to make good his debts, and

even that had not been enough to cover them.

der house arrest.

Though

He was

placed un-

creditors could not touch the substantial

Tears of Discontent

Tycho's

sister

Sophie Brahe, in an

oil

painting by an

part of Sophie's deceased husband's estate that

for their son,

soon

173

after the betrothal

unknown

was held

artist.

in

wardship

they began closing in on her

personal fortune.
In 1592 Sophie's

and Lange's problems became, more than

ever,

when Lange fled in secret to Hven, and Tycho helped him esfrom Denmark and his creditors. Lange's addiction to the dream

Tycho's

cape

of turning base metal into gold was beyond control, and he continued
to

run up enormous debts, dodging from place to place in Europe.

Sophie, distraught and besieged by his creditors at her

Eriksholm Castle, often sought refuge

ing followed her heart where

no

at

home

at

Uraniborg. In spite of hav-

sensible person should have allowed

TYCHO

174

it

& ICEPLER

Sophie was a strong, quick-witted, self-confident woman,

to lead,

involved in numerous intellectual pursuits and highly respected by

many people,
telligent

not

least

and learned

Tycho.

women

on

considered her one of the most in-

and Lange's continuing

Nevertheless, her problems

ness were a drain

He

he knew and he enjoyed her company.

his patience

and

While Tycho was risking

peers over the Pedersen affair

The

extensive
theless;

to

fall

estate attached to the

loss

of respect from his

and breaking the law

more

brother-in-law, he was treading even

spect.

disastrous foolish-

energies.

perilously in another re-

Chapel of the Magi

and provided Tycho with

to help his

Roskilde was

at

a large annual income. Never-

he had neglected his responsibilities and allowed the chapel

had received repeated requests

into disrepair. Since 1591 he

from the boy-king Christian

nored him. There seemed
majority,

and

his limited

to repair the leaking roof.

little

to fear. Christian

Tycho

ig-

had not yet reached

powers allowed him to do

little

more than

play at being king. Furthermore, the Regency Council that ruled

during his minority was packed with Tycho's friends and

Christian's father Frederick

relatives.

had been so enthusiastic and supportive

of Tycho that Tycho had forgotten that kings needed extremely sentreatment and could not safely be regarded as familiar equals

sitive
or, if

they were

still

minors, as irritating nephews.

Tycho had every reason

to expect Christian to be as supportive as

his father had been. Christian

1

592.

Not only was

and the many

a royal visit to

Hven

in July

the weather beautiful and the banquet, wines,

music, conversation, and the

to the king's liking,

made

humor of Tycho's

jester all

very

much

but he was fascinated with Tycho's instruments

treasures of Uraniborg.

Though Christian's memories of Hven would in fact remain fresh

with him all his life, in the summer of 1593, a year after his day on
the island, Christian visited Roskilde Cathedral, and his attitude to-

Years of Discontent

ward Tycho Brahe changed

175

catastrophically. Christian

found the roof

of the Chapel of the Magi in such a state of near collapse

and marble sepulchers of his

threaten the alabaster

father.

The young monarch

Tycho begin

that

would

dictated an angry message

he

repairs. If

commanded

by return

a reply

Tycho must indeed have been

ignored this ultimatum.
still

been no

dering

him

failed to

By

so,

its

but,

still

demanding

Christian himself

at Tycho's expense.

distracted

by other matters to have

the following autumn, 1594, there had

and Tycho received another angry complaint

repairs,

to have the

work completed by Christmas or forfeit

The problem

autumn of 1594 was

in the

four daughters
thirteen,

and

Magdalene,

women. Because

their

into the nobility, but

before. Tycho's

nineteen, Sophie, fourteen, Elisabeth,

were

wealthy, accomplished

young

mother was a commoner, they could not marry

Tycho had every reason

to believe that

he could

arrange matches so that their standard of living would be equal to

had been

professors

at

Uraniborg.

Among

and physicians of high

in late Renaissance culture as

Brahe's daughters were

May and June

a

the academic elite there were

social status

who were

noblemen, often more

enormously good catches

of 1593, a young

prime candidate

prominent academic

to

the arrangement of a marriage for

had begun happily the year

Cecilie, twelve

flat

restore the original vaulting.

seemed much more urgent and troubling

that

his eldest daughter. Plans

became

or-

the fief

treatment of Christian, Tycho had the roof rebuilt as a

one with wooden beams rather than

In

The

courier.

seemingly unaware of the dangerous path he was treading in

his cavalier

it

as to

and grand-

incomes. This message succeeded in getting Tycho's attention,

with

Tycho

do

and have the work done

hire a builder

message

father

as well versed

so. Clearly,

for

man named

His

father,

Tycho

any of these.

Gellius Sascerides

for Magdalene's hand. Gellius

family.

what

young

came from

though Dutch, was a

distin-

guished professor in Copenhagen, and the family and Gellius himself

had a wide

circle

of important friends there. Gellius and his brother

David had both been

assistants at

Uraniborg, Gellius for

five years

TYCHO

176

when he was

& KEPLER

in his early twenties.

promising young

disciples. Tycho's

Magdalene was only about

eight

He had

been one of Tycho's most

daughters had been children then.

when he

arrived

and

thirteen

when

he departed in the midsummer of 1588, but they must have met

at

the dinner table. Gellius had continued to serve as Tycho's representative to foreign courts

years old

and

well traveled,

universities.

Now

he was back, thirty-one

brimming with confidence, with

degree and a reputation as a rising star

among

the

young

a medical

scholars of

Europe. There could not have been a more appropriate suitor for

Tycho

Brahe's eldest daughter.

According to the courtship and marriage customs of

late-six-

teenth-century Denmark,* the procedure did not begin with the

couple themselves but with tentative, informal

relatives,

feelers

among friends,

and the broader network these could provide.

looked encouraging, a young

man

If a situation

asked trusted friends to act on his

behalf and present his proposal to the prospective bride's immediate

family. Gellius chose his friend

Mogens

Berteisen Dallin as his emis-

After preliminary discussions with Tycho, Dallin and Gellius

sary.

Hven with a formal proposal on September 19.

Custom required the suitor's spokesman to deliver a long, elegant
speech, climaxing in the formal proposal of marriage. The suitor and

went

to

his party

then took

seats,

and the

bride's family replied. Tycho's sister

Sophie probably was the spokesperson for the Brahes

mony
on

ate

this

took place

Uraniborg, for

at

their behalf.

it

when

was she who went on

this cere-

to negoti-

Her speech would not have answered yes

or no: At

point the suitor was committed, but the bride's family was not.

After that, the negotiations began, and almost immediately there

were

difficulties.

had been

Although Magdalene was not of the

raised as a

nobility, she

noblewoman, and her immediate family was

wealthier than Gellius's. Gellius had

"The description of these customs comes from

redescribed in English by John Christianson.

no

substantial fortune

social historian Troels Frederik

far

and no

Troels-Lund,

as

Years of Discontent

177

permanent position providing him an income, only

young

a brilliant

There was a huge discrepancy between

scholar.

wedding and the cou-

Tycho's and Gellius's expectations of what the

ple's living style

would be

his prospects as

like.

Magdalene's family was of course well able to supply a suitable

dowry, including not only
fine

gowns

and bed
and

to last a lifetime, jewelry

necessities as

and embroidered

and cooking pots and pans,

linens, kettles

all its

money but such

enough

caps, table

bed

tapestries, a

hangings, duvets, bolsters, and pillows. All of this was laid

out in the marriage contract. By custom a young

marriage supplied for

life,

leaving her

woman

entered

husband responsible only

for

day-to-day needs.
Nevertheless, Gellius

depth. Even
place

on the

costly that

of a noble

scale

would

be.

alliance,

The wedding

to the bride's family,

fell

must soon have

realized that

had anticipated Tycho's plans

if he

would be

nobleman's wedding lasted

five to

he was out of his

that the marriage take

he had no experience of

itself,

how

although most of the cost

staggeringly expensive for him.

nine days, and the groom needed

new, sumptuous clothing every day. Gellius's entire inheritance, and

then some, could easily have been eaten up in supplying a betrothal

gift

customarily a

number of small

silver

items and a massive gold

chain that ensured his wife could support herself for

pawning

it

and

"morning

gift,"

life

merely by

which might be anything from

valuable jewelry to the hereditary rights to landed estates. Clearly

was the duty of Dallin,

Gellius's

spokesman, to

scale

down

it

these ex-

pectations as he negotiated the contract.

When

it

came

to a

way

for Gellius to support his bride,

proposed that Gellius reenter his service

as

an assistant but

self.

on

as a son-in-law,

at

Tycho

Uraniborg, no longer

subordinate only to Tycho him-

This arrangement had been part of the nuptial contract agreed

at

Uraniborg

in late

September. Tycho

may well

sidering Gellius as a prime candidate to succeed

director of Uraniborg or as codirector with

have been con-

him

either as

one of Tycho's sons.

TYCHO

178

& KEPLER

Thus matters stood when Tycho

Christian about the Chapel of the

received his ultimatum from

Magi and went

Steenwinkel and another builder with him.

short period in late October,

was a

letter

Gellius

waiting for

to Roskilde, taking

He was away

and when he returned

him from Sophie Brahe

had requested an amendment

again for a

to the island there

in

Copenhagen.

to the contract so as to have

only a small wedding with a banquet for a limited number of guests,

not a celebration lasting for days, and he would agree to remain in

Tycho's service only until the following Easter, no longer

which

seemed astoundingly unappreciative of what had struck Tycho

extraordinary offer to the

young man.

testimony to Tycho's con-

It is

cern for Magdalene that he swallowed his annoyance and sent

Sophie that he would accept

would not go on changing

his

However, for reasons that

Gellius's

continued to

still

remain mysterious, Gellius had

alliance

raise fresh objections

November, with Gellius

Ominously,
close friends

his

to

amendments but hoped he

with Tycho Brahe's family.

and make new demands. The

renegotiations continued, then floundered

late

word

mind.

grown extremely skittish about an

He

an

as

and

fell

apart entirely in

frustrating every effort at reconciliation.

remarks about the Brahes in public and

seemed contrived

to bring

an

irreversible

among
end

his

to the

marriage arrangements.

On

December

canceled.

2 Tycho formally declared the wedding contract

A devastated

mistreatment in

this

Magdalene wrote

matter by Gellius.

in marriage negotiations,

when

the

a statement describing her

The breakdown

man and woman

at this

as a

point

formally

betrothed couple could by custom already have slept together, was

like a

death knell for her.

No man would

ever

marry

her.

At the age

of twenty, having had every prospect of happiness and family before

her,

Magdalene knew

condemned her

that her erstwhile friend

suitor Gellius

had

a private concern

and

and

to spinsterdom.

The matter had by now become more than

threatened the Brahe family with public disgrace. Professors at the

Tvcho Brahe
his

in the portrait

book Astronomiae

from

Instauratae

Mechanica, 1598, printed shortly

before he went to Prague.

Johannes Kepler

in a portrait

painted in 1610

when he was

the height of his career as

Imperial Mathematician

Prague.

in

at

Knutstorps Borg,Tycho Brahe's birthplace and ancestral manor house,

as

it

appears

today and (below) in a seventeenth-century drawing by Gerhard von Burman.

Left:

King Frederick

Tycho's patron,

who

II

of Denmark,

granted him the

fiefdom of Hven and whose support

enabled him to build Uraniborg,
portrait by an

unknown

in a

artist.

Opposite above: Tycho's elevation

drawing for Uraniborg.

Opposite below:

Ty cho 's plan of

the gardens of Uraniborg, with

the mansion at the center.

ORTHOGRAPHIA PRiCIPV
>r.

InfuU

Porrhmi Drmici Venufia,

J^

Hucnna,

D O M V
jfa

AJlronom,*

ARCIS VRANIBVRGI
MD lm

inftaurand*

g.-ac::..

circa

inntrn

Above:
a

The great globe, begun

decade

later. It

in

Augsburg

in

570 and completed

became the centerpiece of Uraniborg

at

Uraniborg

s library.

Right:The great mural quadrant, one of Tycho's most splendid instruments,

built into the structure of

Uraniborg

in

himself an excellent likeness. The two

part of the mural; they

582.Tycho considered

men shown

in

this portrait

of

the foreground were not

were part of this particular drawing of the mural.

OJSUTAIOJ11UM

_ SUBTI

Stjerneborg ("Star Castle"), the partly subterranean observatory Tycho

built in the

580s outside the perimeter wall of Uraniborg to

accommodate some of his

largest

The Chapel of the Magi

Roskilde Cathedral, with tombs of

Frederick

II

and

at

his father, as

that Tycho neglected to

keep

and most powerful instruments.

it

appears today.

in

good

wrath of the teenage Christian

IV.

It

was

this

chapel

repair, thus incurring the

King Christian IV of Denmark,

whose birth horoscope Tycho

drew up, and who

Tycho 's nemesis,

later

became

in a portrait

bv Pieter Isaacsz.

Wedding medallion
Johannes Kepler and

portraits

(1

597) of

his first wife, Barbara.

Above:

The

cliff-top

Benatky Castle,

northeast of Prague, that

Emperor Rudolph gave

to Tycho to

create a second Uraniborg.

The

mural depicting hunting scenes

and featuring the emperor
visible

Above

left:

Emperor Rudolph

II

of the Holy

Roman

on

its

Empire, the eccentric,

reclusive patron of both Tycho and Kepler, in a portrait by

Above:

Drawing by an unknown

artist

is

walls.

Hans von Aachen.

depicting riots between Archduke Leopold's

troops and Protestant vigilantes in the streets of Prague, near the Keplers' home,
in

February 1611.

Years of Discontent

new

university mediated a

would not

Gellius

ljg

marriage contract in January in which

reenter the service of Tycho at

afford the obligations of married

life,

To enable him

all.

to

he was to be appointed provin-

physician of Skane, on petition of the nobility of that province,

cial

many of whom were

and

this

Tycho's kinsmen. Gellius reneged once again,

time he judged

prudent to

it

shift the

blame by openly

spreading malicious rumors about Magdalene and her family and

tempting to sow dissension

among Tycho's

relatives.

The

at-

final break-

down of all negotiations occurred before the next autumn, 1595.

The gossip surrounding this affair was catastrophic for Tycho. He
watched helplessly

as the

high esteem in which he had thought

Danish society held him evaporated

like a

mirage and he became a

laughingstock. Gellius had found that preemptive slander was a very

effective

on every

way

to

possible

parts of the

own reputation, and he used that weapon

occasion. From the court in Copenhagen and all

defend his

kingdom, Tycho heard reports of people sniggering

at

him, exchanging ribald jokes about the daughter he loved, sneering

at Kirsten's

common origins,

negotiate in

good

faith,

blaming Tycho and Sophie

dragging

will in the university, kept

all

their

for failing to

names through the mud.

Ill

under wraps while Tycho appeared im-

new voices to the din of calumny.

By October 1595, when Mars was once again in opposition

pregnable, emerged to add

more

Tycho barely noticed, leaving the work

ers

on

at a

favorable time of year to attempt the parallax observation,

his staff.

tions only once,

written

down

to

Longomontanus and oth-

They obtained both morning and evening

observa-

on October 27, and none of the observations

are

in Tycho's hand.

In January 1596 Tycho took the only step that could restore his
family's reputation.
fear

Though he had decided

of adding to their

grief,

he

at last

repeatedly not to

brought

for

suit against Gellius for

breach of contract. Hearings took place in

Copenhagen. From there the case was

do so

Lund and then

referred to the diet

Danish nobility and then reassigned by the crown a year

in

of the

later to a spe-

TYCHO

180

cial

court of nobles.

The

& KEPLER
outcome of the

specific

cept that Gellius seems not to have suffered by

a living of one canonry

became

vicariates in

fearful that the loss

would

unknown,

ex-

He was soon granted

Lund Cathedral and later

of esteem caused by the

trigger similar humiliation for

even beyond the borders of Denmark.

move

trial is

a professor of medicine at the University of Copenhagen.

Tycho was
trothal

and two

it.

to

enhance

his reputation as

him

failed be-

in scholarly circles

He decided

it

would be

an astronomer and deter

a wise

his rivals

by publishing an anthology of his correspondence having to do with

astronomy. Epistolae Astronomicae (Astronomic Letters), which he
printed in his

new paper

mill, clearly revealed his belief that

He

plagiarized his planetary system.

Rothmann about

ten to

included the

letter

Bar had

he had writ-

the success of the observations of 1582.

Whether or not those observations showed

a parallax for Mars, they

proved that he had worked on the problem of Mars and on developing his planetary system long before Bar
In the dedication carved

Tycho's words indicate

This

dam and

how

on

own

Hven.

on the cornerstone of the paper

paper-mill with

all

built

their accessories

own

and the

fish

existed previously,

supervision,

and

at his

own

by

as well as for himself,

signed to leaving. Early in

refitted so that

it

do

time.

Even while he thus reminded Denmark that

country

his

expense

for the benefit of his country, himself and his heirs. Let us

good while we have the

mill,

on the order of Tycho Brahe

where nothing of the kind

design, under his

to

stubbornly independent he was feeling:

ponds above them have been

site

came

his

work had been

Tycho was becoming

for his

increasingly re-

May 1 596 he ordered that his pilot-boat be

could serve

as a cargo boat. Clearly,

he was thinking

of transporting unusually heavy items either to or from Hven.

12
Geometry's Universe
1594-1597

In

Graz,

where Kepler reluctantly began

1594, he found a

much

less stable religious

Lutheran Tubingen. Here and in the

rest

of

his teaching job in

climate than in solidly

and

Styria, Protestants

Catholics lived side by side in nominal peace, but only thinly disguised
their hostility.

The

rulers

of Styria were members of the royal Haps-

burg family and staunch Catholics. Under the Peace of Augsburg they

had the

right to declare that everyone in Styria

However, nearly
the Hapsburgs

all

must be Catholic.

the most powerful landholders were Lutheran, and

had found

it

advisable to allow Protestant nobles in the

countryside and Protestant citizens in Graz and other

cities to practice

their faith openly.

The school where Kepler taught was

easy truce

and by no means

as a deliberate

countermove

had been established

574

founding of a Catholic Jesuit

col-

neutral.

to the

thick in the middle of this un-

It

lege the previous year. Its four preachers

fluential

to

all

At

members of the

intents
first

this

and twelve teachers were

Protestant community,

and purposes, the

none of

in

in-

and the school was,

rallying center for Protestants in Graz.

controversy touched Kepler. His concerns

TYCHO

182

& ICEPLEK

Graz, in an early seventeenth-century engraving attributed to Matthaus

Merian

Sr.

were almost entirely academic. His teaching duties were in the upper
school,

where he taught advanced mathematics, including astron-

omy. Either he was not a particularly exciting teacher or the subjects

were not popular, because few students attended
year and

first

classes

none

in the second. School officials looked for other

Kepler could teach and assigned

vanced arithmetic,

his classes in the

ethics,

Kepler's duties extended

and

him

rhetoric, Virgil, less ad-

history.

beyond the classroom.

He was

also district

mathematician, a public office that had considerable responsibilities

connected with

One

it.

of them was the compilation of an annual

endar with astrological predictions for the coming

approach

known
told

this task

with confidence. Already

for his astrological skills.

what

to expect

surgery,

when

district

mathematicians calendar
disease, the

which a physician might bleed

farmers should

sow

seed,

when

be most benign or most inclement or dangerous,

attack, and when
WhatTycho had to produce for

Kepler could

Tubingen he had been

about weather, harvests, war,

picious periods during

form

The

at

year.

cal-

most

the weather

when

aus-

a patient or per-

the Turks

would
would

one should anticipate religious or political troubles.

the princes of Denmark, Kepler had to

Geometry's Universe

183

produce for the entire citizenry of Graz and the surrounding countryside

albeit for

only a year at a time instead of a lifetime.

Kepler's attitude toward astrology

most of

his

"foolish

little

contemporaries had in

short of the confidence

fell far

He was

it.

already calling

the

it

daughter" of respectable astronomy. Later he would

write that he abhorred "nourishing the superstition of fatheads" and

that "if astrologers

do sometimes

the truth,

tell

it

ought to be

attrib-

uted to luck." However, he did not fully reject the idea that there

were links between the cosmos and

human

beings. He, like Tycho,

thought that the movements of the planets must in some way

ence what happened on Earth, but probably
less

were, after
it

subtly

a part of his job description. Before long, Graz

had a very able

district

influ-

and

far

produced the calendars; they

his reservations, Kepler

all,

more

was commonly supposed.

deterministically than

Whatever

far

found

mathematician indeed, though he was not

exactly a bearer of good news. For 1595, he

had predicted an excep-

an attack by the Turks from the south, and a

tionally cold winter,

peasant uprising. All of those prophecies

Michael Mastlin, Kepler's mentor

at

came

true.

Tubingen, was particularly

scornful of Kepler's astrological activities. Kepler took exception with

him

in a letter: "If

what harm

is

God

gave each animal tools for sustaining

there if for the

life,

same purpose he joined astrology and

as-

tronomy?"

However, Kepler, the

mentous event

in his

astrologer, failed to predict the

own

life

that year, a discovery he

most mo-

made

in his

classroom. Until then, Kepler had been an obscure teacher with

some mathematical
like

him

skills

and

little

to set

him

apart from hundreds

Now emerged the Kepler who would transform

and also the Kepler whom some would think quite mad,

in Europe.

astronomy,

for the discovery

he made that day sounds to the twenty-first century

almost as outlandish as the astrology for which he was admired.

On July
cant did

it

19,

seem

he kept
him Kepler drew

1595
to

careful record of the date, so signifia

diagram

for his students

on

TYCHO

184

& KEPLER

The drawing demonstrated

the chalkboard.

the progression of the

Great Conjunctions of the planets Jupiter and Saturn; that

Jupiter passes Saturn in the zodiac. Jupiter
est

moving of the

planets that were

known

and Saturn

in his logbook, there

To understand what Kepler

Earth at the center.

enormous

The two

and

in Kepler's time,

Tycho Brahe had recorded the Great Conjunction of 1 563

ond entry

had been only one

when

is,

are the slow-

since

as the sec-

other.

drew, picture the celestial sphere with

planets, Jupiter

and Saturn,

travel in

around Earth. Every twenty years Jupiter catches up

circles

with Saturn, the more distant of the two planets, and passes
Kepler's

it.

drawing showed that these passings, or conjunctions, do not

happen every time

same points

at the

in the zodiac. For example, the

fourth conjunction in the drawing (1643) occurred at almost the same

point as the

(1583), but not quite; the fifth at almost the same

first

point as the second, but again not quite, and so on. As Kepler drew
the lines, each went just beyond joining a former line to

make a closed

triangle. Instead, the quasi-triangle "rotated," creating the pattern

the chalkboard. In Kepler's words, "I inscribed within a circle

triangles, or quasi-triangles,

ning of the next. In

this

on

many

such that the end of one was the begin-

manner

a smaller circle

was outlined by the

points where the lines of the triangles crossed each other."

That second
outer

circle.

circle

was

drawing, half the

visible in his

While the points of the

size

of the

triangle "drew" the outer circle as

the triangle rotated, the middles of the sides of the triangle "drew" the

inner

and

circle.

its

that

at

circle.

The

circle,

triangle dic-

what he had drawn, Kepler was struck by an

made him

wrote

never trespassed into the inner

far apart the two circles had to be.

Looking

opened

triangle's lines

points never went outside the outer

how

tated

The

feel as

book and found

later:

"The

insight

though he had suddenly and unexpectedly

inscribed there the secret of creation.

delight that

took in

my discovery,

shall

As he

never be

able to describe in words."

It

was

in Kepler's nature that as

soon

as

he had resigned himself a

Geometry's Universe

185

Conjunction
Conjunction

No
No

Leo
[Fire]

Scorpius

The

Figure 12.1:

happened

[Air]

pattern of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions, showing where they

in the zodiac.

curred

when

(lower

left)

Sagittarius,

diac

Aquarius

X*

IWaterJ

The conjunction

was

in Sagittarius, in

1623

and so on. The drawing

names and the

the elements

in

1583

the two planets were in Aries/Pisces.

dates

earth,

is

in Leo, in

water

of drawing) oc-

The conjunction

in

1643

1663

in Aries, in

1603
in

from Kepler's Mysterium, with the zo-

added around the rim. The reason

air, fire,

of the appearance of "Kepler's

will

be explained

for the

names of

later in the discussion

Star."

If the conjunctions occurred repeatedly in the

diac, Kepler's

(right side

drawing would have looked

same positions

like the insert,

they "progress," as represented in the central figure.

upper

in the zo-

right. Instead,

2
5

TYCHO

186

& KEPLER

year earlier to teaching mathematics and astronomy, he had put his

whole heart and mind into

with the whole energy of
three things above
this

all

which

pondered on

sought the causes

six planets:

Why

ers,

change

to

its

this particular

mo-

not more or fewer?

moved

speed in a certain way:

change? Like

was

it

from the Sun:

planets orbited at certain relative distances

and seemed

why

as to

the number, the dimensions, and the

those distances and not others? Each planet

speed and

this subject

mind," wrote Kepler, "and there were

There were

tions of the orbs."

The

for

way and not another

their study. "I

my

at a certain

Why this

many great

Why
speed

particular

scientific discover-

Kepler asked simple, naive questions that most scholars of his

time thought not worth asking and to which they would have

sponded

at best

Kepler's genius

with a tolerant smile for a poor schoolteacher. Part of

was that these questions nagged him.

Twentieth- and twenty-first-century scientists regard

mandate

to try to discover

how

simply to describe

tronomers prior to the

why

they

as their

but that was not the case for

are,

late sixteenth century.

incorrect to say that scholars such as

Although

it

as-

would be

Ptolemy and Copernicus never

their

primary concern was to de-

and predict where heavenly bodies were positioned and the

patterns of their

movements, not

where they were and

and

it

things are as they are, rather than

pondered such causal questions,

scribe

re-

to

move

to answer

what caused them

and

to be

at certain

speeds

for concentrating

on the

in certain patterns

distances.

There was good philosophical precedent

one and not the other. In the fourth century B.C., Aristotle had defined a difference between mathematics (including astronomy)

the one

hand and

terpreted to

mean

"physics"

on

that those

the other.

who

His definition could be

studied physics were obligated to

think in terms of Aristotelian "causes," while mathematicians and

tronomers could ignore these concerns. Being

philosophical

hook

proved a great

on
in-

boon

to

let

as-

off that particular

astronomy

in eras

when

looking for causes could have been no more than guesswork.

Geometry's Universe

187

Ignoring causal questions became a pleasant habit. Medieval

tronomers and philosophers thought that

causes, the simple "naturalness" of the

if

one had

to

as-

look for

cosmos was reason enough

for

things being as they found them.

Two thousand

years after Aristotle, Kepler

thinking about such questions

to

what

solar

larger plan

system in

this

these questions

he drew his

is

this so?

What

lies

behind

this tradition,

this?

According

chosen to construct the

way and not another? Kepler knew

might turn out

fateful

as,

Why has God

bucked

that

to be unanswerable, but

many of

by the time

diagram on the board, he had begun to focus

What line of
reasoning was God using when he made things this way? and, What
are the physical reasons why the universe operates as it does? He had
them

in

begun

two questions

to focus that

mously important

that he thought he could answer:

second question in a way that would prove enor-

to

him, asking whether one body in the solar

tem influences the way the others move. Maybe,

Sun did more than simply

sit

Kepler was not the

wonder whether

first

planations for celestial

must be and

When

to insist

to

sys-

for instance, the

in the center of a neat arrangement.

there were physical ex-

phenomena, but he was the

on seeking them

first

to insist there

out.

he plotted the Great Conjunctions for his students in July

1595, Kepler had already tried out and discarded some possible answers to his question about God's line of reasoning. "Almost the

whole summer was

had speculated,

with

lost

size

orbit

was twice the

any similar

lated that there

He

of the planets from the Sun was a scheme in

of Venus's, Mars's twice the

that nor

agonizing labor," he reported.

for example, that the orderly progression that under-

lay the relative distances

which Venus's

this

set

size

size

of Mercury's, Earth's twice the

of Earth's, and so on. But neither

of relationships had

fit.

Kepler had specu-

might be another planet, too small

for us to see, be-

tween Mercury and Venus, and another between Venus and Earth,

and so on, but that had not

The

exercise Kepler

had

fit

set

either.

himself was like some problems on

TYCHO

188

modern standardized

& KEPLER

Given a

tests:

of numbers, discern what

list

mathematical regularity generates the sequence. Find the pattern

behind

On

Break the code.

that

lies

test,

one of the possible choices of answers

no pattern

it.

to this sequence,

a sophisticated standardized

no code." In

is

his

likely to be,

solar system, Kepler rejected entirely the possibility

His Philippist education and

him

his

own

to believe that a universe created

and meaningless or subject

"There

is

attempt to decipher the

of that answer.

natural inclinations caused

by

to arbitrary

God

could not be random

whim. Underlying

all

the

seemingly disconnected aspects of nature, the complexity and the

confusion, there had to be pattern, logic, and harmony. That conviction implied also that there

must be hidden connections between

things that seemed unrelated. Geometry, music, medicine, and as-

tronomy had
must

to be linked at

surely be the

way God

God

created in the image of

some deep

level.

Kepler thought

created the universe; therefore, a

could comprehend the logic and

this

man
dis-

cover the links, with effort.

There

are those

harmony of the

He was

not. His

one of the

who

argue that Kepler's preoccupation with the

universe

pillars

made him

a medieval mystical throwback.

assumption of underlying harmony has become

of the scientific method. There are indeed

many

connections of the sort Kepler was seeking, and these are understood

now

as

he could not understand them.

Some of the connec-

tions he experimented with turn out with hindsight to look ludi-

crous today, but the marvel of the

them

to rigorous testing. His error,

in the context of what he

man was
and

it

that he thought to put

cannot be called an error

knew and could know

seventeenth centuries, was that he had no idea

mony

lies

There

in the sixteenth

and

how deeply such

har-

hidden.
are also those

who would

say Kepler naively contradicted

himself by believing both in divine providence and in a universe not

subject to the arbitrary decisions of God. But Kepler was not a naive

man. He could not dismiss

either side of that "contradiction" with-

Geometry's Universe

189

out being intellectually dishonest. Over the years,

understand-

as his

ing increased, he continued, perhaps aided by his strong conviction

that hidden, deeper resolutions lay

but also out of the simple need to

him was

experience told

life

about both

live

with what his science and his

true, to

be exuberantly enthusiastic

beliefs.

was with an outburst of

It

behind apparent contradictions,

this

exuberance that Kepler reported

the Great Conjunction insight that finally did look as though

might break the code of the planetary system: "Finally

on

to the true facts

a quite

unimportant occasion.

Providence arranged matters in such a

tain

with

this

is

my

all

so as

was given to me.

efforts

have always prayed to

plan succeed,

way

that

said

He

all

could not obthe

Was

by the

triangle.

Jupiter

was about half as

gle

it

and

more

should make

that

my

was the truth." Kepler

stepped back from the diagram and saw that the smaller
half as large as the larger circle,

it

close

believe Divine

what

believe

God

what Copernicus had

if

that

came

that this relationship

circle

was

was dictated

coincidence, he wondered, that the orbit of

large as the orbit

of Saturn? Could a trian-

have something to do with that relationship? Saturn and Jupiter

were the two planets in conjunction and the two outermost planets,

and the

triangle

was the

first

figure in geometry.

(The smallest num-

ber of lines from which one can create a closed geometric figure

is

Kepler immediately began experimenting to see whether a

three.)

square (the second figure of geometry)

would

similarly

fit

between

the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, a pentagon between the orbits of

Mars and Earth,

and so

forth.

hexagon between the orbits of Earth and Venus,

Unfortunately

this

scheme did not match the observed

distances between the planetary orbits. Kepler

those

"known"

Something

distances were really correct.

else

loose, leaving too

triangle

wondered whether

troubled Kepler about his scheme:

much room

and adding

sides

for arbitrary choice.

It

was too

Beginning with a

of equal length produces a square, a penta-

gon, a hexagon, a heptagon, an octagon, and so forth.

One

can go on


TYCHO

igo

& ICEPLER

forever adding yet another side of equal length

number of these

nite

among

surprising if

why

those infinite polygons

mind,

Kepler nevertheless
swer. If only
five

felt

he was breathing

he could discover

of them and not more

why

down

had been chosen

him

ate to apply polygons,

dimensional system.

mensional forms
"you have

in

(two-dimensional drawings),

flat

was not appropri-

"And behold, dear

reader,"

three-di-

he wrote,

there

number of two-dimensional shapes

same length

triangle, square, penta-

no such extensive a

is

collection with

three-dimensional shapes. Experimenting with polyhedrons

solid,

which

solids in

sides are the

teristics

solids.

the edges are the

all

same shape, and

pealed to Kepler

same

length, in

which

all

the

that have other characteristics that ap-

reveals that

of "perfect

only

solids," also

five

known

have
as

all

the defining charac-

Pythagorean or Platonic

Nature, God, Creation, mathematical logic

and no

It

it

your hands." Kepler knew that although

the edges have the

etc.

on

are two-dimensional figures, to a three-

possible to create an infinite

all

to dictate the dis-

considered using solid figures

instead.

my discovery

gon, hexagon,

five

which

He

and not oth-

that while drawings

the real universe was three-dimensional. Perhaps

which

to ask

the neck of the an-

certain polygons

occurred to

It

the chalkboard were of necessity

in

had

still

six planets.

tances between the orbits.

it is

would not be

polygons and not others had been chosen for the design,

these

infi-

were possible to find

achieved nothing, because one

this

and why there were only

ers

it

it

snugly between the orbits of the planets. However, to

five that fit

Kepler's

and produce an

so-called polygons. Certainly

they allow

these

others.

seemed

significant to Kepler that each Platonic solid can be

nested inside a sphere so that every corner of the solid touches the inside surface

of the sphere.

And

a sphere can be nested inside

any

Platonic solid so that the sphere touches the center of every face of
the solid.

To

Kepler's

mind

this

meant

"sphere-like" about these solids.

there

Only of

was something deeply

these five polyhedrons

Geometry's Universe

lgi

The tetrahedron has four faces, all of

The cube has six identical square faces.
The octahedron has eight faces, all identical equilateral triangles. The dodecahedron has twelve identical pentagonal faces. The icosahedron has twenty
Figure 12.2:

them

The

five Platonic solids:

identical equilateral triangles.

faces, all identical equilateral triangles.

could

be said that each can be "inscribed into a sphere" and

it

"cir-

cumscribed around a sphere."

Five figures thus stood apart

from

other possible solid figures

all

because of their simplicity, their mathematical beauty and perfec-

thought Kepler, was what

tion. Here,

when he
were

Sun and

set the

six planets

God must

The

planets in their places.

no more, no was because

less

fect solids to dictate their relative distances.

the introduction to his

have been thinking

book on the

reason there

there were five per-

As Kepler would write

subject:

Behold, reader, the invention and whole substance of this

memory

book! In

of the event,

sentence in the words from that

Earth's orbit

is

am writing down for you the

moment of conception: The

the measure of all things; circumscribe around

a dodecahedron [twelve-sided regular solid]

taining this will be

Mars

Mars

[Mars's sphere]

a tetrahedron [four-sided solid]

this will
circle

earth
solid],

and the

circle

it

con-

circumscribe around

and the

circle

containing

be Jupiter; circumscribe around Jupiter a cube, and the

containing this will be Saturn.

[within Earth's sphere]

and the

circle

Now

contained in

it

will be

number of planets.

inscribe within the

an icosahedron [twenty-sided

contained in

it

will be

within Venus an octahedron [eight-sided

the

little

Mercury. You

Venus; inscribe

solid]

now

and the

circle

have the reason for

in

TYCHO

192

Figure 12.3:

& KEPLER

drawing of the arrangement of the planetary orbits and the

five Platonic solids,

according to Kepler's polyhedral theory, from Kepler's

Mysterium.

Likewise these five perfect solids seemed to dictate the distances

apart these planets

Kepler had

made

must

orbit. In other

fitting a

must

how

in turn dictate
size

he was

how

my

whether

this idea

must

be.

tetrahedron

the size of the sphere of Jupiter compares

of the sphere of Mars

Kepler proceeded to

if

now thinking that the requirement

far apart those spheres

and

test this idea

against Copernican theory

"to see

the drawing

cube between the sphere of Saturn and the sphere of

Jupiter dictated

with the

as, in

for his class, the triangle dictated the size of one cir-

cle in relation to the other,

of

words, just

and the

so forth.

about God's geometric logic

available observational records

would agree with the Copernican

orbits, or

happiness would be carried away by the wind." To his joy and

awe, "within a few days everything worked, and

watched

as

one

Geometry's Universe

body

after

another

fit

precisely into

its

193

among

place

the planets." If

only he had access to better observations, to be certain! Indeed,

only he could study the best observations in the world and could
his theory against

if

test

them. The best observations in the world were

those of Tycho Brahe.

The months
thinking.

that followed

marked a change

of Kepler's

in the focus

He had considered himself mainly interested in the big ques-

tions regarding the deep, underlying truths.

his answers to

some of those questions were

Now,

to find out

correct,

whether

he had to turn

his

and

as-

attention to mathematical minutiae. His earlier mathematical

tronomical training seemed sorely inadequate to the task

had judged

it

inadequate even for teaching school

after

and he

realized

that stupendous mathematical obstacles lay ahead of him if he

put to

rest the

his elation

he

all,

was

to

disturbing doubts that followed almost immediately on

about what he had found. In August 1595 he wrote to

Mastlin for advice and help. In that

letter

his "polyhedral theory." Mastlin's replies

he

first

called his

were cautious but

new

full

idea

of ap-

proval and excitement.

In October Kepler reported to Mastlin that he had decided to

write a book.
ical studies

It

was

clear

now why God had

and sent him into what seemed such a meaningless

exile in

pledged myself to God," he told Mastlin, "so

my in-

wished to be a theologian, and for a while

was an-

Graz. "Just as

tention remains.

guished. But now, behold,

my work."

interrupted his theolog-

God, he

God is glorified also

also wrote,

"wants to be

in

astronomy through

known from

the

Book of

Nature."

Kepler hoped that by the time he finished writing his book, he

would be
dering:

able to answer another of the questions he

Why each of the planets

had been pon-

took the particular length of time

did to complete an orbit of the Sun. This length of time

planet's period. Kepler

nearer the

The

Sun have

first

had learned

as a

is

it

called a

student that the planets

shorter periods than those farther away.

part of the explanation for this was obvious.

planet

TYCHO

farther

from the Sun has

way around

to travel a greater distance to get

orbit, just as a

its

& KEPLER
all

the

runner in the outside lane of a race-

track has to run farther to complete a lap than a runner in an inner

lane. If all the runners in this celestial race

speed, those farther out

were moving

would take longer

to

at the

complete a

same

lap.

But

Kepler thought that the amount by which planets farther from the

Sun lagged behind was

simple way.

It

greater than could be accounted for in this

seemed the runners

in the outside lanes really

were

slower runners, not merely handicapped by their lane position.

Pondering

why

this

should be

so,

Kepler began to speculate about

a possible force, resident in the Sun, that caused the planets to

whirl around
force than

it.

A planet closer

to the

Sun would

feel

more of the

one farther away.

Kepler worked this idea into a formula:

The

increase in the length

of period from planet to planet will be twice the difference of their

from the Sun. This formula showed planetary distances

distances

that were not far off from those he

polyhedrons, but
In every spare

it

was not

moment

of

book.

district

He

his theory

of the

he had that autumn and in the beginning

of the bitter winter of 1 596, while

ties

had derived from

correct, as Kepler himself later realized.

still

teaching and fulfilling the du-

mathematician, Kepler continued to work on his

thought of still more questions:

Was

there any

the particular arrangements of the polyhedrons?

Was

meaning

to

there a reason,

cube must be the outermost, followed by the

for instance, that the

tetrahedron? Kepler was sure there had to be a reason, and he tried to

discover

it,

force in the

When

while at the same time continuing to think about the

Sun

that

might be whirling the

he was putting the

final polish

on

planets.
his manuscript, Kepler's

thoughts focused more on the way a single planet moves in

its

orbit.

Both Ptolemy's and Copernicus's models took note of the way

planet speeds up as
as
ily

it

moves

its

orbit brings

farther away.

It

it

nearer the

Sun and slows down

occurred to Kepler that this could be eas-

explained in the Copernican system by the idea that the closer the

Geometry's Universe

more

planet comes to the Sun, the

it

195

the Sun's whirling force.

feels

The speeding up and slowing down were much more

difficult to ex-

plain in Ptolemaic theory, with the planets orbiting the Earth. This

seemed another good reason

about what

is

moves the

tronomy,"

Copernicus had been right

when he heard about

Mastlin was not pleased

that

to think that

in the center.

He suggested

planets.

as in his

view Kepler was

this idea

might "lead

it

failing to respect that delicate di-

viding line between "physics" (which concerned

physical reasons

why

the universe operates as

it

itself with "causes,"

does,

and the nature

and structure of the universe) and the use of mathematics

theories of planetary motion. Kepler

study by suggesting that physics

of the force

to the ruin of as-

to

produce

was mixing the two

areas of

the whirling-force explanation)

(i.e.,

could explain the mathematics of a planetary system. Interestingly,

Mastlin and Kepler were two of the very few scholars in Europe

who

should have recognized that Copernicus himself had trampled on

that dividing line,

from both

by suggesting that

directions,

his

math-

ematical theories revealed a fundamental truth about the structure of

the universe
truth

made

that

it

is

Sun-centered

and

that this fundamental

sense of his mathematical theories.

In January 1596 Kepler's studies were interrupted by the news

that both his grandfathers
a leave of absence

from

were seriously

his school

Wiirttemberg. Old Sebald, his

had been born, died during

and

his

Kepler's

in person.

traveled

Graz more secure.

It

in

February he took

home

to the

duchy of

whose house Kepler

visit.

visit

Tubingen

to discuss his

Such a publication, he pointed out

mentor, would improve his stature

sition in

and

father's father, in

Kepler welcomed the opportunity to

book with Mastlin

ill,

seemed

as a scholar

ironic to

he had been eager to leave that position

as

him

soon

and make

his

to

po-

that a year earlier

as possible.

Kepler also opened negotiations with a printer in Tubingen who,

on the

enthusiastic

Kepler's book.

recommendation of Mastlin, agreed

The only

stipulation

was that

it

to publish

be approved by the

TYCHO

ig6

The

university senate.

senate,

& KEPLER

though unperturbed about approving

the publication of a flagrantly pro-Copernican book, wanted two

changes.

First,

Kepler should explain Copernicus's hypotheses and

own

his (Kepler's)

discovery in a

more understandable, popular

style.

Second, Kepler should remove a chapter in which he reconciled the

idea of a Sun-centered universe with biblical passages that could be

interpreted as supporting either Copernicus or Ptolemy. Kepler

strongly about this chapter.

He had

settled in his

own mind

felt

that

Copernican astronomy was not incompatible with Scripture, which,

he had concluded, was intended to speak to people living on Earth

who had no knowledge

Furthermore,

it

of the true working of the cosmos.

was not the purpose of the Scriptures to teach them

about these matters. So the Scriptures deliberately spoke in words

that

would make

sense to such people.

As he would put

introduction to another book, Astronomia Nova,

if the

in the

Scripture speaks according to man's apprehension, at such time

when

the truth of things doth dissent from the conception of

men?"

It

seemed

essential

point.

Without

that, the

that he intended
that,

it

book

on

this

fell

short of the glorification of

God

to be. Nevertheless,

though he might be

all

Kepler that a book showing that

to

Copernicus had been right should bring

ment

it later,

"What wonder then

its

readers along

he bowed to the

senate's judg-

right, interpreting Scripture

was not

in his bailiwick.

Kepler also visited Stuttgart during his leave, to pay his respects to
the duke of Wiirttemberg,

who had

earlier

and then so graciously allowed him

Kepler's

first

experience of castle

and was given

ficials

life.

to

supported his education

move

He had

to Graz. This

was

the temerity to ask for

a seat at the Trippeltisch, the dining table for ducal of-

who were

jor achievement.

not of the highest echelon. For Kepler

Gripped by

sire to please princes" (a state

(as

he put

it)

it

was a ma-

"a childish or fateful de-

of mind Tycho Brahe would have been

wise to emulate at this time), Kepler presented to the duke a plan to

create an elaborate

model of the

solar system incorporating the five

Geometry's Universe

Whether

solids.

it

Negotiations and

had gone back

would be

trial

built

was not

to Graz,

stage, the plan

on

settled

this occasion.

runs dragged on for several years after Kepler

with him diverting

to providing detailed proposals, drawings,

At one

197

was

to create

much

fill

model.

a paper

an enormous punch bowl. Each

space between the different planetary spheres

ent beverage, and guests could

of his scarce time

and even

would contain

a differ-

from small

their glasses

faucets

spaced around the rim, connected by means of hidden pipes and

The duke finally decided to admoney to have the model fashioned in silver, but the project
bogged down in problems with the silversmith, and it was never

valves with the appropriate spheres.

vance
got

completed.

With much
Germany

of Kepler's time

for not only Mastlin

estate,

was not wise

met Barbara

Miiller,

owner named Jobst

Miiller,

at

accomplishments

husband or son-in-law
misgivings,

Kepler's behalf
left for

may have

Tubingen and stood him

duke's castle in Stuttgart, they did not

Kepler

in the

for a prospective suitor to disappear for so long.

as Kepler's scholarly

Miiller's

left

Miihleck, was about two hours' journey south of Graz.

former professors

for

stayed

arranging for his marriage.

before he had gone away, he had

the eldest daughter of a prosperous mill

It

from Graz

He

months, which almost proved disastrous to another

hands of representatives back in Graz

Much

Kepler's absence

which he was currently engaged and which he had

The December
whose

but others in the

beyond the two months he had requested.

for seven

project in

had heard of Kepler's new idea

stretched far

away

visit in

spent "pleasing princes" in Stuttgart, and with Tubingen

proving even more hospitable

university

during his

in

make him

in the eyes

of Jobst

impressed his

good
a

stead at the

prime candidate

Miiller. In spite

of

however, the intermediaries negotiating on

had some

success. In

June 1596,

Germany, they urged him

five

to return to

months

after

Graz and pause

ig8

TYCHO

only long enough in

Ulm

& KEPLER

to have his

wardrobes made "with very good

and

his fiancee's

wedding

or at least the best dou-

silk fleece

ble taffeta."

Kepler dawdled three months longer and then came back, expecting a

warm welcome and

congratulations

round. Instead, he

all

learned there was to be no wedding. His prolonged absence had

given Herr Miiller time and cause to reconsider once again, and he

was

now

convinced that

his

daughter could do

better.

Kepler was

much blame Miiller and mentioned frankly that one Stephan Speidel, who may have been working against the match for his own selfish reasons, probably only
wanted to see Barbara better provided for. Though Kepler had exclaimed that when he met Barbara she had "set [his] heart on fire,"
sorely disappointed, but he could not

theirs does

not seem to have been a heated romance.

Nevertheless, that autumn, Kepler doggedly continued his suit for

He may

Barbaras hand.

The

not have been ardent, but he was stubborn.

rector of his school spoke in his favor,

and when,

in a

moment

of discouragement, Kepler asked the church government either to

free

him from

body

his

promise to Barbara or to act on

also chose to influence the bride

his behalf, that

and her family

to accept his

proposal. Herr Miiller, impressed by the authority of the church

skittish

and

about public mockery, agreed to the union again in January

1597, and plans were

set in

motion

for

an April wedding.

As Kepler had recognized, Muller's concern

not unreasonable.

It

was

far

plished anything of value.

for his

daughter was

from obvious that Kepler had accom-

He had no

prospect of ever being other

than a poorly paid teacher, and he could promise Barbara and her

young daughter by
port. Barbara

a former marriage

little

was twice a widow. Her

wealthy cabinetmaker and her second a

respected

man

that he

husband had been

district

until disreputable dealings

Though Kepler

by way of financial sup-

first

came

paymaster or

clerk, a

to light at his death.

requested and received a pay increase on the grounds

would no longer

require lodging in the school, he wrote to

Geometry's Universe

lgg

Mastlin rather pitifully as the wedding date approached,

such that

are

if I

were to die before a year

leave

worse conditions behind

from

my own pocket,

in a

showy

for

at his death.

"My

assets

up, hardly anyone could

is

must make

great outlays

the custom here to celebrate a marriage

it is

fashion."

Kepler continued his

letter to

Mastlin in a vein that indicates

how

ambivalent he was about the marriage plans. Barbaras father and

Barbara herself were wealthy.
rity

and brighter prospects.

It is

certain that

am

tied

what becomes of our

friends,
ter a
I.

and

The

It

alliance gave Kepler financial secu-

also

chained him to Graz.

and

fettered to this place

school. For

a wealthy father here.

few years, need any

It

my

no matter

bride has properties,

seems that

salary, if that

He wrote,

would

suit

would

not, af-

me. However,

could not leave the land unless a public or private misfortune

befell.

public one

Lutheran or
misfortune

me. Yet
to

if

if

the land were

no longer

were further pressed by the Turk

if it

my wife

dare not ask

were to

die.

Thus

safe for a

... a personal

shadow hovers over

more of God than He

in these days allots

me.

Kepler reported that the wedding would take place under ominous
constellations.

dicted "a
there

more

The

best that could be said

agreeable than

was love and

dignity."

was that the

happy marriage,

stars pre-

in which, however,

13
and
Earthly Machination
Divine Right

August 1596-June 1597

The PREVIOUS AUGUST,

his stay in

Germany

into

its

sixth

while Johannes Kepler stretched

month, Tycho Brahe went

to

Roskilde Cathedral, location of the belatedly repaired chapel, for the

coronation of Christian

Tycho had taken too

had suffered recent
trothal,

IV of Denmark. The

lightly

social

child

whose wishes

had come of age and was now

king.

embarrassment over Magdalene's

but he nevertheless

made

a splendid

showing

Tycho

ill-fated be-

at the festivities.

He wore the golden chains of the Order of the Elephant (a symbol that
was prominent
traits

in the

of two kings.

Chapel of the Magi) and medallions with por-

The Brahe

family was

brother Steen bore the royal orb. All the

the

crown

power

to place

lay not

it

on

much

in evidence. Tycho's

members of the Rigsraad held

Christian's head, symbolizing that the highest

with the king but with the aristocratic oligarchy.

In truth, the old symbolism had almost run

was dawning, and

noble families.

it

The

would not

its

course.

A new age

benefit Tycho's relatives or other great

coronation oration, delivered by Bishop Peter

Winstrup, celebrated a philosophy of government favored by the

new king and

his closest advisers, that kings rule

not by the election

or consent of any oligarchy but by divine right. So far that could be

Divine Right and Earthly Machination

201

dismissed as only coronation rhetoric. In the days following the

coronation Uraniborg seemed like

endure

likely to

forever, as

for the festivities visited

host and

its

old magnificent self again and

numerous

He

Tycho.

foreign guests

who had come

played the magnanimous noble

showed off the splendors of his home. Nevertheless, he and

his relatives

were watching the new regime with trepidation, braced

for possible trouble ahead.

Scarcely a

month after the coronation,

the ax began to

fall.

Christian,

conflicting philosophies of government notwithstanding, did not have

complete power that could be exercised without consulting the

Rigsraad, but one thing that was in his

from one noble

to another.

Norwegian

the

fief

power was the

transfer

of

fiefs

As part of a general reorganization, he took

of Nordfjord from Tycho and gave

it

to the lord-

lieutenant of Bergen.

Several times in the past that

same

fief

had passed out of Tycho's

hands and then been restored to him when he petitioned the crown.

He did so now,

using the opportunity to send along a

accomplishments

at

summary of his

Uraniborg, a copy of his published astronomical

correspondence, and a pamphlet with woodcuts of his instruments.

Tycho's petition spoke of the unfailing support King Frederick

given this

work and mentioned

dow Uraniborg
by

his

permanent research

death from doing

ration signed

came of age
ally

as a

that the old king

so.

had intended

by the Rigsraad promising

copy of the decla-

to advise Christian

to carry out his father's will, placing

had

to en-

but was prevented

institute

Tycho even enclosed

II

when he

Uraniborg eventu-

under the leadership of Tycho's descendants.

In spite of the unsettled political climate, Tycho had good reason

to

hope

that Christian

would honor the old

Uraniborg permanently. The chancellor to

paid a pleasant

visit to

Hven, and

king's wishes

whom

his wife

and endow

Tycho wrote had

was a distant

relative.

Christian had clearly fallen in love with Uraniborg during his child-

hood

visit.

Tycho had,

finally,

repaired the chapel roof.

However, the nineteen-year-old king was strong-willed, eager to

TYCHO

202

exercise his

own

divine right,

& KEPLER

and

no mood

in

to respect

an expensive

promise made so long ago by a father he had hardly known.

to regard

Uraniborg

who had become

royal

of the

as a relic

who had

how

forgotten

Christian's shattering reply

in January 1597:

run by an aging

He chose
aristocrat

too proud and powerful to respond promptly to

commands, who had too long

equals,

past,

Tycho had

treated regents

and

rulers as his

to be adequately deferential.

came

to

Tycho through the chancellor

to surrender the fief

of Nordfjord, and

The king also did not choose

endow Uraniborg permanently. Though the letter ended politely

that surrender could not be postponed.

to

with the promise that future requests would be received with pleasure,

its

message was

All Tycho's efforts over

clear.

many years to secome to naught.

cure the future of Uraniborg and his children had

The documents and

assurances he had collected were as worthless as

his peasants' old claim to

own

their land

nothing with Christian that Tycho had

Frederick to bring glory to

would come

there to "see

Denmark,

and

on Hven.

It

counted for

fulfilled his

promise to

so that people of other nations

learn that

which they could hardly

ac-

quire knowledge of in any other place." Christian's father had treated

Tycho

like a well-loved

wearisome elderly

younger brother. The son regarded him

Tycho was not alone

in his chagrin.

weaken the Rigsraad, used the

among

its

as a

petitioner.

The king and

his ministers, to

transfer of fiefs to create animosities

members and erode

the

power of the noble

Tycho's cousin lost Kronborg Castle and was

moved

families.

to a castle

the fringe of the kingdom. Erik Lange lost Bygholm,

which had

already fallen to ruin because of his insatiable alchemical

Tycho's brother Steen lost Munkeliv Abbey,

St.

Hans

on

Cloister,

lust.

and

Saebygard, and his income and influence were severely reduced.

On

Hven, nothing was

as

it

had been. Two

fires

broke out in the

house, though they were extinguished before doing great damage.

peasants were even

more

was short of assistants.

restless

and uncooperative than

A set of expensive

usual.

The

Tycho

medallions with his portrait

Divine Right and Earthly Machination

203

and the Brahe arms and motto that he had commissioned and intended

turned out to be of inferior quality

as gifts to friends

a seemingly

small matter, but they had been part of his plan to restore his honor.

There had been a time when he could have quickly put minor
backs behind him, butTycho was an older

and

resilient,

more

short

pick up

on

all

patience.

the pieces.

Even

so,

not

so energetic

overwhelmed. As the weeks passed,

defensive,

seemed increasingly that everything was

tired to

man now

set-

falling apart,

it

and he was too

He became more and more

irritable

and

with his income and energies severely

re-

duced, Tycho was unwilling to take the sensible

move of cutting back

on

he had fought for

research

his life

son not to

By

and publishing

looked

late

let

less likely

projects. If the goals

ever to be achieved, that was

the

all

more

all

rea-

anything drop.

winter Tycho's political and financial position was deterio-

rating rapidly,

and

out for his work

it

at

became abundantly

clear that

Uraniborg and Stjerneborg.

time was running

He

put Longomon-

tanus in charge of rushing the star catalog to completion, expanding

it

hurriedly from

777

to 1,000 stars

those stars on the great globe.

and inscribing the positions of all

The work

was, of necessity, not up to

Tycho's usual standard of precision and verification. Other assistants

had the task of taking an inventory and

brary.

The immediate

sion in

plan was to close Uraniborg,

Copenhagen, and

press there.

Tycho used

as

set

up

books in

listing all the

move

observatory, laboratory,

to his

his

li-

man-

and printing

an excuse the need to be on the spot while

the diet of the nobility considered his breach-of-promise case against

Gellius, but

The

last

the date

he suspected there would be no return.

observation recorded on

Hven was on March

15, 1597,

on which Tycho's annual pension from the crown was

dis-

continued. His assistants had completed listing the books. After that
note, the journal,

which had recorded events on Hven and

noted daily weather observations with no break since

Before the

move could be completed,

a royal patent

dering two royal commissioners, one of

whom

582,

faithfully
fell silent.

was issued

or-

was Tycho's brother

TYCHO

204

& KEPLEU
had mis-

Axel, to investigate several complaints against Tycho: that he

treated his villagers, allowed the pastor of St. Ibb's to violate the

church ordinance of 1539, and committed other unnamed

injustices.

The two commissioners found the island in a state of confusion and

bustling with activity when they arrived there on April 10. The move
to

Copenhagen was

in progress

and did not appear

to be temporary.

Tycho had packed up everything movable, including the books,

his

laboratory equipment, printing presses, the great globe, and

the

all

other instruments except the four great Stjerneborg instruments,

which could not be disassembled

while Christian

man, and others

April

was

1 1

viewing the

quickly.

The packing continued even

and Axel Brahe were meeting the

Friis

bailiff, alder-

assessing the state of Tycho Brahe's affairs.

and

clear

fair,

and

it

would have been

a fine night for

but by dusk Tycho and Kirsten and their

skies,

six chil-

dren, along with his assistants, the housekeeper, cook, butler, maids,

and other

servants,

had turned

their backs

on the

exquisite house,

the Renaissance gardens just

coming

of Stjerneborg with

instruments shut beneath the

covers.

down

its

silent

The company made

to the

their

into bud,

way by

and the observatory

carriage, cart,

harbor and sailed away from Hven. Tycho would

little

never again see the house he had designed to reflect the

on the

music or

set foot

home

twenty-one

for

In G R A

soil

harmony of

of the beloved island that had been his

years.

later that

same month, on April 27, Johannes Kepler

and Barbara Miiller were wed

own

wooden

and foot

in a splendid celebration at Barbara's

residence. In spite of Kepler's less than sanguine

mood

date drew near, the days and weeks that followed were

as the

happy

for

them. Barbara was only twenty-three, two years younger than he.
miniature portrait

made

at the

time

(see color plate section)

shows

her looking somewhat older than her age, with lovely, intelligent eyes,
a sweet

mouth, and

prominent nose. Contemporary descriptions

Divine Right and Earthly Machination

called her pretty

and plump. Kepler had grown extremely fond of

Barbara's seven-year-old daughter

child.

205

Regina and treated her

as his

own

Barbara was soon expecting another baby.

Not long after

from the

the wedding, the

printers. It

Dissertationum

first

copies of Kepler's

was a slim volume with a long

book

title:

Prodromus

Continens Mysterium

Cosmographicarum,

arrived

Cosmo-

graphicum, de Admirabili Proportione Orbium Coelestium, deque Causis

Coelorum Numeri, Magnitudinis, Motuumque Periodicorum Genuinis

& Proprijs, Demonstratum, per Quinque Regularia Corpora Geometrica

(The Introduction to the Cosmographical Essays, Containing the
Cosmographical Mystery of the Marvelous Proportion of the
Spheres,

and of the True and

Celestial

Number,

Particular Causes of the

Size,

and Periodic Motions of the Heavens, Demonstrated by Means of the

Five Regular

Geometric Bodies). For convenience, that

abbreviated to Mysterium

Looking back from old

age, Kepler

was the point of departure

time on.*

commented

for the path his

life

all

usually

that this small

would

book

take from that

He might justifiably have said the same with regard to

tershed significance for

its

wa-

of science, for though the polyhedral theory

was erroneous, Kepler had been the

first,

and would be the

only, sci-

on

physi-

explanations for celestial phenomena. In the words of

Owen

entist until
cal

title is

Cosmographicum, or simply Mysterium.

Rene Descartes

(in the

1630s and '40s) to

Gingerich, "Seldom in history has so

wrong

insist

book been

so seminal in

directing the future course of science."

Kepler hastened to send copies to other scholars, requesting their

opinions. Galileo Galilei, then teaching at the University of Padua, was

not yet well

known and

perhaps not

Mysterium probably came into

a third person.

his

known

at all to Kepler,

and

hands purely by serendipity through

But Galileo wrote to Kepler that though he had read

only the preface so

far,

he was looking forward with pleasure to reading

"Science historian Bruce Stephenson has quipped that "most of the larger problems that con-

cerned Kepler throughout his career were raised in this book

raised, indeed, in

its title!"

TYCHO

206

the

rest.

He

also

& KEPLER

mentioned that he had been a Copernican

years but not admitted

it

for

leagues. In a return letter written in his

most exuberant

wagon

to

Kepler

style,

urged Galileo to espouse Copernicanism openly, for "would

better to pull the rolling

some

publicly for fear of the ridicule of his col-

not be

it

destination with united effort?"

its

He also begged for Galileo's opinion of Mysterium: "You can believe me,
I prefer a criticism even if sharp from a single intelligent man to the illconsidered approval of the great masses." Galileo did not

would be no

Among

further correspondence between

other scholars to

whom

them

changed

his

mind on

for thirteen years.

him

entirely.

Johannes

from Altdorf who responded favorably

closer reading

and declared

"could derive no profit from these speculations.

tances should be found by observation"; they
that. Professor

that

The

art

at first,

astronomy

planets' dis-

meant nothing beyond

Georg Limnaus from Jena was overjoyed

one was "reviving the Platonic

There

Kepler sent copies of his book,

the reception was mixed. Mastlin agreed with

Praetorius, a professor

reply.

that

some-

of philosophizing."

In his correspondence with Limnaus, Kepler requested information

concerning a famous Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe.

Limnaus's reply mentioned that Nicolaus Reimers Bar was a "specialist"

who had

failed to

"spent

Bar, or "Ursus," as

he had latinized

Bar, or in English, bear),

visit to

some time with" Brahe.

Hven. Using

had

II,

Ursus's ploy been that he

mathematician

at

name

(ursus

is

Bar.

Latin for

world since

he had contrived to ingratiate

for a

was

good

astrologer.

So success-

now ensconced

as imperial

Rudolph's court in Prague. In spite of his

Ursus was not one of the scholars to

copies of Mysterium,

his

emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, who

was always eagerly on the lookout

ful

his

risen dramatically in the

false credentials,

himself with Rudolph

had

Limnaus

Fatefully,

add that there was antagonism between Tycho and

whom

status,

Kepler originally sent

but Ursus noticed the book

listed

in

the

Frankfurt catalog and wrote to Kepler requesting a copy.

That request was not

Kepler's

first

contact with Ursus.

A year and

Divine Right and Earthly Machination

a half earlier, in

who

Graz

November 1595,

at the

praised Ursus highly, Kepler

his polyhedral theory. It

was not

honest in his dealings, but on

sidered disingenuity, Kepler

have in astronomy

my teacher."

In

fact,

urging of a supervisor in

had written

is,

of ill-con-

with your books,

as

letter

your hypotheses," and he closed with the

would

live to regret that

stars

and our

sci-

hyperbole. Ursus's hypo-

certainly did not agree (he admitted later

no matter how much he "loved" them

had the Sun orbiting

either.

letter,

but he had not

Learning about Mysterium, he recognized a

cious opportunity: This obsequious

longer a nobody.

those

Tycho Brahe's system.

Ursus had not troubled to reply to Kepler's

it

were

and the other planets

a motionless Earth

orbiting the Sun. In other words,

discarded

dis-

knowledge

little

Kepler had never read Ursus's books. His

with which Kepler

in the letter),

that

him about

Pride of Germany!" signing himself, "Your excellency's

pupil." Kepler
theses

tell

this occasion, in a flourish

had written, "The

acquired with you, that

also declared, "I love

to

of Kepler to be

characteristic

words, "Take care of yourself, for the sake of the

ence,

207

He had

young

fool, this Kepler,

deli-

was no

authored a book. Ursus saw that he could

strengthen his claim that the "Tychonic system" was his invention by

own forthcoming book De

(On Astronomical Hypotheses), a vitriolic

reprinting Kepler's adulatory letter in his

Astronomicis Hypothesibus
attack

on Tycho. To

scholars

who

read the book,

Kepler had entered the contest on Ursus's

Kepler had no
after

he had

first

way of knowing why

in

it

would appear

that

side.

May

597, a year and a half

written Ursus, Ursus was suddenly so friendly, ad-

dressing Kepler as "most distinguished

man" and "esteemed

friend."

Kepler innocently sent Ursus not one but two copies of Mysterium,
questing that he pass one on,

In THIS
set

SAME

late

if the

re-

opportunity arose, to Tycho Brahe.

spring of 1597, Tycho was facing a fresh

of problems in Copenhagen.

Though by and

large

Uraniborg and

TYCHO

208

the University of

& KEPLER

Copenhagen had maintained

was useful to both

with

promising students, such

as

Longomontanus,

advantage of the opportunities there

mies

among

a relationship that

the university sending

the university faculty.

to

some of

its

most

Uraniborg to take

Tycho had some

Now his presence in

jealous ene-

the

city,

in a

mansion with an observatory that no university could match, provoked afresh the resentment of men who argued thatTycho's research
drained the university of financial support and

its

ablest students.

The animosity came not only from astronomers but also from
theologians who were pleased to see him at bay. Tycho found himself in the crossfire

between two warring schools of Lutheran theol-

ogy, the Philippists,

who were

and ad-

enthusiastic about the study

vancement of science, and the Gnesio-Lutherans, who were

There were other

differences, including their attitude

riage. Particularly relevant for

tolerated

Tycho and

less so.

toward mar-

Kirsten, the Philippists

mutual pledges of betrothal that did not involve a church

wedding, while the Gnesio-Lutherans strongly supported the royal

ordinance of 1582 that had already caused Tycho to stop taking

Communion.
Leaving the island also did not mean leaving behind the problem
ofTycho's tenants.

summons

The

to court.

report of the

two

royal commissioners led to a

Tycho and the peasants of Hven were

to appear

before the king himself. This time the peasants' charges had

do with Tycho's
their

own

more

to

relationship with the church of St. Ibb's than with

oppression. Perhaps they were aware that maintenance of

church property had been an issue between Tycho and the king before,

and that there were

gians at the university.

also

The

problems between Tycho and theolo-

villagers

accused Tycho of letting the

church deteriorate and pocketing incomes and

expropriating glebe lands, tearing

down

tithes for himself,

parsonage buildings, under-

paying the pastor, and appointing and dismissing pastors

Exorcism had been omitted from the

Tycho had not corrected

ritual

this omission.

of

of baptism

at

whim.

at St. Ibb's,

Tycho countercharged

and
that

Divine Right and Earthly Machination

the peasants

had maliciously damaged the Stjerneborg instruments.

The proceedings were discontinued pending

The

pastor of

St. Ibb's,

further investigation.

Jens Jenson Wensosil, fared worse in this

round of the investigation thanTycho

did. Wensosil

found guilty of omitting exorcism from the

ritual

was charged and

of baptism and

punish and admonish Tycho Brahe for living a sinful

failing to

with his

209

common-law

The

teen years.

attack

wife and for missing

on Wensosil was

Communion

life

for eigh-

clearly a thinly veiled attack

who had ordered Wensosil to omit exorcism,

own Philippist rather than Gnesio-Lutheran
sympathies. It was Tycho who had chosen not to take Communion
and violate the ban having to do with common-law marriages.
Crown lawyers knew that attacks on Tycho's marriage were pointless,
on Tycho.

It

was Tycho

thereby revealing his

for

it

was

had the

legal

under the ancient Jutish law

right to appeal.

Unable to touch Tycho himself,

had brought down the vulnerable pastor

prisoned in a dungeon for a

have been beheaded

which any nobleman

to

month

his

enemies

instead. Wensosil

was im-

and, according to Tycho, "would

powerful friends had not intervened."

if

When

Wensosil emerged, he fled to Tycho's mansion.

Tycho suffered an even

greater indignity than having to defend

himself against his peasants before the king or see his pastor take the

The town

brunt of the hatred that was intended for him.

came

to Tycho's

door

in the

Tycho's mansion from

name of

Copenhagen

the king,

and the

city walls

spoiled his view. All

He

ommendation

at

Tycho's

to

still

the bas-

Copenhagen

observatory.

at court.

future employers.

a letter of rec-

Franz Tengnagel, a young

who had been one

1595, departed for the Netherlands.

household,

mounted on

Tycho sent Longomontanus away with

Westphalian nobleman

view of

behind the mansion. Christian claimed they

work ended

became, again, a laughingstock

On June

constable
a

Castle across the water, and or-

dered Tycho to remove the instruments he had

tions

who had

The

more than twenty people,

of Tycho's assistants since

next day, Tycho and his
left

Copenhagen.

TYCHO

210

The

long, lumbering

The

the road south.

children

column of carriages and heavy wagons took

carriages carried

The wagons were

sand books, his manuscripts,

and iron-bound

and

down with

loaded

jewels.

family's clothing

chests containing

Household servants rode

and there were armed men on horseback

tra horses

Tycho's three thou-

equipment, the printing

his laboratory

household goods, furniture, the

longings,

Kirsten, their six

astronomical instruments except four in Stjerneborg,

press, all his

silver,

Tycho and

but Magdalene were in their teens), and the pastor

(all

Wensosil.

& KEPLER

and numerous teamsters

draft animals,

their wealth in gold,

all

in

and personal be-

some of

the wagons,

for protection, as well as ex-

for hauling, loading, tending the

prodding them on and off the boats where there was

water to cross, wading with them through river fords, and prising

wagons out of muddy

good horses

ditches.

for himself and his

riodic checks

on the

Tycho was taking

Tycho probably
two

his entire life

been somewhat prepared

and

brought along

make

pe-

entire length of the caravan.

mansions and four instruments

fidence

also

sons, so that they could

a recent

an observatory.

in

dangerous tendency to forget

it

He had

for this contingency, despite

the favor of princes could be.

Augsburg, he had had

with him, except for two empty

When

he ordered

always

outward con-

how ephemeral

his first

quadrant

at

designed to be easily dismantled, and he had

followed that practice ever since except with the four largest instru-

ments. "An astronomer must be cosmopolitan, because ignorant

statesmen cannot be expected to value their services," had been his

youthful, prophetic words.

More

recently, while

he had seemed to be

struggling to continue at Hven, he had also been

and extensive preparations

man

fitting a

The

to

make

of his wealth and

caravan

wound

where Tycho had

were loaded onto

this

it

in a style be-

stature.

past Vordingborg, the massive castle fortress

lived as a boy. There,

ferries for the

Gedser on the southern

making thorough

move and do

tip

all

the

wagons and the

carriages

next leg of the journey to the port of

of Denmark, where they took a ship for

Divine Right and Earthly Machination

Rostock,

less

Hven. Tycho,
celebrated

than two months

at fifty years old,

211

Uraniborg and

after saying farewell to

was an

exile

him and supported him and

from the country that had

work

his

for

Uraniborg stood deserted, an odd, magnificent

twenty-one

years.

On

of a house.

shell

the wall where the mural quadrant had been, Tycho's portrait gazed at

nothing.

The

library shelves

were empty, the great globe gone, the

al-

No water spouted from the fountain at the cenNo summons came to the garret rooms through the se-

chemical furnaces cold.

ter

of the house.

cret

communication system. Beyond the formal gardens, the four

instruments of Stjerneborg gathered dust in the darkness, the

roofs that protected
night, never pulled

them from the elements

back so that the

David Pedersen, Tycho's

bailiff,

sights

stayed in place night after

could be pointed

summoned

great

wooden

laborers

at the stars.

from Tuna each

day to maintain the manor and occasionally received aid from representatives

of the crown to maintain order, for the peasants of Hven were

ready to tear house, gardens, and observatory

Eventually, that was

Sweden

and

castles

down

stone by stone, use

and make the land a pasture

the materials elsewhere,

what they

did.

homes

stately

Though

all

again.

over

Denmark and

older than Uraniborg are

still

in-

habited or lovingly preserved, nothing remains of Tycho's. There

no record of a

protest or any regrets

per mill was found on

when

is

the cornerstone of his pa-

Hven and removed to Knutstorp in 1824. It

historical museum in Lund, but when the

was donated then to the

museum showed

little

enthusiasm about displaying

it,

it

was trun-

dled back to Knutstorp.*

Tycho's

name remained anathema on Hven

until the late twentieth century did attitudes

and the legend of the

the

common

evil lord

who had

show

its

inscription

still

site

on

of Uraniborg

footprint, restored part of the outer wall

*The paper-mill cornerstone stands today

its

Not

island change

built his detestable palace

land finally fade. Conservators of the

planted a hedge to

Knutstorps Borg,

for generations.

on the

legible.

in

a place

of honor just outside the door of

TYCHO

212

The

& KEPLER

statue of Tycho Brahe that stands in the restored portion of the garden

at the

Uraniborg

site

on Hven.

and a quarter of the gardens, and made Stjerneborg a well-marked

archaeological

site.

They

built a small

museum and

are currently also

trying to repair Tycho's reputation, for the image of

him

as a half-

mad, fire-breathing tyrant had spread into the history books.

Revisionist descriptions of Tycho give

him much more sympathetic

treatment than he has received in the past. In the restored garden at

Uraniborg, a splendid statue of him, robed, instrument in hand,

gazes with powerful intensity at the heavens.

December 1597 another Mars opposition brought Mars particularly close to Earth. "I wish he had been there," Kepler would
In

write
nity,

much

later,

"because this opposition was a marvelous opportu-

not often recurring within a man's lifetime, for finding Mars's

parallax."

The

parallax of

Mars would not be

weapon

in the

win-

ning of the Copernican revolution. Tycho's Mars observations, however,

would

be.

14
Converging Paths
June 1597-November 1598

Tycho had resigned himself

work done during

the

move

to getting little

into exile, but traveling the alternately

muddy roads did give him time to think about the future.
Though he may have suspected that he would never go back, Tycho
had not given up hope. He was not the first among his powerful famdusty and

ily

to be driven out of

it,

be the

Peder

Oxe and

Tycho and

Denmark, nor would

to return

first

and regain former

his brother

Knud had managed no

He had lived here

There were

tual

city

was a tonic

for a while as a student

still

and

many Danes and good

and they received Tycho warmly,

umph and

manage

His foster uncle

less.

his entourage settled into lodgings in Rostock in mid-

June 1597, and the busy academic

nose.

he, if he could
status.

treating

left

to his bruised ego.

missing most of his

friends at the university,

him

as

one who came

with great honor, not in disgrace. His prodigious

in tri-

intellec-

and technical accomplishments and the splendors of Uraniborg

were legendary here. In Rostock Tycho and

his family

could enter

St.

Mary's Church and receive Holy Eucharist together, something they

had not been able

Tycho began

to

to

do

in

Denmark

for eighteen years.

put into motion the plans he had made during the


TYCHO

2i 4

He had

journey.

to restore his
ately. It

& 1CEPLEH

decided on several points of attack.

The campaign

Denmark would

begin immedi-

honor and position

would include

in

a direct appeal to

sure brought to bear simultaneously

Tycho's

still

powerful

At the same time, he would

ment

settle his family,

The

the publication of his books.

that, the

influential people abroad.

entourage, and equip-

semipermanent location and resume

in a

more

secure the future

pres-

from within Denmark (from

and from

relatives)

King Christian, with

his

astronomy and

quicker he could proceed with

would be

for

them

all,

whether in

Denmark or somewhere else. The third part of his plan was to exploit
network to secure a new patron among the royalty of Europe

his

someone

else

with fiefdoms and islands to bestow.

Tycho drafted

his appeal to

King Christian, explaining why he

had moved abroad without taking

Christian of the promises

made by

leave of the king,

and reminding

his father Frederick, the

Regency

Council, and the Rigsraad. Rather than abide by those promises,

Christian had cut off Tycho's income. Tycho closed his letter by insisting that

he would rather serve Christian than any other master

but would seek a patron elsewhere

if

such service could not be ren-

dered on "reasonable terms, and without damage to me."

Tycho had never been an obsequious

when and how

to appear deferential

courtier,

and how

but he had

known

to flatter kings. Yet his

appeal to Christian had the tone of a letter between equals

who had

the right to scold each other about unfulfilled promises, and

certain to bring a negative response. Either

him down,

to turn

sense

and

good

political savvy.

willingly admitted at the time. Uraniborg

administrative burden.

hopes and designed

lenges,

was

Tycho wanted Christian

or his pride and anger got the better of his

Perhaps Tycho was more resigned to leaving

parallax

it

had

and

in

The

research for

his finest

ended

had become an enormous

which he had had such high

instruments

in disappointment.

Rostock he was

filled

Denmark than he

the search for Mars's

Ahead were new

with fresh

chal-

energy and a renewed

Converging Paths

own

sense of his

make an appeal

worth.

He

to Christian

21s

could not in good conscience

fail

to

and apply what pressure he could on

the king. However, he also used that appeal to remind Christian,

and himself,

that the king

proud man of enormous

ling but with a

stature,

who was

domain

was not dealing with a groveling under-

willing to return only

in the intellectual world, in

on

intellectual

his

own

and

social

terms. In Tycho's

he

astronomy

ruled as surely by divine right as Christian ruled

clearly felt

he

Denmark. With

similar impatient, well-warranted, but ill-advised arrogance, Galileo

would

later

incur the wrath of Pope

Urban

VIII.

Tycho had

at least

been astute enough to remove himself and most of his worldly and
scholarly treasure out of Christian's reach.

While waiting

Tycho began putting

for Christian's reply,

the European network he

had cultivated

Mecklenburg, King Christian's grandfather no

cede with the king. His intervention

to use

Ulrich of

agreed to inter-

less,

may have done more harm

than

man whose equal it would be difficult

and who was famous in many lands. Christian, wishing for a

good, for he praised Tycho

to find

Duke

for years.

as a

subservient, compliant Tycho, surely did not take well to this re-

minder. Tycho sealed his friendship with

Duke

Ulrich by lending the

guardians of the duke's two nephews ten thousand dalers

also did
letter

which

not escape Christian's notice. Tycho had cried poverty in his

of appeal.

In early September there had been

Tycho sent out

a feeler in the

thought in terms of

no reply from Christian, and

campaign

islands,

to find a

and the

first

new patron. He

letter

went

to

still

Lord

Chancellor Erik Sparre in Poland, asking about the possibility of obtaining an island in the Baltic

reasons having nothing to

from King Sigismund. For

political

do with Tycho, that suggestion came

to

naught.

Also in early September, Tycho and his entourage

left

Rostock and

took to the roads again. Tycho had decided to seek the hospitality

and counsel of Viceroy Heinrich Rantzau of Schleswig-Holstein.

TYCHO

2i6

& KEPLER

Learning that the viceroy was not

Fortress, they traveled

on

to find

at

him

home

at his seat at Segebert

in Bramstedt.

Rantzau was a prodigious and highly respected

and more powerful than Tycho, and equally famous.

richer,

Tycho had much

richly

adorned

amids.

men
tics

scholar, older, far

as

common. Rantzau had

in

built

many

He and

palaces, as

Uraniborg with Latin epigrams, pavilions, and pyr-

Now in his seventies, he was still an astute politician. The two

proceeded to pool their knowledge and experience of the poli-

of royal patronage.

Though Rantzau

was

lived like a prince, he

only a viceroy and not a suitable patron for Tycho. However, he was
in a position to lend
live until the

Tycho

a castle

moment came

where he and

to return to

where. Rantzau had plenty of

castles.

his

household could

Denmark

or

move

else-

Tycho chose Wandsburg, on

the outskirts of Hamburg.

drawn by six horses and followed

In late September Tycho's coach,

by the long

train

of slower conveyances, rattled over the drawbridge

into the courtyards of this massive Renaissance palace.

man

did dwelling, worthy of a

It

was

a splen-

of Tycho's stature, where he could

maintain the princely image he thought necessary for regaining the

favor of King Christian or
city,

winning a new patron.

where there were engravers and printers

Tycho was planning, and

roomy enough

to set

it

had

It

was

also near the

for the publications

tower with a clear view of the

skies,

up instruments.

In mid-October a courier from the Danish court picked his

among

servants unpacking instruments, printing press, furniture,

and personal belongings

broke the
openly

way

seal

hostile.

and read

to

it

hand

aloud.

He had written

a letter to Tycho's secretary,

It

was

Christian's reply,

and

it

who
was

that he took great offense at the tone

of Tycho's appeal, which Tycho had composed "audaciously and not

without great lack of understanding,

to

you concerning why and with what

Our and

the Crown's estates."

you were Our

equal.

from

We were to render account

cause We made changes on

as if

Tycho had "not blushed

this

day on,

We shall

to [write] as if

be otherwise

re-

Converging Paths

A woodcut of Wandsburg Casde,

spected by you

if

you expect

to find in

217

dating from 1590.

Us

a gracious lord

and king."

Christian also took offense at Tycho's going abroad with "his

and children"

low

(a reference to Kirsten's

implying before

all

status) to

the world that Christian

woman

beg from others,

and Denmark were not

wealthy enough to support them.

It

was a brutal

pique.

It

letter

clearly not drafted carelessly in a

fit

of

confronted Tycho's appeal point by point: Tycho had

abused his position

tithes

and

of the

buildings; he

Hven

as a

nobleman by appropriating incomes and

church; he had failed to maintain the church

had not paid the parson

a suitable wage; he

mitted economic abuse of his tenants. Since

all

had

these charges

per-

had

in-

deed been brought formally against Tycho, and the record was not
yet clear

whether he was

guilty, the

king

may

have had substantial

reason for outrage at the argument that the crown had unfairly transferred fiefs

from Tycho. The

letter

went on

to insinuate that there

was reason to doubt Tycho's claim that the transfer of fiefs had so impoverished

him

that he

had had

to sell his right in

Knutstorp to sup-

port his astronomy, in the interest of the honor of Denmark and the
future of science.
"to lend in

News had

reached the king that Tycho had

money

thousands of dalers to lords and princes, for the good of

TYCHO

2i8

& KEPLER

your children and not for the honor of the kingdom or the promotion of science."

As

terms," Christian replied, "If you

do what he ought
service

We

know how

would not
in

to do, then

and ask about

shall

on "reasonable

for Tycho's willingness to return

it

would

serve as a

you should

ought to do

as a servant

to declare

our

mathematicus and

humbly

first

you

your

afterwards

Meanwhile, Christian

will."

"trouble Ourselves whether

offer

leave the country or stay

it.

Whatever ambivalence Tycho had about returning, and however

much he had been

in exile

expecting the worst, this reply was a blow. Living

and seeking

As he expressed
doubt the time

new

position were

no easy prospect

his misgivings in a letter to a

will

render [Christian]

come when

more

Danish

me and my

Characteristically,

great

friend:

"No

experience and circumstances will

clear-eyed

and

sensitive

greater value to his realm than other useless things

too late for

at his age.

about what

but

it

of

is

will

be

researches."

Tycho took refuge

men of history, many of whom,

in his self-image as

one of the

including the poet Ovid, had ex-

perienced the bitterness of exile. Tycho wrote an "Elegy to Denmark,"

102

lines

of Latin verse modeled on Ovid's

copy of that to Rantzau, he moved quickly

elegies.

After sending a

to other matters.

Though

he would not yet cease pressuring the Danish government to restore

him

to

Hven,

it

was

all

the

more urgent

that

Wandsburg become

temporary Uraniborg while he sought a new patron.

The day

after

Tycho resumed

venting his rage toward King Christian in the elegy,

his systematic observations

of the planets and moved

forward toward the publication of a splendid

Instauratae Mechanica

would

lavish, elegantly

bound

and

describe his instruments in words

woodcuts, document their superiority, and

and Uraniborg. Tycho saw

new book. Astronomiae

this as a sort

tell

of his

life,

his

work,

of extended resume, but in a

printing suitable to be a gift for kings

powerful credential in Tycho's patron search. By the end of the year

he was busy writing a dedication for the book to Rudolph

II,

em-

Converging Paths

219

Holy Roman Empire, who ruled from

peror of the

his court in

whose imperial mathematician was Ursus.

Prague, and

Tycho planned
the last weeks

to use his star catalog as another credential.

on Hven he had driven himself and

During

his assistants, try-

ing to finish "filling out the thousand," in other words, to bring his
catalog

up

thousand

to the

cient star catalogs.

Now,

companied him into

at

were usually included in the an-

Wandsburg, the

exile or rejoined

him

assistants

who had

(possibly only

ac-

two of them

labored in the tower to complete that task. Neither Tycho

at this time)

nor

stars that

his heirs ever published the catalog,

perhaps because Tycho was

unable to achieve the quality he hoped for by cross-checking inde-

pendent

by

sets

of data. However, though the catalog

his standards,

press

European

good enough
rulers.

sion, hand-lettered

At

New Year

Rudolph

to publish,

was good enough

it

to

Tycho produced an elegant manuscript

imver-

on vellum parchment.*

1598, Tycho dedicated

as a gift

may not have been,

and entrusted

teen-year-old son Tycho,

education. In his search

its

safe

this

volume

also to

Emperor

journey to Prague to his

six-

who was starting out on travels for his own

for a new patron, the elder Tycho had cho-

sen his target.

Twenty-two years
tion as

earlier,

King of the Romans

when he had

attended Rudolph's corona-

in the lead-up to

becoming Holy Roman

Emperor, Tycho had made a friend of Thaddeus Hagecius, Rudolph's

personal physician.

They had continued

to correspond over the years

during which Hagecius had become one of Rudolph's most trusted

advisors.

Hagecius was one of the

men

to

whom Tycho

about his Mars parallax observations. Now, by

Hagecius about
go about

it.

letter,

had written

Tycho consulted

whom to approach at the court in Prague and how to

Tycho had additional contacts there

as well,

including the

imperial librarian (an acquaintance since student days in Basel) and

several Austrian

*It

was

this catalog

noblemen who had

not

a better

one

visited Uraniborg.

that Kepler later used.

There were

TYCHO

220

others not powerful

ertheless

enough

& ICEPLER

to influence imperial decisions

As the elegant pages of his new Mechanica came off the

spring of

bound

598, Tycho had the books

where he planned
fine silk

who

nev-

were useful in keeping Tycho well informed.

to send

with metal

them, some in

clasps. Perspective

differently

press in the

depending on

leather, others in

vellum or

drawings that painstakingly

copied nature and drew the viewer deep into the picture were the
height of artistic fashion in the late sixteenth century, and the thirty-

one woodcuts and engravings

their value in

struments

book

in Tycho's

quite apart from

documenting and showing off the wonders of

were superb examples of

than a scientific

treatise,

"mannerist"

this

style.

his in-

Far

more

Mechanica was intended to be the equivalent

of a coffee-table book for the palaces of Europe.

Former

assistants

copies of Mechanica
ops,

and other

who were noblemen

and the

rulers

were soon carrying opulent

star catalog to princes, bishops, archbish-

who had

valuable contacts in

Denmark and

Prague. Tycho's carefully chosen couriers had access to the courts of

Europe and could converse comfortably with princes and other

about Tycho's achievements and

them

stir

rulers

to outrage concerning his

current tribulations. Franz Tengnagel, the Westphalian nobleman

at the age

of nineteen had joined Tycho

with him until the day before Tycho

him

in exile.

Hven

at

left

effective courier.

Elector Ernest of Cologne,

influential cousin

whom

who

1595 and remained

Copenhagen, had rejoined

Though now only twenty-two

an extraordinarily

in

years old, Tengnagel

Tycho sent him

to

was

Archbishop

Rantzau knew to be a particularly

of Emperor Rudolph. Not only did Tengnagel win

the archbishop's deepest sympathy and generous promises of assistance

for

Tycho, but he came away with a gold medallion and a fine riding

horse for himself as well.

The

archbishop, true to his word, wrote two letters

dressed to Rudolph, assuring

land" would bless

him

if

him

that "the

one

whole German

ad-

father-

he granted generous patronage to Tycho

Brahe, the "unique and most laudable restorer of the sciences"; the

Converging Paths

second to the emperor's closest

Barvitius to facilitate

adviser,

Tycho Brahe's

Johannes Barvitius, pressing

case.

Tycho's hands so that he could present

221

These

them

letters

were put into

mean-

himself. Tycho,

while, covered his bases by sending gift books to other parts of his

network. Prince Maurice of Orange promised to try to arrange public

support for Tycho in Holland.

At the same time, Tycho was rebuilding

many

touch with
as

his staff.

noble couriers, and he wrote to some of these

ties,

them

inviting

direct routes

He had

kept in

other former assistants besides those he was using

to join

at

German

universi-

him. Wandsburg was on one of the most

from Denmark

to the rest of Europe,

and

as

word

new address, many young Danish scholars stopped

They gave him repeated boosts for his ego and another

spread of Tycho's

by

for visits.

means of keeping

abreast of

what was happening

all

over the

Continent, not only in politics but also in the scholarly world.

In early

and

March one such visitor

a letter.

One

arrived, bringing Tycho

of the books raised Tycho's hackles the

two books

moment he

saw the author's name: Ursus, none other than the Nicolaus Reimers
Bar

who had been

such an obnoxious visitor

and had caused Tycho so much worry and

had never again been
his library,

at

Uraniborg in 1584

grief since.

Though Ursus

a presence at Tycho's table or nosing about in

he had made a habit of surfacing

Tycho's planetary system as his

astrologer than astronomer

own and

and not

now and

referring to

again, claiming

Tycho

likely to achieve

as

more

anything im-

portant. Since the scholarly world was well monitored by Tycho's

network of former students and colleagues, none of these incidents

escaped Tycho's

ears.

The book that Tycho now held in his hands was even more disNot only did it attack Tycho as an astronomer and plagiarize
his work, it was also a scurrilous personal assault on him and his family. According to Ursus, Tycho had been forced to leave Denmark because he had committed an atrocious crime. Ursus mocked Tycho's
disfigurement, commenting that Tycho could "discern double-stars
turbing.

TYCHO

222

through the

& KEPLER

time

But

don't

know whether or

me for the

at the

usual purpose.

not the merry crew of friends

who were

dealings with Tycho's concubine or his kitchen-maid."

had previously been any question whether Ursus had

If there

plagiarized Tycho's system, this

Ursus jeered, "but

theft,"

wife and eldest

was not yet nubile

was there and so not of much use to

me had

with

Of Tycho's

triple holes in his nose."

daughter, Ursus wrote "the daughter

possessions hereafter."

it

book made

was

intellectual.

The book

also

news that Ursus was now Rudolph

Though Tycho could

it

never hold that

clear

actually

he had. "Let

be

it

Learn to safeguard your

brought Tycho the chilling

lis imperial mathematician.

title

himself, because

it

was too

lowly for a nobleman, Ursus clearly stood in his way.

As Tycho

leafed through Ursus's book, he

cluded a reprint of a

letter

saw that Ursus had

from a young scholar

in Graz.

The name,

Johannes Kepler, meant nothing to Tycho, but the tone of

Kepler had

ter

written to Ursus,

makes thee rank

first

among

the

minor

tween Tycho and

among the

stars"

this

in-

his let-

"The bright glory of thy fame

mathematici of our time

was enough

fawning young

like the

to ensure eternal

sun

enmity be-

idiot.

When Tycho put aside Ursus's book and picked up the second book
he had received that day, he found that by astounding coincidence

was from

this

same

Kepler.

The book introduced

it

new scheme for exThe third item

plaining the planetary orbits using the Platonic solids.

Tycho

received, the letter,

was

also

from Johannes Kepler, asking Tycho

There were only two

possibilities:

Either this Kepler lacked the wits to foresee that Ursus's

book would

to give his opinion of his book.

inevitably
letter

come

to Tycho's attention, or else Ursus

without Kepler's knowledge or permission.

Tycho did not

fire.

with

had published the

react

by tossing Johannes Kepler's book into the

Instead he looked carefully at the

its

dence of
Ursus's.

little

volume. Tycho disagreed

espousal of Copernican theory, but the

a brilliant

mind

entirely out

book gave

clear evi-

of sync with a mind such

as

and knew

it

Tycho had experience judging young

talent

Converging Paths

II

CO LAI RAIMAAI
.-.

$.

VJl

223

DITHUARSI

ROH.C4S", H* UATHEMATICL

DE'

ASTROJSIOMICIS
HYPOTHESlBVS, SEV SYSTESSTUpKOMCJliyH HTTOTHESirM J
fciCKMmn, Mjljnm, vtjitirwm, tv*r* fxfamm fibittf
'" ttlit'o.
s'Jc7/S DtMONSTHATIO,
i

Cum^uibufJiimnnufubtilipmuijpimpendijsetJrli.
TMrmJ fin. <r 7n

fiajtjmplmi i.i

PRAGAE BOHEMORVM APVD AVTa

JlEH:

>4..i ^. B.

The

title

latory

icrii.

page of Ursus's scurrilous book

when he saw it. He must

and not

also

0NI PRIVILtClO.

AS5<):

On Astronomical Hypotheses.

have recognized a fellow master of adu-

necessarily sincere rhetoric. Here, side

Kepler's letter in Ursus's

book

by

that praised Ursus as "first

mathematici of our time

like the

Kepler's letter that called

Tycho

sun among the minor

side,

were

among
stars,"

the

and

"the prince of mathematicians not

only of our time but of all times." Perhaps Tycho was wryly amused
that this ranking did, in fact, place

Tycho concluded

that a

campaign

He

could no longer be postponed.

him

him somewhat above

to discredit

Uraniborg and to come to Wandsburg

the matter.

them.

He

Finally,

der to his

Due

own

and destroy Ursus

wrote to Longomontanus, asking

remember everything he could about

to try to

also

he

Ursus.

as

soon

Ursus's visit to

as possible to discuss

began to round up copies of Ursus's book to burn

set in

motion

a plan to turn Johannes Kepler's blun-

advantage.

to lack of dependable mail or courier service in late-sixteenth-

century Europe, though Kepler had sent his book off to Tycho in the
late

winter of 1598, no news from or concerning Tycho would reach

Kepler until the following

late

autumn. During those beleaguered

TYCHO

224

& KEPLER

months, when Kepler was twenty-six, he had many other concerns in

who was

addition to

reading and reacting to his book, but he found

the time to pen a whimsical description of himself, in the third person, as a "house dog":

That man
pearance

that of a

little

gnawing bones and dry

little

and

is

is

His ap-

agile, wiry,

were the same: he

his appetites

crusts of bread,

that whatever his eyes chanced

he drinks

a dog-like nature.

house dog. His body

and well-proportioned. Even

liked

way

[Kepler] has in every

is

and was so greedy

on he grabbed;

dog,

yet, like a

content with the simplest food. His

habits were also like a house dog.

He

continually sought the

goodwill of others, was dependent on others for everything,

ministered to their wishes, never got angry

him and was anxious

stantly

on the move,

ferreting

private affairs, including the

someone

else,

when

back into their

to get

among

most

and imitating

his

they reproved

favor.

He was

con-

the sciences, politics,

trivial

and

kind; always following

He

thoughts and actions.

is

impatient with conversation but greets visitors just like a dog;

yet

when

the smallest thing

up and growls.

He

is

snatched away from

him he

tenaciously persecutes wrong-doers

flares

that

He is malicious and bites people with his

sarcasms. He hates many people exceedingly and they avoid
him, but his masters are fond of him. He has a dog-like horror
is,

he barks

at

them.

of baths, tinctures, and

its;

yet he takes

good

lotions.

His recklessness knows no lim-

care of his

life.

Kepler's relationship with his father-in-law

"He hurt me with

"though
ality.

my

He wanted

voked him

his

imagination

[all

to take

was not going

well.

contempt and mocking," Kepler wrote,

made

this

away or

problem worse than

alienate

my

it

was

stepdaughter.

in reI

pro-

the more] through the intensity of my anger."

Kepler and Barbara's

first

child, Heinrich,

had been born on

Converging Paths

February

The horoscope Kepler had

2.

22s

cast for

him promised

life far

happier than those of the two previous Heinrich Keplers, Johannes's

father
ther,

and

brother.

"only better,

The

suggested that he would be like his

stars

fa-

with charm, nobility of character, nimbleness of

body and mind, and mathematical and mechanical

aptitude."

None

of that was to be, for the baby Heinrich lived only two months.
In June Kepler wrote to Mastlin,

own

little

"Time does not

son,

[from Ecclesiastes] strikes at

is

vanity.' " In the

same

letter

lessen

my

who had

also recently lost his

my wife's grief,

heart:

and

this passage

'O vanity of vanities, and

all

Kepler spoke of his increasingly serious

misgivings about the religious situation in Graz.

The

tension be-

tween Catholics and Lutherans had been worsening from year

to

The present escalation dated from December 1596, the December after Kepler's return from his leave in Germany. Archduke Ferdinand II had come of

year and was beginning to erupt in

open

hostility.

age and assumed rule over Inner Austria, including Styria and Graz.

Ferdinand's father had tolerated Protestants in his lands, but his wife,
Ferdinand's mother, was a fervent Catholic
tolerance,

who was

and Ferdinand himself had grown up

appalled by this

in Catholic Bavaria

and been educated by

Jesuits.

would enforce

under the Peace of Augsburg and compel

his rights

Protestants feared that Ferdinand

all

his subjects to convert to Catholicism.

For the

few months

first

after

Ferdinands coming of age, those

fears

began to seem unfounded. However, in the summer of 1598, when

Kepler brought the matter up in his

letter to

Mastlin, Ferdinand was

meeting Pope Clement VIII in Rome, and the

citizens

of Graz were

waiting with trepidation to see what changes might follow

right to worry:

The Counter- Reformation

in

They were

Graz was about

to begin

in earnest.

Kepler watched in despair

false

their

as his fellow Protestants

buoyed by

confidence because they had so long held the balance of power in

hands

invited their

own

disaster,

openly taunting Catholics,

circulating vulgar caricatures of the pope, even

mocking the worship

TYCHO

226

of

Mary with an obscene

gesture

& KEPLER
from the

pulpit.

The

Catholics re-

taliated. In the hospitals for the poor, Protestant patients

by without treatment. There were new high

als. Finally,

were passed

taxes for Protestant buri-

the Catholic archpresbyter forbade every Lutheran sacra-

ment, including marriage and Communion.

The Lutherans appealed to Archduke

Ferdinand, but on September

13 Ferdinand responded with even harsher measures, and this time

they affected the Keplers directly.

The Lutheran

college

and

all

Lutheran church and school ministries would be closed within four-

Ten days

teen days.

and

ters

later the

They had

teachers.

archbishop banished
to be

gone from the

all

Protestant minis-

city before the

week

was up, on penalty of death.

Again the Lutherans protested and summoned the assembly of the

The

Estates of Styria.

counselors begged the archduke to repeal his

decree. Instead, Ferdinand ordered that

collegiate preachers, rec-

all

and school employees must not only be out of Styria within the

tors,

previous deadline, but they must depart Graz and

Anyone

nightfall.

failing to

obey would

its

environs by

and

face "the loss of life

limb." Kepler and the rest of the faculty at his school hastily packed
a

few

essentials

their families

and

fled into the

country outside the

one of them other than Kepler was allowed

his position at the school,

was

a valuable
also

him.

he was the

district

a neutral office, neither Protestant

had

argument

who

Not

favor. In addition to

mathematician. Because

nor Catholic,

for allowing Kepler to

friends in high places

leaving

relent.

to return.

Kepler had several advantages working in his

this

city,

behind and hoping the archduke would

it

provided

remain in Graz. Kepler

could make

this

argument

for

He had been carrying on a lively correspondence about scientific

questions with the Bavarian chancellor

Hans Georg Herwart von

Hohenburg. Although the chancellor was

mained

a helpful

had other

and sympathetic friend

influential contacts as well

a devout Catholic, he re-

in the present crisis. Kepler

and knew

that Ferdinand

him-

Converging Paths

self enjoyed

hearing about his scientific discoveries.

titioned for permission to return to the

For the time being, he was

Protestants

still

in

city, his

whose Protestant

soon an end to that

When

petition

Kepler pe-

was granted.

safe.

Graz temporarily found ways

ban on Protestant worship by attending

estates

227

clergy

to

circumvent the
nearby country

services at

had not been sent away. There was

and new ordinances required Protestants

as well,

to baptize their children as Catholics

and marry only

in Catholic cer-

emonies. "Heretical" books were banned, including Luther's translation of the Bible. Searches took place throughout the

city,

and ten

thousand volumes were burned.

Kepler had no teaching duties

now that

the school was closed.

He

new thoughts about the harmony of the

heavens. Von Hohenburg loaned him books he could not find in
Graz, but Kepler did more than read. As he put it, "He who distinspent his days immersed in

guishes himself by intellectual agility has

himself

want

much with

any time."

to lose

result in his

it

was that

new job.
autumn of 1598,

at all.

a letter

also

Kepler, like Tycho,

solution, but Kepler's inquiry there

Meanwhile, the

European mail limbo. Kepler

it.

and

letter

Tycho had written

and book and

praise of Ursus,

from Mastlin concerning the same, were floating about

penned

Tycho was

still

had not learned

a vague invitation to join him.

way Kepler could have

of

would

that

later,

He was making the best of a far less imAn appointment at the University of

in April, reacting to Kepler's letter

actually

does not

network than Tycho's.

aroused no interest

in

years

in the early

Tubingen seemed the obvious

and

He

He was beginning the speculation

was seeking employment.

pressive

inclination to concern

book Harmonice Mundi twenty

keeping his eye out for a

Thus

no

the reading of the works of others.

far

that

Tycho had

There was no easy

acted on that invitation, even had he

known

away, and the offer was not concrete enough to

encourage Kepler to make such a journey.

He

could only go on

TYCHO

228

& KEPLER

yearning in vain for a glimpse of Tycho's superior observations of

the heavens.

TYCH O

brilliantly

during that

from

Wandsburg

his

palace, continued to play his cards

summer and autumn of

signs of having lost his touch as a courtier:

most powerful
chancellor

working

advisers

circle at his

court

Caspar Lehmann

Rudolph heard from

as well as

from

it

this

to the

as gifts.

three

gem

and

artist

illustrations in

air at court:

all

astrologer

and scholars

all

over

books Tycho Brahe

but the rea-

Tycho wished

Soon Lehmann reported

in person.

were

undisputed inner

No book had arrived for Rudolph,

omission was in the

emperor

his

Barvitius

this

that princes, archbishops,

Europe were poring over splendid

had sent them

son for

Emperor Rudolph's

his personal physician Hagecius, his vice

Rudolph von Coraduz, and Johannes

in Tycho's cause.

1598, showing no

to present

that

Rudolph

could scarcely contain his eagerness to meet Tycho and would offer

him

sumptuous dwelling. In mid-August Tycho heard from

other contacts that the time was ripe for

emperor was indeed prepated

him

come

to

to Prague:

his

The

to extend his patronage.

Even while Tycho's fortunes were improving, Ursus had never

been

far

from

his

mind. Longomontanus, having

master's degree at Rostock,

was back

to discuss the Ursus problem.

when

the news arrived from

It

just

for a time that

gave

Lehmann

confidence in the trustworthiness and

much

his

summer, mainly

cause for celebration

that the

abilities

completed

emperor had

lost all

of his present imperial

mathematician.

By September 29 Tycho,

his family,

and

his retainers

had packed

everything up for another move, and the great household was ready
to depart

the

from Wandsburg. Instruments,

wagons

again, lashed

down and

library, furniture

were on

protected from the weather.

The carriages were brought, and the horses harnessed. Footmen

helped Kirsten and the children into their carriages.

The armed

es-

Converging Paths

mounted. Tycho's

corts

carriage with

229

its six

horses led the way, and

the long train of animals, wagons, carriages,

line, rattled

and outriders

fell

into

back across the drawbridge of Wandsburg, and turned

south along the Elbe River, in the direction of Prague.

This time, the journey was more

like a royal progress

than moving

house. There had been time to prepare, have proper clothing

and

for himself

friends

and children, inform noble and scholarly

and kinsmen that he would be

By October

5 the

where Tycho
aged

his wife

Duke Otto

calling

on them along the way.

convoy reached Harburg, not

elicited
II

made

another

letter

far

of reference,

from Hamburg,

this

one from the

of Braunschweig-Liineburg to the imperial high

steward at the court.

When they reached Magdeburg, Tycho took advantage of the presence of an old friend and correspondent, Rector Georg Rollenhagen,
to further his

Tycho had

campaign

first

to crush Ursus.

It

was from Rollenhagen that

learned about Ursus's earlier book, Fundaments of

Astronomy, in which Ursus claimed the Tychonic system as his own,

touch with Lehmann,

his brother,

Tycho now took the opportunity

to question

and Rollenhagen had put Tycho

at the imperial court.

Rollenhagen in

detail

about an incident in

1 586 when Ursus, asked

to

had proved mysteriously incapable of

explain his planetary system,

doing so

in

further evidence that he

had not invented

it

himself.

Rollenhagen supported Tycho's decision that a nobleman should not

sully himself by disputing directly

high that pig farmer had risen

no matter how

with a pig farmer

but should

allow lawyers, clients, and

friends to take care of this matter for him.

Tycho had
ing

it

clear

also

Erik Lange to Magdeburg. After mak-

he would not cooperate with Lange's "appalling plan" to

accompany him
his

summoned

to Prague to interest the

emperor

in underwriting

experiments for turning base metals into gold, Tycho compelled

Lange

to testify before a notary

years ago at Uraniborg.

By

this

about Ursus's behavior those

time Tycho must have

up hoping that Kepler would ever respond

all

many

but given

to his letter of the previ-

TYCHO

23 o

& KEPLER

ous April, which had included a request for a document Tycho could
use against Ursus.

The

stop in

Magdeburg gave Tycho time

might not work against

to consider

his interests to arrive in

whether

it

Prague accompanied

by family and twenty-two wagons,

as

ing himself on Rudolph's mercy

on the other hand, an overconfi-

man

dent

commitment

tions having to

good

an

much

move might even

to retreat for a time,

excuse, to return to his family

pelling of all, the journey

with

to the

cast-

for granted.

help in negotia-

do with how generous the emperor's patronage would

seemed advisable

it

though he were a refugee

taking Rudolph's munificence too

lack of total

be. If

or,

Tycho would have a

and work. Perhaps most com-

would go much more quickly than

it

could

the wagons, and winter was not far away. Tycho reverted to

all

earlier

plan of taking a small

of his instruments with him.

company of assistants and only a few

He left the other instruments and much

of the baggage train in Magdeburg, and Kirsten and their daughters

and

servants, escorted

by Longomontanus, returned

Tycho continued the journey with

tainers,

his

to

Wandsburg.

two sons and a few other

re-

including the superbly effective Tengnagel.

They

still

did not ride posthaste to Prague, but stayed a

Dresden while waiting

month

in

for surer confirmation that a suitable wel-

come awaited Tycho. Word came that the emperor was delighted to
hear he was on his way to Prague, but that an epidemic was raging in
the area, winter was closing in, and the court had temporarily moved
Tycho was advised

from the

city.

winter in

Wittenberg, Martin Luther's old

to wait until spring.

city.

He

decided to

15
Contact
November 1598-June 1599

November

late

In

opened
Kepler

a letter

knew

that he

had made

astrous results for his career,

clear precisely

The

reply

or early

December 1598, Kepler

from an extremely agitated Mastlin. This was the

what the

a fool of himself with potentially dis-

and

Mastlin's letter did not even

situation was, except that

Tycho had written Kepler shortly

two books and Kepler's

first

it

it

was bad.

after receiving the

Wandsburg never reached

letter at

make

Kepler.

But Tycho had sent Mastlin a copy, and Mastlin, reading that

in

June and assuming that Kepler had the original, had immediately
written to Kepler, reprimanding

Mastlin himself had warned

him

Then

had

Mastlin's reprimand

months

him

for praising Ursus

that the man's

also

work was

worthless.

gone astray and taken

finally

ful as

five

to reach Kepler.

Kepler asked Mastlin to send him a copy of Tycho's April

and

when

had that

in his

hands

he had been expecting.

It

in February. It

letter,

was not nearly so aw-

was even rather

polite

and compli-

mentary. Although Tycho expressed some reservations about the

extremely ingenious and

polyhedral theory, he wrote that he found

it

hoped Kepler would

Tychonic system.

try applying

it

to the

He went

TYCHO

23 2

on

comment, however,

to

& KEPLER

that Copernicus's

measurements

for the

planetary distances were not accurate enough for the purposes to

which Kepler was putting them, and Kepler might want

stead the

more

Tycho's

to use in-

accurate observations that he, Tycho, had made.

hook dangled

enticingly before Kepler's eyes.

overjoyed that he penned in the margin,

"One can

He was

so

see his high opin-

ion of my method."

There was, however, more

to Tycho's letter, a lengthy postscript

containing what was, under the circumstances, a remarkably

strained complaint about Kepler's unctuous praise of Ursus.

re-

Tycho

wrote that he could not imagine that Kepler had been aware that
Ursus would use his

He

tion."

letter in his

"defamatory and criminal publica-

suggested that Kepler might give

him

a statement of his

opinion of Ursus's behavior, which document Tycho could use in

le-

gal proceedings against Ursus.

Tycho had given Kepler

and had named the

a glimpse of the reward that

a separate letter to Mastlin,

more

severely

Tycho had

criticized

and complained about the

might be

his

knew

that in

Mysterium

much

price of his forgiveness. Kepler also

letter reprinted in Ursus's

book. Tycho surely anticipated that Kepler's influential mentor

would communicate with

his errant pupil,

between

criticism

and reprimand on the

flattery

and he was treading

a del-

and encouragement on the one hand and

icate line

other.

Even before he had read the copy of Tycho's

actual

words

to

him,

Kepler had taken Tycho's bait on the strength of Mastlin's correspondence.

He had

also

not seen Ursus's book and did not

know whether

Ursus had quoted him correctly or distorted what he had written.

Kepler could not even remember precisely what he had written, nor
did he

know which

letter

Ursus had quoted, for there had been more

than one, and he had not kept copies. In a blind panic about the appalling situation he

of the age,

who

had got himself into with one of the

actually

was inclined to

like his

great

men

work, Kepler threw

Contact

himself at Tycho's feet in a long

quence and dramatic

Why does
a

man

play

market

begged him

and behold,

My

spirit

him

ion of him, this

is

... If he

were

were wise he would not

The nobody,

place.

with joy over the discovery

sire to flatter

if he

man who would

for a gift

from the beggar.

my flatteries?

on

[Ursus] set such value

in the

with characteristic elo-

flair:

searched for a famous

I

reply, written

he would despise them,

them

233

it

praise

that

was then,

my new discovery.

who

was he

dis-

extorted a

gift

was soaring and melting away

had

just

made.

If,

in the selfish de-

blurted out words which exceeded

to be explained

my opin-

by the impulsiveness of youth.

Tycho's response this time was gracious, but he kept Kepler in his
place by saying that he

had not required such an elaborate apology.

That WINTER, Tycho was sumptuously lodged in a famous old

house that had once belonged to Melanchthon, with space and time
for his studies
tions. Kirsten

and chemical work and

and

tellectual friends

their children joined

who

set

for attending to his publica-

He was surrounded by in-

him.

enormous value on

his

company, and he was

temporarily not required to fawn over kings or emperors. Tycho

that the success of his pilgrimage to seek imperial patronage

on

his

knew

depended

continuing to appear frequently and splendidly in public, main-

taining a reputation in his

tensive

own

field

but also

as

someone with an

knowledge of natural philosophy and the

could have suited him

better.

He was

arts.

No

ex-

situation

in his element.

Even though Rudolph's patronage seemed almost assured, Tycho

had experienced the mercurial nature of kings and knew he could not
take

it

for granted that the

research permanently

and

emperor would
in as

offer to

generous a manner

fund him and

as

his

he required.

It

TYCHO

234

might

still

happen

that he

& KEPLER

would be greeted

as a distinguished visitor,

converse with the emperor, but only be given gold chains and medallions

and

finally

have to return to Wandsburg. Worse

might grant him no audience

word of influential

the

good

but

as a contract,

Tycho, for

Rudolph

friends
it

possible to

make

all.

and informants

and

yet, the

emperor

Power brokerage was such

was nothing signed,

his assurances

all

as a supplicant.

at

letters,

was almost

at court

sealed,

would

still

Hence Tycho continued

that

and

as

delivered.

be approaching

to use every

means

Prague stronger, not neglecting to

his position in

He

curry favor in other courts as well.

dispatched Tengnagel across

the Alps to present copies of Mechanica and the star catalog to rulers
in Venice, Florence,

and

for Tycho.

and Parma. Again, Tengnagel did well

The Order of San Marco

in Venice gave

for himself

him

a knight-

hood, and he secured for Tycho the favor of the doge of Venice,

Grand Duke Ferdinand de Medici

ily

of Parma,

all

in Florence,

of whom had close

There had been a belated

flicker

ties

and the Farnese fam-

with the court in Prague.

of hope for Tycho in

Denmark the

King Christian had married Princess Anne

previous autumn.

Catherine of Brandenburg, and Viceroy Rantzau had attended the

wedding.
ents,

On

their journey

home

in

mid-December, the brides par-

Margrave Joachim Frederick and Margravine Catherine of

Brandenburg-Kiistrin,

Rantzau arranged

for

and Rantzau make

passed through

Tycho

to

and

meet them. So convincingly did Tycho

their case that the

up Tycho's cause with

Schleswig-Holstein,

new

royal in-laws agreed to take

their son-in-law Christian. In January, the

mar-

grave became elector of Brandenburg, which meant he was even better

positioned to exert influence.

They

He and

his wife

wrote to Christian.

even took care to disguise their letters as personal family corre-

spondence so that they would not be intercepted,

had enemies

at

for

Tycho knew he

the Danish court and even suspected that the reply to

his earlier appeal

had not been written by King Christian himself. The

margrave's and margravine's letters nevertheless

hands and were too

much

fell

delayed to be of any use.

into the

wrong

Contact

By

this

aged by

He

omy.

time Tycho, with his eyes

this setback

set

on Prague, was

discour-

less

than by another having to do with his astron-

heard from Longomontanus,

hood home

23s

there in late January,

and

it

returned to his boy-

had occurred half an hour

Tycho had predicted. Tycho's plan

theory to the emperor

who had

he had observed a lunar eclipse from

in Jutland, that

book about

to present a

when he had

earlier

than

his lunar

audience had to be

his first

scrapped in favor of another manuscript about daily solar and lunar

positions for 1599. Nevertheless, Tycho's hopes were finally reaching

By March he had

fruition.

sired to receive

him

Tycho had bookbinders

and lunar

solar

his

create a presentation

He

positions.

him

Rostock, asking

summons: His Imperial Majesty de-

in Prague.

to

come

bought new, superb carriage

quickly and travel with him.

as gifts

again

and

for his

own

He

horses. In his chemical laboratory he

cooked up medicines against plague and other

him

copy of the book of

wrote to Longomontanus, then in

use.

when Magdalene became

diseases to take with

The journey

to Prague

seriously

and then delayed yet

ill,

again because the spring thaw and heavy rains

made

was delayed

the roads im-

passable.

At

last,

on June

14, 1599,

Tycho and

his

entourage

left

Wittenberg,

overnighted with lavish entertainment at Castle Pretzsch along the

way, and arrived at Dresden, where Kirsten, their children, and the servants

would wait

in the

household of a high Saxon

his finest carriage

with the

son and servants

for

official.

Tycho, in

new horses, accompanied only by his

Longomontanus had not

ceeded to Prague. Early in

July, as

yet arrived

they approached the

eldest

city,

pro-

Ursus

slipped away.

In

Prague.

RAZ

He

Kepler heard about Tycho's triumphal entry into

also heard

about Ursus's ignominious departure.

no idea whether these events had any relevance

to his

own

He had

prospects.


TYCHO

236

The only thing

& KEPLER

that could be said

was that Tycho had come

nearer.

It

was no longer completely out of the question that Kepler might

someday

travel to

work seemed

to

meet him. The

him

successful continuation of Kepler's

increasingly to

depend on being

able to consult

observations that only Tycho could supply.

The summer of 1599 was

ond

child, Susanna,

a tragic one for the Keplers. Their sec-

born in June, lived only

thirty-five days. Kepler

refused a Catholic burial for his infant daughter

stubbornness.

had

pay

to

it

When

for his

he appealed, the fine was lessened, but he

and was forbidden

As he grieved

and was fined

to

bury the tiny body

for his child, tried to

comfort

still

until he did.

his wife,

and worried

how long they could hold on in Graz, Kepler's mind was also
busy in a new and happier direction. He wrote to Edmund Bruce, an
English acquaintance living in Padua, about a new theory he thought
about

might

interest Bruce's friend Galileo,

and he described the theory

in

Mastlin and Herwart von Hohenburg. In his search for an-

letters to

swers to the questions that interested him, Kepler had begun to look
to music.

He was

not being

illogical, mystical, or, for that matter,

original.

One

of the most profound and far-reaching intellectual advances

in the history

when

of human knowledge occurred in the sixth century

ematical relationships hidden in nature.

made

this discovery,

glimpse into the

mony
as

B.C.

the Pythagoreans recognized that there are fundamental math-

is

and

it

seemed

mind of God.

It

was

in

to them, with

music that they

ample reason,

Plato also recognized that musical har-

a manifestation of deep mathematical relationships,

Kepler would

later,

and

he,

speculated about the possibility that the

arrangement of the cosmos might be another of those manifestations.

Tycho had been thinking along the same

lines

when he designed

Uraniborg: Plucking the string of a harp produces a musical tone

the "ground note" or "fundamental." If one presses the string

one and plucks

at its center

original

creating, in effect,

two

down

strings each half as long as the

again, the tone

is

an octave higher than the


Contact

A ratio of string length one to two produces the octave;

fundamental.

two

237

to three produces a fifth; three to four, a fourth; four to five, a

major

third; five to six, a

five to eight, a

1:2:3:4,

minor

minor

sixth.

third; three to five, a

The

major

sixth;

and

ancients preferred only the ratios

but Kepler learned of more modern music that used the

other ratios as well. All these ratios produce musical intervals that

human

"harmonious." There

ears find

tween these lengths of string, these

For Kepler
bers.

this

He was no

was not

some deep connection

is

ratios,

at root a

be-

and the human mind.

matter of mathematics or

num-

numerologist. For him, the most fundamental

was geometry, a

tribute of nature

clearer

at-

and simpler demonstration

than mathematics that some things are possible and others are not
that

some

things

"fit,"

and others do

not.

It

was the link between

geometry and musical harmony that intrigued him.

Kepler's polyhedral theory failed to explain

two things about the

solar system

about which Kepler was particularly curious. The

was the

of the planetary "eccentricities." In Ptolemy,

size

planet's orbit

first

when

was not precisely centered on Earth, but rather on a

point near Earth, the orbit was said to be "eccentric." Similarly, a

Copernican

like

Kepler called a planetary orbit eccentric

to be centered not precisely

on the Sun but near

it.

if it

seemed

Kepler wanted to

know how eccentric the orbits of the planets were, but he also
wanted to know the physical reasons why a planet had a certain degree of eccentricity

and not another.

The second question his polyhedral theory could not answer was
how a planet's distance from the Sun was related to the length of time
it took to complete one orbit, known as its period. Kepler had discussed that relationship in Mysterium, but not to his satisfaction.

Again, he wanted to
physical causes
his belief that

why

know not just how they were

this

must be

so.

related but also the

Kepler continued to adhere to

God's creativity lay deeper than merely setting things

up and moving them around. God, he was

certain,

had established

an underlying logic and perfect harmony from which

all

things had

TYCHO

238

to proceed. Kepler
logic

was pure

had already found

delight,

it

which he

felt

harmony was

ating. Since musical

vine logic,

& KEPLER
that discovering pieces of this

must echo God's

delight in cre-

a manifestation of that

seemed a highly promising area

in

which

same

di-

to find links

with the cosmos.

His

first results

and

to Bruce,

seemed

to indicate that

to Mastlin in July 1599,

von Hohenburg, Kepler pointed out

he was

and

that his

right. In his letters

little later

to

Herwart

new "harmonic

theory"

gave more accurate predictions than a theory he had earlier included

He was

in Mysterium.

something similar
if

the lyre

is

to

suggesting that the planets,

hung up

he put

to each other in the

if

same

it)

moving through

way the strings of a lyre do

moves across them. The ve-

the

so that the breeze

locities (the "vigor," as

nious chord

made sounds

air,

of the

six planets

might be

would produce

relationships that

one translated them into lengths of

related

harmo-

strings

on

stringed instrument. For example, say the relationship between the

velocities

of Saturn and Jupiter was 3:4.

On

a stringed instrument a

3:4 ratio between string lengths produced the musical interval of a

fourth.

It

followed, said Kepler, that the "interval" between Saturn

and Jupiter could be thought of as

out

this

scheme with

all

a musical fourth. Kepler

the planets' velocities.

worked

He calculated the pro-

portions of their velocities as follows: Saturn to Jupiter, 3:4

fourth; Jupiter to Mars, 4:8 (or 1:2
(4:5

Venus

major

to

an

octave);

Mars

Earth to Venus, 10:12 (5:6

third);

Mercury, 12:16 (3:4

Kepler built up a chord, a

From

a fourth).

major chord

in

all

to Earth, 8:10

minor

third);

these intervals,

what musicians

call its

"second inversion (see figure 15.1)." Kepler was not entirely pleased

with
in

this

second inversion.

root position

He would

have preferred the chord to be

major chord with

However, he wrote with a shrug, "thus

Having chosen the

velocities

were not

far off

as the lowest note.

in the heavens."

with the goal of creating a harmo-

nious chord, Kepler was encouraged

intervals

it is

when he found

that the musical

from the spatialintervals between the plan-

Contact

239

Mercury

Venus

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

-Q

Saturn

Figure 15.1: Kepler's 1599 planetary chord.

ets in his

time
set

it

The

polyhedral theory.

planetary periods

took each planet to complete

out to calculate

in relation to

how

orbit

its

were

the

well

amount of
known. He

large the different planetary orbits

one another

his

Copernican

results

principles.

harmonic theory was

in

to be

the planets, with these periods, were

if

traveling at the velocities his musical intervals predicted.

compared

had

with

the

Though

orbital

still

somewhat

far

sizes

Then he

calculated

from

from perfect agreement,

his

better agreement than his polyhe-

dral theory.

Kepler proceeded to sort out what he had learned from each theory.

The harmonic theory allowed him

tances

gave

from the Sun,

him

relative to

empty

the thickness of the

which the planets moved.

He

to figure out the planets' dis-

one another. The polyhedral theory

spaces between the spheres in

thought that the space

left

over might

be the space required by the planetary eccentricities, for a sphere

had

to be thick

enough

to

accommodate

the eccentricity of the

The task then was to figure out how

among the different spheres. It
answer to the question of why the eccen-

planet's orbit (see figure 15.2).

to distribute that leftover space

seemed possible that the

tricities

of the planets' orbits were what they were was that any other

eccentricities

would

spoil the

harmony.

Kepler soon wrote to Mastlin about a clever way he had found to

late his

arrangement of the Platonic

solids to three

of the

re-

five intervals

TYCHO

240

& KEPLER

Figure 15.2: In this drawing, the borders of the planet's sphere are

broken

lines,

the orbit

roomy enough

to

by

a continuous line.

accommodate

The

the planet's eccentricity. In other words, the

planet had to be able to travel in the parts of the orbit where

and

farthest

sphere.

was nearest

to

from the Sun without breaking out beyond the borders of

its

The more

in his chord.

It

it

eccentric the orbit, the thicker the sphere needed to be.

was the

sort

of connection Kepler loved. The polyhe-

dron that separated the spheres of Saturn and Jupiter

a cube.

shown by

sphere of a planet had to be

Each corner of a cube

is

in his theory

the meeting place of three

was

squares,

flat

and the corner of each of the three squares

is

a ninety-degree angle.

Add

is

270

those three angles together, and the

sum

degrees.

The

between 270 and 360 (the number of degrees in a complete

3:4.

Thus

it

seemed appropriate

ratio

circle)

is

to Kepler that the musical interval

that requires a ratio of string lengths 3:4 should define the space inter-

between Saturn and

val

interval

Jupiter. Similar relationships

worked

Kepler confided to Mastlin and Herwart von Hohenburg,

the

summer,

felt as

for the

between Jupiter and Mars and between Earth and Venus.

that having

though he had

come

"a bird

later in

thus far with his harmonic theory, he

under

a bucket."

His sense was that the

Contact

harmony he was suggesting

therefore surely

had

reflected the

it,

mind of

and when he

did,

fact,

it

and

the Creator

thought

to be carried out in the cosmos. Kepler

he was close to an answer. In

found

241

would be twenty

years before he

he would also have discovered

his third

law of planetary motion.

In the meantime, Kepler's great frustration was that being so near,

he believed, to resolving the discrepancies in his theories, he lacked

precise, accurate values for the

and the dimensions of the

observed eccentricities of the planets

solar system. Kepler

instruments of sufficient quality to

himself.

The only man

in the

Kepler also longed to

world

make

who

had no astronomical

the necessary observations

did was Tycho.

know whether Tycho's

observations revealed

any tiny differences in the altitudes of the Pole Star

stice
still

and the equinoxes. The absence of any

that

Tychonic system, no matter

planetary system as

theory of

"little

celestial

However, Kepler
like

remained troubled by the

fact

also

little

who had

To Mastlin he wrote of Tycho's

was
visi-

be so inconceivably

At the same time, Kepler had

sol-

ought to be

Copernican astronomy, combined with the absence of

parallax, required the stars to

own

winter

stellar parallax shift

a difficulty for a Copernican, because the shift

ble as Earth orbited the Sun. Kepler

at the

stellar

far away.

respect for the "patchwork"

thought of it, Tycho or Ursus.

ideas about the

arrangement of the

paper houses" and wondered whether his

harmony might not

easily

blow them

over.

wrote that he was reluctant to contradict a

Tycho, especially since he needed Tycho's observations.

man

If only,

he complained, Tycho would publish them so they would be widely

available, or, failing that,

be persuaded to send Kepler the informa-

tion he needed. "I did not wish to be discouraged, but to be taught,"

Kepler complained to Mastlin, rankled by the reservations about

Mysterium that Tycho had expressed. Kepler could hardly contain

impatience.

"My

wealth. Only, like

opinion about Tycho

most

rich

is

this:

his

he has abundant

men, he does not know how

to

make

proper use of his riches. Therefore, one must take pains to wring his

TYCHO

242

treasures

from him,

lish all his

To

to get

from him, by begging, the decision

to

pub-

observations without reservation."

Kepler,

Tycho was coming

hoard of gold, not able to put

not even recognizing

anyone

& ICEPLER

else to

its

glimpse

it

to resemble the

dragon nesting on a

to use in a meaningful

way

himself,

true value, but too fearful of thieves to allow

it.

Kepler was not above putting his

scheming. There must be other ways to get

begging the decision to publish."

at this

mind

to

hoard than "by

16
Prague Opens Her Arms
July 1599-Fehruary 1600

TYCHO BRAHE'S RECEPTION

all

fears that his

in Prague quickly allayed

journey might have been in vain. Johannes Barvitius,

the emperor's private secretary

and one of the triumvirate who had

brokered Tycho's relationship with the imperial court, met him in a

garden near Rudolph's palace. Tycho showed him the three books he

had brought
said he

for

would

to receive

Rudolph and the

summoned

of introduction. Barvitius

what way and from whom Rudolph wished

The answer Tycho hoped for came a day later: The

find out in

them.

emperor wanted to
be

letters

receive

them from Tycho

himself,

and he would

into Rudolph's presence shortly.

Meanwhile other high-ranking

comed Tycho warmly and

officials at the

imperial court wel-

expressed their outrage that King

Christian had so sadly undervalued his achievements. Tycho replied

diplomatically by defending the Danish king and praising his talents.

When

the discussion turned to the ignorance and villainy of others

at the

Danish court, Tycho was only

slightly

more

willing to agree

but quickly turned the conversation by commenting that "perhaps

God

has acted by

some

special providence in order that the astro-

nomical investigations with which

have been so long and so thor-

TYCHO

244

now come

oughly occupied should

credit of the

& KEPLER

Barvitius drove

Tycho

cent palace in the Italian

in his carriage to "a splendid

style,

and magnifi-

with beautiful private grounds,"

on the pinnacle of the same

ated

elsewhere and redound to the

emperor himself."

hill

on which Rudolph's

situ-

glorious,

sprawling complex stood. Barvitius pointed out the advantages of

the mansion, including a tower that might serve for astronomy, and
told

Tycho

that if he liked

the emperor was willing to purchase

it,

it

him.

for

While they toured the house and grounds, Tycho found

ways of letting Barvitius know "from what

said

and did not

subtle

say" that

the tower was inadequate to hold even one of his instruments and that

he was not overjoyed with the house. The emperor had foreseen
possibility,

and Barvitius was immediately able

to

mention

several cas-

outside Prague, reachable within a day or two, where there

tles

this

would

be fewer disruptions, fewer envious eyes, and a situation nearer to

what Tycho had enjoyed

Uraniborg. Barvitius also informed Tycho

at

Rudolph was prepared

that

to give

him an annual

Tycho would hear more about when he had

When

the

summons came, Tycho had

Rudolph's audience chamber alone.

room on

the

in the

bench with

tomary gestures of

which

the rare honor of entering

saw

[the

back against a

emperor] sitting in

table,

completely alone

whole chamber without even an attending page. After the cushe immediately called

civility,

with a nod, and when

me.

his

"I

stipend,

his audience.

me

over to

him

approached, graciously held out his hand to

then drew back a bit and gave a

replied with equal grace, "saying,

little

among

speech in Latin." Rudolph

other things,

how agreeable

my arrival was and that he promised to support me and my research,

all

the while smiling in the most kindly

beamed with benevolence.

way

so that his

whole

face

could not take in everything he said be-

cause he by nature speaks very softly." Tycho thanked the emperor

and excused himself

books that he had

to fetch the three presentation copies

left

of his

with his son Tycho in the antechamber.

Prague Opens Her

Rudolph "took them and

contents of each
speech, saying

them out on

laid

Then he

briefly.

Arms

most graciously

24s

the table.

reviewed the

again responded with a splendid

that they

would

please

him

greatly.

then removed myself according to the proper courtesies."

Rudolph

called Barvitius into the audience chamber. Barvitius

emerged again almost immediately

been watching from

window

his

to

Tycho

as

mechanical device on Tycho's carriage.

shown

Tycho

tell

that

arrived

He now

Rudolph had

and had noticed a

wished to have

it

him. The device was Tycho's odometer. Tycho ordered his

to

son to fetch

it

and gave

to Barvitius

it

with a quick explanation of its

construction and operation. Barvitius soon

came back out of the au-

dience chamber to report that the emperor did not want to accept
Tycho's odometer but
its

pattern. This

eccentricities.

was

far

would have one made

was Tycho's

Rudolph was

happier

among

first

a fanatical collector of curiosities

these objects than

Barvitius reported that "the

toward [Tycho] and that

short time, he
quarters."

would

for himself according to

experience of one of the emperor's

among

emperor was very favorably disposed

he referred the case to his council, in a

after

settle the

matter of an annual grant and suitable

Tycho was encouraged

to

summon

his family to join

and the "emperor himself would do everything necessary

sure that

we

lacked for nothing needed to

sent his son to bring Kirsten

arrived eight days
It

choice

own

live

if

estate that

hunting lodge, Brandeis

he accepted

same road,

all

later.

ment. Perhaps thinking of what a

making

him,

make

comfortably." Tycho

he could begin turning

new Uraniborg, and, true to his word, Rudolph

among three estates some distance from the city,

favorite

to

and the others from Dresden. They

was urgent that Tycho have an

into a

and

people.

it,

including his

a huge, magnificent establish-

sacrifice the

Tycho chose another

a six-hour ride

gave Tycho a

emperor would be

castle farther

along the

from Prague. Handsomely positioned on

bluff sixty meters above the flood plain of the river Jizerou, this was

the castle Benatky, the Czech

name

for Venice, because

when

the area

TYCHO

246

flooded, the
water.

& KEPLER

promontory where the

The mansion,

stood was surrounded by

Uraniborg, was not ancient and had never

like

been intended to serve

castle

Also

as a fortress.

indoor water system, probably the

first

like

Uraniborg,

it

boasted an

Bohemia. Tycho was taken

in

by the beauty of the surroundings and by Benatky's uninterrupted

view of the horizon in

directions,

all

and he even noted with approval

that there was, nearby, a small village of Protestants with Calvinist

leanings.

By

late

August Tycho and

rooms of the

cious

castle

had explored the

and where the furniture should

lotted

larger than Uraniborg,

each.

his family

setting

up

go.

The indoor

this space

was well suited

his instruments.

al-

space was

with three floors of nearly 5,380 square

Though none of

Tycho was

bright, spa-

and were deciding how they should be

feet

for astronomy,

Rudolph had by now had time

to peruse the pictures in Tycho's Mechanica,

and he was eager

to see

Benatky become even greater than Uraniborg.

Tycho began the transformation of the

but

it

dows and designing additional buildings

and alchemical

laboratories.

exact geographical position

marked the meridian with

He

by making

castle

was not long before he was modifying the

floor plan

repairs,

and win-

to house the instruments

took observations to calculate the

and orientation of his new home, and he

a line

on the

floor near a

window. Benatky

wasn't oriented along north-south, east-west lines, as Uraniborg had

been, but then

it

had not been designed by an astronomer.

Tycho's annual grant took longer than expected to pass the council.

The

outlay for Tycho was to be higher than the salaries of many

counts and barons in the emperor's service. Eventually Rudolph even

ordered that Tycho's salary be retroactive from the time his patronage
in

Denmark had

soon

as

ended, and Tycho was to have a hereditary

one became

available.

However, shortly

his remodeling, the administrator

stein,

By

of the

estate,

after

Caspar von Miihl-

began complaining to Barvitius about the mounting

late

fief as

Tycho began

costs.

November, Tycho's renovation estimates had doubled, and

Prague Opens Her

Arms

247

Miihlstein had also learned that the salary the emperor had promised

Tycho was much

income from the Benatky

greater than the

Miihlstein refused to authorize any

ficial

order backed up with

Tycho would soon discover

money from

the treasury.

for himself, that

much

He

word was

king's

his

bond and bound everyone

in the imperial court promises often rested

tentions, orders

on the

royal treasury

and there might not even be

good on Rudolph's

Denmark,

make

else as well,

money in

to

in-

produce payment,

the treasury to

make

pledges.

Tycho soon found

vor did not

sufficient

fail

as

mu-

on nothing but good

would

of-

knew,

of Rudolph's

nificence was, in fact, financial make-believe. Unlike in

where the

estate.

more expenditure without an

all

that in other respects as well the emperor's fa-

things possible.

The promised

hereditary fief

could not be Tycho's until he had applied for and obtained citizenship, a slow bureaucratic process.

and slander were

Denmark, and
Powerful

as

much

His friends warned him that envy

a part of court

life

here as they had been in

there were opportunists eager to bring

men who had

him down.

not been part of Tycho's network were not

pleased to be shouldered aside by a foreigner.

However,
such

as

it

also

was not long before

and administrators

Miihlstein began to realize the seriousness of Rudolph's in-

tentions to underwrite Tycho's work.

for fear of plague, taking with
letters

officials

The

court had again

left

Prague

them some of Tycho's medicines, but

passed frequently between Tycho and the emperor. Tycho's

messages went straight to Rudolph without perusal by the Imperial

Council.

With

the emperor giving

him

this

much

priority,

Tycho

felt

so confident that he threatened the foot-dragging Miihlstein with

Rudolph's displeasure and hinted that

if

the expenditures were not

Bohemia and tell the world why." The

Chamber of Deputies informed Miihlstein that, awaiting Rudolph's
authorized he might "leave

clarification,

he should continue construction

at

Benatky

as

cheaply

as possible.

Rudolph's response on December 10

set

matters straight: Tycho

TYCHO

248

was

to

& KEPLER

have his wooden outbuildings and

"little

rooms," bays along

the cliff for the instruments. Tycho's salary also was to be paid, in
part out of rents

By

autumn

late

castle that there

been to

start.

had died

from Brandeis.
so

was

much remodeling was

less living

Also, the plague

in the district.

had come

Tycho moved

twenty miles downriver because "the

he reported

going on

at Tycho's

and working space than there had

nearer,

and two thousand

his family to another castle

women

were frightened,"

as

it.

All this activity

had not made Tycho

forget about Ursus. In

September he had begun investigating the man's whereabouts and

learned of his flight from Prague. Tycho secretly consulted the
cial censor.

mitting

it

Because Ursus had published his book without

to censorship,

it

was within the

him and

assign punishment.

the

there

city,

Tycho had
beast"

first

sub-

summon

But with the imperial court absent from

drag him out of hiding.

ominous

into mathematical

Johannes Kepler and

an

his family faced

situation in Graz. Kepler could

in-

no longer escape

and philosophical speculation and ignore the

hanging over him. There were rumors that soon any Lutheran

moving away from Graz might not be allowed

sessions or trade or

made

to

to wait, but he reaffirmed his intention to track "the

THAT AUTUMN,

threat

power

was no court before which Ursus could be summoned.

down and

creasingly

censor's

offi-

sell

them, confirming the

to take

away

fear that

his pos-

had

earlier

the Keplers decide to try to weather the storm rather than re-

locate elsewhere.

The

loss

of Barbara's substantial inheritance and

all

her possessions would have been catastrophic.

becoming untenable. Oppressive

Nevertheless, to stay was

nances touched the family

Catholicism were surely not

directly,

and forced conversions

far away. Riots

the city and nearby countryside.

"No

ordito

broke out continually in

matter what fate might await

Prague Opens Her

me if I move elsewhere," wrote

Arms

Kepler, "I

249

know for certain

that

it

will

not be worse than that which threatens us here so long as the present

government continues."

He

did not have

up a clerical

many options. Returning

to

Wiirttemberg to take

had painfully relinquished when

position, the ambition he

posted to Graz, was out of the question, because his disagreement with

Tubingen orthodoxy, begun

"I

as a student,

was

now stronger

than

ever.

could never torture myself with greater unrest and anxiety than

now, in

my

if I

present state of conscience, should be enclosed in that

sphere of activity," he wrote.

One

possibility

was a university professorship

in

philosophy or

even in medicine. Kepler appealed to Mastlin, asking whether there

might be

a position like that available at

He

should look elsewhere.

Tubingen

the price of bread, wine,

and

Mastlin replied that,

rent.

he had no advice to offer and lamented that Kepler had not

sadly,

sought the counsel of a wiser

"for in these matters

prices of grain
in

Tubingen or whether he

inquired about the cost of living in

am

as

man

with more

innocent

political experience,

as a child."

and wine but advised Kepler not

Tubingen. Kepler

also

own

reported the

hope

for a future

wrote to Herwart von Hohenburg,

had been such a helpful friend

Kepler this time. His

to

He

in the past.

Von Hohenburg

position was insecure,

and he needed

who
failed

to be

exceedingly discreet.

With each
whose

Kepler's thoughts returned to

failure,

success in Prague

Prague was not,

bility that

after

had been reported

all,

Kepler might

so far away.

to

Tycho Brahe,

him by von Hohenburg.

Tycho had mentioned the

like to use his observations.

The

possi-

idea that that

suggestion could possibly be construed as an invitation or even as a job

offer

seemed tempting but outrageous. Kepler would have

to leave his

family behind in Graz, for the letter had said nothing of them, and he

would have

to put his

own mind and

man, rumored by some

man, and Tycho's

talents at the disposal

to be a tyrant.

forgiveness

He had

of another

already offended that

had been gracious but condescending.

TYCHO

25o

With

the

new

year,

& KEPLER
new

1600, and a

came

century,

the invitation

from Johann Friedrich Hoffmann, baron of Griinbiichel and Strechau,

member of the diet of Styria and

Hoffmann offered Kepler not only

Emperor Rudolph.

councillor to
a

way

to get

from Graz

to Prague,

but an introduction to Tycho Brahe. Kepler's wavering ended.

Kepler would have begun the journey in Hoffmann's carriage with

much more

confidence had he

known about

arrived shortly after his departure.

tion

and

must come
but of his

time

this

it

clearly

Tycho had repeated

his invita-

he was "being forced out of Graz"

and because he "desired

free will

from Tycho that

was an invitation, insisting that Kepler

to Prague, not because

own

a letter

joint studies" with

Tycho. If he chose to come, Tycho was prepared to help and advise

him and

his family.

Kepler and Hoffmann's ten-day journey from Graz to Prague passed

through rolling countryside studded with promontories,

which were crowned by

a promontory, with an

castles.

Prague

enormous

itself was situated

castle

complex

many of

around such

that even included a

cathedral. This complex, a great city within a city,

was the

seat

of the

Holy Roman Emperor. Renaissance mansions of some of Europe's

most powerful
climbed the

aristocrats lined the higher parts

hill

from the

river called the

and the Moldau or Moldova by

river,

streets that

their rulers. Farther

down, nearer the

were the homes of courtiers and craftsmen, and there was

more of the
spanned the

days as
ferent

city at the other

end of a

much

long, stone, towered bridge that

river.

invitation, stayed for a

few

guest of Baron Hoffmann. Cosmopolitan Prague was a

dif-

Kepler,

still

unaware of Tycho's second

world from the Graz Kepler had

mixture of narrow, malodorous

marketplaces,

The

of the steep

Vltava by the local population

it

was

alive

with

court attracted a diverse

dors from

all

left.

streets,

many

Bustling, exhilarating, a

wider avenues, and broad

ethnic groups and languages.

community of noblemen and ambassa-

over Europe, as well as opportunists and hangers-on,

Prague Opens Her

and

this

community in turn provided

men, craftsmen,
It

scholars,

and

Arms

a living for

hundreds of trades-

artists.

was some days before Kepler was able to get word to Tycho that

he was

in the city.

However,

"as

soon

as

had an unpleasant encounter with Ursus,

At

2$i

who had not fled far after all.

Kepler kept his identity a secret from Ursus,

first

the situation to a brawl," but he spoke to the older

how

little

Kepler

he liked Ursus's recent book. As the incident continued,

assume a judge's authority

cide publicly

what seems

me

cordiality:

"You

will

and highly

to discard a pupil's

in this literary contest

to be the

mathematical

By January 26 Tycho, back from

and

in

modesty and

my turn

de-

issue."

his brief flight

from the plague,

He wrote to Kepler again with extreme

come not so much as guest but as very welcome

had heard of Kepler's

arrival.

desirable participant

vations of the heavens."

own

he intensify

sharply about

Ursus

he should therefore permit

friend

"lest

man

know who he was and told him that "since he decided

me, who had written as a pupil, unwillingly into the judge's

let

to drag
chair,

he

arrived," Kepler reported,

He

and companion

sent his son

in our obser-

Tycho and Tengnagel

carriage to Prague with instructions to bring

in his

Johannes Kepler

back with them. Kepler had every reason to anticipate from Tycho

warm and accommodating

months

earlier

welcome

from Emperor Rudolph.

as

Tycho had received

as

six

;;

J%.

'

Jyi
,:f

,;

'c

#tjw~*

MiLjy

^ wl
w

Dysfunctional
Collaboration
1600

The CARRIAGE
shifted

on

its axles,

which Kepler rode must have creaked,

in

and

tilted as the horses

began the steep pull up

the road to the top of the bluff where Benatky Castle stood. Kepler's

mood
tion,

cannot have been other than one of excitement and exhilara-

with most qualms about the impending meeting overridden by

anticipation that

would be
lationship

Tycho Brahe,

able to understand

and the

must

surely have

and

any other

The

his ideas.

man

alive,

intellectual re-

access, at last, to Tycho's observational data that

Kepler looked forward

as the plains

better than

and value

made

to,

and

that

Tycho had promised

the future appear as rich,

skies that

opened

to

view

fertile,

as the

in his letters,

and

limitless

road climbed.

Tycho's arrangement for Kepler to ride from Prague in the carriage with his eldest son

had been

flattering

and consistent with the

tone of his most recent correspondence, and Kepler's welcome

at

Benatky was no disappointment. The venerable astronomer

granted
as

him

powerful

a cordial initial interview.

as

like a character

Tycho Brahe's mystique was

any monarch's, and to Kepler he probably seemed

from legend who had turned out

to be real. Kepler

reported that Tycho offered to reimburse his travel expenses, and

Dysfunctional Collaboration

253

he "saw immediately" that there was "no fear that

would

regret

the trip."
Alas,

it

was not long before Kepler's

disillusionment, homesickness,

mood

deteriorated to bleak

and panic about the

The

future.

promise of that welcome turned out to have been a cruel mirage. In

the days that followed his arrival, Benatky's harried lord turned to

The

other matters.
struction
there.

had

bustle

went on around

a bewildered Kepler as

castle

under recon-

though he were not

Perhaps he should not have been surprised. Only recently he

visited the court in

at the Trippeltisch.

though they

in

where a

Wiirttemberg and barely been allowed to

had much

man

sit

Tycho's households at Uraniborg and Benatky,

some ways resembled

sity professor, still

ruler,

and confusion of a

in

the establishment of a univer-

common

with the court of a feudal

of lower status rarely had contact with that ruler

except for the sight of him at the dining table.

Kepler's plight

was not helped by the

unusually distracted

not only the four

Magdeburg.

state.

left

He was

He was

Tycho was

fact that

worried about his instruments,

on Hven but the

others that were

who needed

his direction, for in his

alone existed the vision of what the reconstruction

it

still

was completed.

He was coming to

pointment of learning that a promise of

mind

would look

Tycho, nor for Kepler

financial support

nor

for

anyone

else at

from the

like Kepler,

was homesick,

and on the verge of financial

At

first it

frustrated, uncertain

seemed there would be nothing

and daughters and

scientific

for
cir-

work.

of the future,

disaster.

for Kepler to

personally could consider worthwhile. There were

dodged morning, noon, and

were

Benatky

cumstances conducive to systematic and productive

like

huge disap-

grips with the

emperor did not mean that money would be forthcoming. Not

Tycho,

in

trying to supervise the renovation of a castle

teeming with workmen

when

an

in

night; there were

their attendants

do

that he

workmen

women

to be

Tycho's wife

chattering in Danish (which

Kepler, of course, did not speak) as they, too, tried to live normally


TYCHO

254

& KEPLER

amid uprootedness and turmoil. In

spite

of the crowded conditions,

Kepler called the situation "a reigning loneliness of people."

mealtimes

ticularly despised

man accustomed

and quiet of

to the peace

meals were served in a

He

par-

boisterous, rowdy, claustrophobic for

room on

own home. The

his

the second floor of the castle, with

Kirsten and their family joining Tycho and whatever assistants and
visitors

were currently in residence. Kepler had never, even in

student days, drunk as

much wine

as

they did at this table. Yet these

uncomfortable mealtime intervals were

anything
sult.

at all

his

only opportunity to learn

about the observations he desperately wanted to con-

Sometimes,

tidbit

his

as casually as

of sweet to his

jester,

he might cast a bone to his dogs or a

Tycho would come

forth with a snippet

of precious astronomical information; "One day

the apogee of

day the nodes of another!" grumbled Kepler.

one

planet, the next

And

as for the collegiality

Tycho had promised him

the discussion

of "lofty topics, face to face in an agreeable and pleasant manner"

it

seemed Kepler could do no

better than occasionally

command

Tycho's attention between bites for a few fleeting words.

Perhaps Kepler should have paid more heed to the

had

most highborn

referred, in his letters, to his

nagel.

He had called him domesticus

hand" was the way Kepler

in a letter to Mastlin

and

later

way Tycho

servant or employee.

described his

own

a rather junior hired

Teng-

assistant,

status at

hand

A "hired
Benatky

at that.

Kepler

soon realized that though he had been led to believe he would be

treated as Tycho's esteemed colleague, he needed

way up

petitors included

some with considerable

Longomontanus and Tengnagel,

was the
rival

intellectual

as well as

skill

when Johannes

his position.

Miiller,

Brandenburg, arrived, bringing

and

to climb his

com-

seniority, like

own
month

Tycho's

match of any of them, yet

he had not improved

petition

first

the ladder in competition with other "assistants." His

son. Kepler
after his ar-

There was even more com-

mathematician to the elector of

It

seemed that

to waste his time:

"One of the

his family

Tycho had brought Kepler here only

with him.

Dysfunctional Collaboration

my

most important reasons

for

von Hohenburg, "was the

desire to learn

first

me

from him more correct

my

examine

ures for the eccentricities in order to

edge." Kepler could not at

Tycho," Keplet wrote to

visit to

Harmony. But Tycho did not give

2$5

fig-

Mysterium and

the chance to share his knowl-

understand

why Tycho was

being so

secretive.

Though Kepler may have

felt invisible

young

scholar

ner table. Kepler did not

realize,

not forgotten

this

and

Tycho had

slighted,

who looked so ill at ease

may never have realized,

at his din-

the linger-

ing consequences of the foolish letter he had written Ursus. Kepler's

future probably

hung

at the

moment

less

on

his

mathematical

skills

and possible scholarly value than on Tycho's hope of using him

weapon

against Ursus,

might

that Kepler

and

his lingering

secretly be Ursus's

him

acquaintances had advised

Ursus

Tycho could not

affair,

unfortunate for Kepler.

keep Kepler

meant

that

at

It

Though many of Tycho's

ally.

that he

let it go.

was making too much of the

That was both fortunate and

meant Tycho had

Benatky, under his

as a

unease about the possibility

own

go out of his way to

to

watchful eye, but

Tycho was extremely reluctant

also

it

to allow Kepler to see the

observations.

Kepler had not yet reached his

full

potential as a mathematician or

had been

interpreter of observations, but that potential

sufficiently

evident from Mysterium (Tycho had called the polyhedral theory

"quite a brilliant speculation") for

met Kepler
flights

Tycho

to realize, even before

in person, that, properly harnessed

of fanq', Kepler might be the assistant

Mars observations and discover ways

tem was

correct.

Though

a failure, Tycho's letters

his

Mars

parallax

from Benatky

who

show

to

in

might be

he

with regard to wilder

could interpret the

that the

Tychonic

campaign had so

far

sys-

been

1600 and 1601 show that

and

he had not given up hoping that he

rather than Copernicus

certainly rather than Ursus

celebrated for generations to

come

as the

man who

astronomy and

set the

provided the true breakaway from Ptolemaic

course for the future.

It

had

to have

seemed

TYCHO

256

the worst luck

served

him

& KEPLER

and damnable irony

that Kepler,

so well in this effort, should at the

a double threat. Allowing

him

who might

to see the precious observations

be tantamount to giving them away to Ursus. Or, just

it

have

same time represent

might

as threatening,

might end in confirmation of Copernicus's system rather than

and

However, paranoia or no paranoia

Tycho's.

knowledge that Kepler,

in spite

Copernicus

at present, preferred

of his

Tycho

was short of assistants and desperately needed someone with Kepler's

gifts.

"An astronomical

money

sweat and

accumulated by the expenditure of

treasure

over so

many

Tycho lamented, was going

ears,"

to

waste.

Kepler himself clearly recognized Tycho's great need for him,

which made the older man's

secretiveness

"Tycho has the best observations

up the building

and he has

thing, the master builder

is

clearly

who

that

all

the

more

puzzling.

to say the materials to put

He

the workers.

is

can make use of all

lacking only one

that.

Although he

of an extremely architectonic mind, the variety and the

depths of the truths with which he

because he
his

is

is

dealing are hindering Tycho,

approaching the age of an old man. His mind and

is

all

powers are weakened and are going to be weakened more in a few

years so that he will hardly be able to carry out everything alone."

No

doubt with

terrible misgivings, the old

loosen his grip on his hoard just a

bit,

and Kepler found himself with

"by

an assignment. Tycho put him to work

Kepler

later

pervision of

two and

it

on

the

Mars observations under the

possess a daring

me would

working only

be to give

mind

[and] thought the best

me my head,

as assistant to

certainly the

himself.

su-

Longomontanus, who had rejoined Tycho only about

most

an

gifted

assistant,

way

to deal

me concentrate on the
He would of course be

to let

observations of one single planet, Mars."

most

divine providence," as

a half weeks before Kepler came. Kepler reported that Tycho

"saw that

with

described

dragon decided to

but Longomontanus was

astronomer

at

al-

Benatky besides Tycho

He was a warmhearted, well-meaning,

unpretentious man, a

An

favorite

Dysfunctional Collaboration

257

engraving of Christian Longomontanus by Simon de Pas, 1644.

with Tycho and

his assistants

work

his family.

Furthermore, Tycho usually had

When

Kepler asked Tycho whether he

in pairs.

could use the true Sun, rather than the center of Earth's orbit,
reference point for Mars's orbit,

as the

and Tycho agreed, Kepler found

himself floundering with the mathematics.

It

was Longomontanus

who

pointed out a clever technique that Tycho had outlined in a pri-

vate

handbook

Kepler

on

his

for his assistants.

still felt

own

frustrated.

He had

thought he would be working

theories here, not just Tycho's. In order to

move ahead

with them, he needed time off from Tycho's projects, and he needed
data on all the planets, not just Mars. "I thought

would

later also

get the other observations," he said, but that did not happen.

He

most

in-

was not finding answers

at

Benatky

to the questions that

trigued him.

Tycho soon recognized

able assistants both

that

it

more than capable of carrying on

had had a

little

made no

sense to have his

two most

working on the Mars observations. Kepler was

the

work on

his

own. By now Tycho

experience with Kepler in person, which must have

confirmed both the good and the bad

(as

Tycho perceived them)

that

TYCHO

25 8

& KEPLER

Tycho had discerned when he read Mysterium. Kepler was

Longomontanus and

gifted as

"well-rounded

a better writer. (Tycho praised his

way of expression.") Furthermore, Tycho knew of no

other assistant available

servations

at least as

who was

better

equipped to analyze

ob-

his

and find out whether they validated the Tychonic system.

"Tycho was pleased with

this

work

did," wrote Kepler.

"He said

that

he himself had been occupied with similar [work] but liked to avoid
,

the complicated calculations

and

learn of other people's views."

However, by allowing Kepler to be

his "master builder," taking the

road to discovering whether he was

right,

Tycho would

be open-

also

ing the possibility of learning he was wrong, and having the world
learn
tions

it.

His most valuable trump card was that he alone had observa-

and

the

means

to

make more

that could prove or disprove

any current theory.* This was an advantage he would

someone

as skilled

and perceptive, and independent,

key to the treasure house. But

who had

forfeit if he

it

as

gave

Kepler the

was a dubious advantage

to a

man

spent a lifetime looking for real answers.

Tycho was not yet prepared

vations, but

it

to give Kepler full access to his obser-

was nevertheless a

Longomontanus

to a project

significant step

when he

Longomontanus had begun

reassigned

the

earlier,

lunar theory, and allowed Kepler to analyze the Mars observations

without further supervision. Tycho could do

that the

young man,

alyze the data

little

to avert the danger

intentionally or, worse yet, honestly,

and find

it

might an-

supporting Copernicus, not Tycho. But

Tycho was running out of options.

He

did take a rather lame pre-

caution with regard to the threat of Ursus.

He

extracted a written

pledge from Kepler that he would never reveal any of Tycho's

The

secrets.

tragedy of Tycho's paranoia was that there was definitely at

least a part

of him that liked Kepler, appreciated

no other but Mastlin could, and longed

to have

perhaps

his talent as

him

as friend

and

*Gingerich and Voelkel have pointed out that Tycho, had he kept his observations

col-

strictly to

himself, could have claimed whatever he pleased about his findings, whether true or not,

no other scholar had data

to gainsay him.

and

Had

league.

Dysfunctional Collaboration

no Ursus, and had Tycho been more open-

there been

minded about

259

the Copernican system, the time they spent together

might have been a supremely happy and productive time

became increasingly out of sorts and unraveled

both. Instead, Kepler

He had

that spring.

and

abilities

in the

them

for

arrived at Benatky with confidence in his

importance of his

Tycho obviously had the

ideas.

and

intellectual capacity to value these,

own

also the

wherewithal to save

the Keplers from their intolerable position in Graz. Yet here was

no

sympathetic mentor, no secure and rewarding job, only an aloof, suspicious

curmudgeon and

ways been vulnerable

hand-to-mouth

to the

opinion of others.

"My

he had written about himself,

live,

not

my

existence. Kepler

external appearance, not hurt, not joy, not

Whence comes

this foolishness

and the confusing way

it

at

Sun moves the

He

it

itself,

wish only to be good.

How distressing

after

all,

some

progress

own theories. The Mars observations

work on

his hypothesis that a force

from the

planets.

was looking

ments that

his

work

to

between liking and suspicion.

shifted

Benatky on

alone were sufficient for

how

reflected in Tycho's eyes,

As the days passed, Kepler found there was,

he could make

about 'being seen'?"

must have been the image of himself he saw

al-

When he was younger,

greatest worries are not

but the opinion of other people of me, which

had

for

some hint

was responding

encouragement was not long

pected, that the only

was showing up

to a force

in

coming from the Sun, and

coming.

way he could make

in Tycho's observations,

actual position of the

geometry of Mars's move-

in the

Sun

bit as his reference point.

He

found,

as

he had sus-

sense of Mars's orbit, as

was

it

to take into account the

rather than using the center of Earth's or-

This use of the "true" Sun made sense

if the

Sun was the source of Mars's motion.

Next Kepler used the Mars observations

study Earth's orbit. In writing Mysterium,

in

an innovative way to

when he had been

using

older observations, Kepler had been forced to admit, reluctantly, that

his idea that the

Sun was the source of the movements of the

planets

TYCHO

26o

seemed not
that

it

work

to

for Earth.

did work. Earth

nearer the

& KEPLER

Using Tycho's observations, he found

like the other planets

Sun and slowed down

a particularly significant

as

it

moved

sped up

as

came

it

farther away. This

was

and welcome breakthrough.

When Tycho learned of Kepler's findings,

them, and he raised objections. Here,

Copernican system rearing

its

he was not happy about

he had feared, was the

as

ugly head. Furthermore, he, like

Mastlin, disapproved of Kepler's insistence that in order to develop

planetary theory one must find the physical causes of the motion.
Ironically,

added

success only

Having

to Kepler's frustration.

caught a glimpse of what he might be able to accomplish with

Tycho's data, he also became aware of
project

and

extensive the research

was that he had begun. Kepler concluded,

be deprived of the purpose of my

copy

how

his observations for

rightly,

travel,

my purpose

(he

"If I don't

is

not going to accept

and fortune on) or

find

some way

Kepler was to

all

intents

to stay

and complete

and purposes Tycho's

not regularized his position in any way, given him

talked about long-term employment.

The

able that they should stay there, yet with

clifftop beehive

speak held

all

where men and

my own

guest.

Tycho had

a contract, or even

It

was almost unthink-

no promise of

regular

than he to go

women whose

mad

She

in this

language she did not

power and her husband did not even draw

Kepler desperately needed a job commitment.

fi-

home

to forfeit her property.

likely

life

at Benatky.

nancial support, Kepler could not drag Barbara away from her

would, Kepler knew, be even more

situation for Kepler's fam-

back in Graz continued to be precarious.

and her extended family and ask her

to

that,

because these are the treasure he has spent his whole

work." That meant trying to formalize his position

ily

want

have two choices. Either

He

let

a salary.

Tycho know of

his distress.

Tycho chose

ment

as a lack

to interpret Kepler's requests for a contractual arrange-

of trust in his honor and

spective there was, in fact,

much

reliability.

From

Tycho's per-

to be said for letting this tense

young

man

He was

depart.

Dysfunctional Collaboration

261

man

not the good-natured, warmhearted

Longomontanus was; he had had

to be excused

that

from the observation

rota because of poor eyesight; his theories were eccentric;

and he con-

tinued to lean toward Copernicanism. Furthermore, Tycho was not in

a

good position

to

make salary promises. Support from

the renovation was proving to be undependable,

see a

the treasury for

and Tycho had yet

to

gulden of the salary that Rudolph had promised him.

However, for Tycho, the

that validation of the
skilled analysis

moment

He knew

of truth had arrived.

Tychonic system could come only through

of the observations, and Kepler had the potential to do

the analysis. If Tycho

wanted an authentic

hollow, negative one of having

no one

victory,

and not merely the

able to gainsay him, he

needed

Kepler. Rising above the irritation of Kepler's complaints, he acted to

try to

to

remedy

Kepler's problems.

At the beginning of March, he wrote

Hoffmann, the man who had brought Kepler

to Prague the previ-

ous January, suggesting that Hoffman meet him and Kepler to discuss
Kepler's job position.

While

that meeting

negotiations between Kepler

was being arranged, contract

and Tycho sputtered on, taking place

through a variety of intermediaries, including Longomontanus. Kepler

became more unhappy with each passing

many
most men to
dured

and

crises

indignities that

day. In his lifetime

would be

distraction, yet only that spring at

Benatky did

nimity and good sense completely desert him. By his

had a temper, but

days, he let

it

it

had seldom been evident

he en-

sufficient to drive

own

his equa-

report,

he

in public. In these tense

get the better of him several times at Tycho's dinner table.

Kepler grew so impatient, waiting for a reply from Hoffmann,

that he took

it

on himself to

ment he would
ate his

accept.

lay out in writing the terms of

When Longomontanus

demands, he submitted an only

employ-

suggested he moder-

slightly revised

memoran-

dum. The demands were not unreasonable, but they were irksome
Tycho. They included permission for Kepler to go into Prague

to

when

he chose, though not to stay long; time off during the day for family
affairs to

compensate

for

having to work night hours; a guarantee of

TYCHO

262

relief

from observing

made him

& ICEPLER

duties, since his

poor eyesight and lack of skill

worthless at that anyway; Sundays and holidays

off;

and

assurance that anything Tycho wished to publish under Kepler's

name

(such as an opinion of Ursus)

would have

pense and subject to Kepler's approval.

to be at Tycho's ex-

Much more

of a stumbling

block were Kepler's demands that he have a salary both from Tycho

and the emperor,

that he be allowed to spend every day after

noon on

own projects, and that he and his family be given a house separate
from the castle. The house was particularly important to Kepler.

his

"Tycho's house
ily is great. I

is

very cramped," he wrote. "The turmoil of his fam-

do not want

are used to silence

to

mix

my family with

Feeling there was a strong chance that Kepler

hedged

them, because they

and modesty."

would

leave,

Tycho

by extracting from him one more weapon against

his bets

Ursus. Tycho chose Tengnagel to

make

the request that Kepler write

an "opinion of Brahe's hypotheses, which a certain Nicolaus Ursus of

Dithmarschen presumes

to claim for himself."

Though Kepler

later

reported that he wrote "Quarrel between Tycho and Ursus over

Hypotheses," including a detailed history of the

self,

affair

involving him-

Tycho, and Ursus, because Tengnagel "was eager to

know

these

things better," the request almost certainly originated with Tycho.

the

same time, Tycho assigned Longomontanus

piece refuting

Longomontanus thought
It

was

likely that

listed

to write a similar

John Craig, an Aristotelian scholar whose debate with

Tycho over the comet of 1 577

he

among

still

had not ended. Both Kepler and

these assignments a foolish waste of time.

Kepler had his two-page document in

his

demands

mind when

the one having to do with items "pub-

lished

under Kepler's name." But Tycho was pleased with the

and

was probably he

it

At

cluding the words,

who

"all this is

result,

drafted the introductory statement in-

compactly and rigorously refuted here

by Kepler, an outstanding astronomer, thoroughly familiar with

Ptolemy and Copernicus."

He carefully filed away a copy of "Quarrel

between Tycho and Ursus," together with a copy of the

letter

from

Dysfunctional Collaboration

263

Kepler that Ursus had used in his book. Both, he thought, would
represent important evidence in his postponed case against Ursus.

The

Hoffmann never took place.

contract discussion with

and Tycho met formally

Instead,

on April

5 Kepler

Kepler's

employment, and Jan Jesensky, the emperor's physician,

came from Prague

down

on

Kepler's behalf.

and Tycho brought out

together,

Kepler's

to negotiate

demands. In return

to discuss the matter

The

three

Benatky that Tycho preferred to keep

assistants to

off,

work on those

housing for Kepler and

his response, in writing, to

secret.

As

days.

He

his family,

emperor and was waiting

It

appears that Tycho

and he offered

to

pay the moving

He had

came

good

faith,

He was

fairly

to the bargaining table in

knew from

some arrangement with

the

prior experience the difficulty of ac-

on such promises.

Kepler,

on the other hand, came

to the bargaining table predisposed to be distrustful

tive.

applied to

for a reply.

confident that there would eventually be

tually collecting

at

agreed to try to arrange separate

ready to try to find ways of meeting Kepler's terms.

emperor, though he

work

for the request for

that offended him, for he never asked his

expenses, but he could not yet guarantee a salary.

the

sat

freedom to go to Prague, Tycho

for the

required a guarantee of silence about those aspects of the

Sundays and holidays

men

of

and argumenta-

The meeting ended with angry words and no agreement.

Later

that day, at dinner, in the presence of the entire household, a frenzied

Kepler,

who had drunk

too

much

wine, staged another outburst.

This time, Tycho replied in kind. Kepler

left

Benatky the next day

with Jesensky.
Tycho's equanimity following this episode was astounding, almost

out of character, and perhaps stemmed only from the fact that Kepler

had become so necessary

for the realization

of Tycho's ambitions.

However, Tycho's response to others had always been more instinctive

than reasoned, and in

must have

told

him

this instance

that Kepler

ents or his character, an Ursus.

both instinct and judgment

was not, either

Tycho refused

in respect to his tal-

to allow Kepler to de-

TYCHO

264

stroy himself.

He

& KEPLEU
had never

treated Kepler with patience such as he

displayed except in matters involving those he most dearly loved in

his

own

and

family.

Moving ahead

that Kepler

in the assurance that

would come back, he informed

carriage departed for Prague, that he

from Kepler, and he sent a

for his intercession

The

Jesensky, before the

would need

smoothing things

in

a written apology

out.

Tycho did not

react

more strongly

Kepler into an even worse rage.

The

next day he penned such a

Tycho

that

fact that

tering, insulting letter to

copy

it

for preservation, but sent

it

indeed been pushed too

treating

him

far.

No

to his anger sent

blis-

Tycho did not even have anyone

to Jesensky with a note saying he

do with Kepler. This time he had

regretted ever having anything to

away with

well

with Jesensky to Hoffmann, asking

letter

and help

would be

all

one

this badly.

less

than a king had ever gotten

The note may have mentioned

Ursus, for Tycho requested that Jesensky "find out by a third or

hand whether Kepler

fourth

too with

some reproaches

is

quietly endeavoring to provide Ursus

against

me

(for

how

shall

in the

end

have confi-

dence in him any more?)."

Somehow
to his senses,

perhaps Hoffmann did help

calmed down, and

realized the

Kepler came

enormity of what he had

done, and he wrote an apology to Tycho that was as effusively abject

as his

former note had been

vitriolic.

Astonishingly,

immediately forgave him but climbed into

Tycho not only

and drove into

his carriage

Prague (which he hated to do and avoided whenever possible) to

bring Kepler back himself. Shortly after that, they came to agreement

about Kepler's terms of employment.

Tycho's attempts to get an imperial stipend for Kepler soon met

with some success. The plan was that the emperor would
Kepler

officially to assist

Tycho

for

two

Kepler would continue to receive his salary

in

Graz and

in addition

would

from the emperor. Though

Styria

would allow

its

it

years.

During

as district

summon

that time,

mathematician

receive a salary half that large directly

seemed dubious whether Catholic

Protestant mathematician that

much

leeway,

Dysfunctional Collaboration

26$

hope was that since the assignment would come from the

the

Catholic emperor of the Holy

part, the Estates

Roman

of Styria would

Kepler, his prospects looking

and began making plans

Tycho arranged

for

him

to

Empire, of which Styria was a

feel sufficiently

much

move

pressured to approve.

brighter, settled

his family to

to travel the first leg

down

to

work

Benatky In May,

of the journey to Graz

with the Danish nobleman Frederick Rosenkrantz,* Tycho's third

cousin

who had

Denmark when

fled

it

was discovered he had got a

lady-in-waiting pregnant. Rosenkrantz had been captured and sen-

tenced to be stripped of his nobility and have two fingers cut

Fortunately for him, that sentence had been
the

commuted

campaign against the Turks, the enemy whose

had successfully predicted

trict

off.

to service in

earlier threat

Kepler

horoscope

as dis-

way

to join

in his first official yearly

mathematician in Graz, and Rosenkrantz was on

his

the army.

Tycho's arrangement for Kepler to ride as far as Vienna in Rosenkrantz's carriage

good way

to

may

make

not have been entirely out of kindness:

sure Kepler got well

It

was

beyond Prague without an

opportunity to connect with Ursus.

* Kepler's

later

traveling

companion was immortalized

come even more

into the spotlight in

Tom

in

Dead. William Shakespeare's "Guildenstern" was in

cousin of Tycho's.

the

two kinsmen were

in

real

life

England on

made an impression on Shakespeare, although

one, judging by the way he portrayed them.

they had
able

When

Hamlet, and would four hundred years

Stoppard's Rosencrantz

it

Knud

and

Guildenstern Are

Gyldenstierne, another

a diplomatic mission in 1592,

must not have been

a highly favor-

18

Me Not

Seem to Have
Lived in Vain"

"Let

1600-1601

WITH THE THAWING

eventful spring of 1600,

bring

all

of the shipping

same

that the time had come to

The castle and the new bays along

Tycho decided

his instruments to Benatky.

the bluff were almost ready for them.

Hven, and more

lanes, in that

recently, in order

Tycho had

left

the four largest

on

down

in

not to arrive so weighted

Prague, he had stored most of the others in Magdeburg. During a year

and a half their

release

that not even a letter

had become entangled

from the emperor had

in bureaucratic red tape

cut.

Tycho

hit

on the

strat-

egy of suggesting to the Magdeburg authorities that they could make a

tidy profit for themselves

by transporting the instruments

and using the return journey

to

ments were almost immediately on

Tycho had
instruments
ted to leave

initially

still

been

on Hven,

their way.

much more worried about

for

to Prague

import Bohemian wine. The instru-

the four great

he feared they would never be permit-

Denmark. The previous autumn, before Kepler arrived

at

Benatky, Tycho had sent his son for them and appealed for help to
his brother Axel,

had

left

now commander

at

Helsingborg. Longomontanus

Rostock and traveled with young Tycho. The instruments

did get out of

Denmark and

as far as

Liibeck before winter weather

Me Not Seem

'Let

The Golden

made
on

to

Griffin (far

Have Lived

left) as it

further transport impossible.

way

their

Unaware

again through the

With

mud and

in Vain'

267

appears today.

the spring thaw, they were

swollen rivers to

Hamburg.

that a bureaucratic delay there, similar to the

Magdeburg, would

summer was

halt

them

again,

Tycho believed

one

in

that before the

would have his new Uraniborg.

It was not to be. The plague had retreated. The court returned to
Prague, and on June 10 Rudolph summoned Tycho to begin astroover he

logical consultations

on

state decisions.

quire going to the palace twice a day,

modations

known

for

as the

Rudolph arranged

for

re-

accom-

Tycho, his family, and his assistants in a hostelry

Sign of the Golden Griffin, in the section of the city

where the palace stood. Tycho was

had hoped

Because that would often

to avoid

by choosing

now

a castle

in precisely the situation

away from the

Kepler's high hopes that late spring also

came

to a

he

city.

dead end. Not

long after his arrival back in Graz, the Styrian councillors refused the
request that they release

pay

his salary.

him

to

work

in Prague while continuing to

There was, they argued, no useful purpose

to

which

as-

tronomical work could be put, and they suggested he go instead to

Italy,

study medicine, and return to practice as a physician. Since

there could be

no arrangement with Rudolph without the Graz

salary,

TYCHO

268

ended Kepler's plans

this decision

& KEPLER

A despondent

to return to Benatky.

Kepler had no choice but to search for other

possibilities.

He even ap-

proached Archduke Ferdinand, suggesting that Ferdinand might,

his cousin the

emperor, wish to have his

like

own personal mathematician.

Ferdinand's reply, though not specifically targeting Kepler, was

worse than a

rejection.

On July 27

and the news

a notice appeared,

spread rapidly: At 6:00 a.m. on July 31,

all

citizens

of Graz had to

Anyone who was

present themselves for examination of their faith.

not Catholic could pledge to convert. Those refusing so to pledge

would be required

to leave Graz.

Archduke Ferdinand himself was present with the commissioners

as

they sat at a large table in the middle of the church.

days for more than a thousand citizens to

come

It

took three

to the table

and be

examined. Most were either already Catholic or agreed to conversion.

When

Kepler reached the table on August

Lutheran, and he would not convert. His

the

list

of sixty-one banished

He was

citizens.

2,

he said he was a

name was written down on

given six weeks and

three days to leave Graz for good.

The Kepler who had

ous spring

at

so completely lost his equanimity the previ-

Benatky accepted

he found astonishing.

"I

this disaster

with a serenity that even

would not have thought

that

he wrote, "in companionship with some brothers, to

abandon house,

indignity for the sake of religion, to

and homeland.

If it

render of life, and

the

loss,

that he

then

if

this

way with

the exultation

During

is

so

albeit

so sweet,"

fields, friends

martyrdom and with

much

and

the sur-

the greater, the greater

Kepler sensed

faith."

not willingly, along a path he

to follow.
this

horrendous summer, when

falling apart,

than he had
leave her

real

an easy matter also to die for

was being forced to go,

was meant

was

it is

is

it is

suffer injury

at

his family's

Kepler nevertheless found

it

much

whole world

easier to

work

Benatky. Barbara seems to have found the strength to

husband and

his calculations

undisturbed in spite of the

frightening and heartrending upheaval in their

lives.

Me Not Seem

"Let

to

Have Lived

in

Vain"

269

Kepler was trying to solve a problem having to do with optics that

puzzled both Tycho and Mastlin. Tycho had recently observed a partial

eclipse of the

Sun by allowing the

pinhole onto a white screen, where

it

Sun's light to pass through a

made an image of the

Sun. Measuring this image, Tycho had concluded that the

eclipsed

Moon was

not large enough to cover the Sun completely, and that therefore a
total eclipse

there were
It

of the Sun was impossible. Yet

many

seems that

discussions,

him

given

total eclipses

in spite

on

astronomers

on how

knew that

record.

of the lack of opportunities

Tycho had spoken

instructions

all

to Kepler

about

at

this

Benatky for

problem and

to build a projection device for view-

ing an eclipse. Kepler constructed the device according to Tycho's

on July

pattern and observed a partial eclipse from Graz

had been

right; the

10.

Tycho

Moon's apparent diameter was smaller than the

Kepler proceeded to give serious mathematical consideration

Sun's.

method of observing an

images and whether

this

distorted the image of the Sun.

He

concluded that the accuracy of

size

of the pinhole, and that no pin-

to pinhole

the observation

depended on the

hole could ever be small enough for complete accuracy.

eclipse

Hence

Tycho's image of the Sun, distorted by the size of the pinhole he

used,

was

slightly too large,

Moon.

ered by the

and seemed incapable of ever being cov-

Before the

summer was

the concept of "light rays" that

He

optics.

became too

As soon

Kepler had defined

at the heart

wrote an essay about pinholes and light

his conclusions,

a salary

still lies

over,

and then

set

it

aside

when

of geometrical

rays,

and about

his personal difficulties

pressing.
as

Kepler had learned there was no possibility of drawing

from Graz while he worked

at

Benatky or

in Prague,

he had

written to inform Tycho that the hoped-for arrangement with the

emperor would not be

The

failure

Kepler to

dence

possible. Tycho's return letter

came

quickly:

of that arrangement must not matter, and he urged

come

back, either with or without his family, "with confi-

as rapidly as possible."

TYCHO

2 7o

Though

was impossible

it

& ICEPLER

remain in Graz, Kepler had profound

to

misgivings about putting his and his family's future at Tycho's mercy.

Without

from day

a regular salary, living

to

day on handouts, even

Tycho were the most well-meaning and generous patron, was too
carious

and demeaning an

whether some

pre-

wrote to Mastlin, asking

existence. Kepler

professorship" might not be found for

"little

if

him

at

Tubingen. Kepler knew Mastlin's reply could not reach him before he
left

Graz, so he told Mastlin to address

the

way

and

to Prague,

Kepler's plan

daughter Regina to travel that

went on alone
It

it

to

was

him

in Linz. Linz

for Barbara

was on

his step-

with him and wait there while he

far

to talk to Tycho.

was two weeks beyond the deadline when, on September 30,

and ten-year-old Regina

Kepler, Barbara,

two wagons with

could

fit

in

as

left

the

many household goods and

destination,

known

city.

They loaded

possessions as they

and drove away from the comfortable home

Stempfergasse where they had lived for three years.

ever

and

and

for Barbara the

or cared about,

all

in the

They had no

wrench was horrendous.

All she

real

had

her friends and extended family,

all

her quite considerable property, were here in Styria. Because of her

husband's and her

own

were leaving

religious convictions, they

among strangers.

that behind for an uncertain future

all

Barbara had an

almost irrational fear of poverty, and there was no promise of a paying job ahead for her husband.

was unlikely they would ever be

It

able to recover the value of her property.

On
ter

the journey north to Linz, they kept the hope alive that a

from Mastlin would be waiting

in Linz, there

was no

letter.

one of them became

in Linz to follow

might yet be
Kepler

them

a letter

knew

that

ill.

it

They left

from Mastlin

now

mind about

was better they

later either to

let-

them, but when they arrived

Kepler changed his

Barbara and Regina alone, feeling

in case

for

all

leaving

stay together,

the household goods behind

Prague or Tubingen

for there

and continued toward Prague.

he was absolutely

not he alone but Barbara and Regina

at Tycho's

as well.

and

mercy

He made one

last at-

"Let

tempt
ing

way

to bluff his

him

in

Me Not Seem

Have Lived

to

to a better job

advance of their

arrival,

in

Vain"

271

arrangement with Tycho, writ-

saying that because he had at one

time received a scholarship from the duke of Wiirttemberg,

it

was

necessary that he pay his respects to the duke before settling else-

where. While in Wiirttemberg, he wrote, he would find out whether

the

duke would recommend him

to another university, perhaps

Wittenberg, Jena, or Leipzig, for his teachers at Tubingen had given

him hope

that the duke's connection with the university

great advantage

outright
to offer

lie.

him an

sideration.
est. It

an extreme

His

letter

was a feeble

try,

Kepler's serenity

oped a high

exaggeration on Kepler's part,

continued with the promise that

fever

a deadline for the offer, four

but

it

weeks

first

were
con-

at the lat-

was the best Kepler could do.

had evaporated. To make matters worse, he

on the journey from Linz

hausted, depressed family arrived in the

was the good Hoffmann

not an

if

if Tycho

he would give that offer

attractive position,

He named

would be

who

to Prague.

city,

took them

When

on October

in,

devel-

the ex-

19, 1600,

it

not Tycho. Although

was stubborn and would recur intermittently through-

Kepler's fever

out the winter and spring of 1 60 1 he was healthy enough to return to

,

work

for

Tycho

Mastlin, and

There had been no word from

in late October.

no other

possibilities

had

arisen.

As Kepler would

write,

"God let me be bound with Tycho through an unalterable fate and did
not let me be separated from him by the most oppressive hardships."
Kepler's fever

had contracted

was accompanied by a cough, and he thought he

tuberculosis. Barbara also

happy, lonely in a foreign

disappear. She

city,

was

watching the

was not accustomed

to

ill

and desperately un-

little

money

they had

enormous wealth, but she had

always enjoyed a comfortable upper-middle-class standard of living.

In Prague she
a state of

would be reduced

to

maintaining their

penury with nothing better

in sight.

little

family in

The move had

cost

120 gulden. Kepler's annual salary in Graz had been only 200
gulden. Even

much more

if his

income had remained the same, everything was

expensive in Prague, and

now

Kepler had no income.

TYCHO

2 72

Tycho made no
ation,"

& KEPLER
Kepler to give

"attractive offer" for

and the four-week deadline

passed. However,

"first

consider-

Tycho was

try-

ing to secure a salary for Kepler from the emperor. Rudolph, Tycho

had reported, had given

knew by now
tion

"a gracious nod,"

that even if that

by which a

salary

nod

but both he and Kepler

actually set the

might eventually appear, a

mechanism

man and

in

mo-

his family

could starve waiting. For the time being, the Keplers had no choice

who was already paying the Miiller family's expenses out of his own pocket, because
money for them from the emperor was overdue, now dug deeper and
but to depend on Tycho for everything. Tycho,

paid for the Keplers as well.

By

the time the ailing Kepler was well

enough

Tycho had complained about cramped quarters

Golden

much

and the emperor had provided

Griffin,

larger.

Sign of the

a private residence, not

managed

Into this house Tycho nevertheless

Kepler, Barbara,

to rejoin Tycho,

at the

to squeeze

and Regina.

Eventually there must have been a salary agreement between Tycho

and Kepler. The only record of

Elisabeth
1

it

appeared

and Tengnagel were making plans

60 1 and Tycho braced himself to pay

when

to

wed

for a lavish

Tycho's daughter
in the

summer of

wedding.

He

told

Kepler he would have to dole out Kepler's twenty-daler stipend in

ten-

and

six-daler installments, because

he did not have enough ready

cash to do otherwise.

Meanwhile,
still

in the

autumn of 1600,

Kepler, Barbara,

waited day after day in the faint hope that a

would bring an

them

in

offer

from Tubingen. Mastlin's

December. There was no job

staying here until

get well or die."

and Regina

from Mastlin

letter finally

for Kepler in

Mastlin had no advice to give. "Here in Prague

uncertain," Kepler replied to him, "even

letter

reached

Tubingen, and

have found everything

my life. The

only certainty

is

He continued to write letters to his

man would not reply again for

mentor, pleading for help, but the old

four years. Evidently there was nothing he could do, except, as he had

promised in that December

letter,

to "pray for

you and yours."

Tycho's frustration and despair were almost equal to Kepler's.

The

"Let

Me Not Seem

months were passing with no

Have Lived

to

in

Vain"

273

of going back to Benatky,

possibility

and he abhorted the work Rudolph asked him

to do.

Though Tycho

had not given up the idea that the movement of the planets and
othet celestial events

somehow

trological advice of the sort

valuable time.

life

on Earth, he found

ill

as-

a waste of

with the detailed pre-

at ease

monarch worried about

mil-

campaigns, the choice of generals, and the possibility of his

own

had been

best satisfied a

(Rudolph had now reached the age

assassination

each

particularly

would have

dictions that
itary

He was

influenced

Rudolph wanted boring and

assassinated). For

human

Tycho,

who

at

which

his father

believed that the free will of

participant mitigated the influence of the stars, produc-

ing meaningful predictions about military campaigns, for example,

seemed nothing short of ludicrous. Nevertheless, Rudolph was paying the

astrology.
belief,

Tycho knew

that were he to disabuse the

in

emperor of that

he would quickly be out of a job.

The emperor
political

also

wanted advice

that

was more psychological and

than astrological. At court there were precious few

politically neutral
sel

and Rudolph believed devoutly

bills, at least theoretically,

and could be expected

who

to offer straightforward

were

coun-

without a personal agenda. Tycho's only agenda was getting back to

Benatky with

sufficient support to continue his

Tycho's objectivity invaluable. Tycho thus had

meet Rudolph's needs and gear himself up

already

know about

alliances,

work. Rudolph found

no choice but

to learn whatever

to try to

he did not

dealing with competitors for imperial favor, secret

opportunists hoping to link their careers to his own, and

exaggerations,

and

half-truths designed to thwart an ambition

lies,

he did

not even have

There was, however, more that needed

usual affairs of the imperial court that

1600.

Not long

Rudolph

to be dealt

with than the

summer and autumn of

Rudolph summoned Tycho from Benatky,

after

suffered a temporary but severe mental collapse.

a rational ruler

unfortunate

whom

moment

emperor of the Holy

Tycho was

for such a

Roman

advising. This

It

was not

was a particularly

breakdown. Though Rudolph was

Empire, the area that

fell

under

his

TYCHO

274

most

now

direct control

the

& KEPLER

was Bohemia, the northwestern part of what

Czech Republic

is

a multiethnic region ruled by a foreign

dynasty (Rudolph's) that had not, even in the best of times, been
free

of explosive tensions. By the

summer of 1600

this diffuse,

smol-

dering enmity had become polarized by the Counter-Reformation

and threatened

Rudolph

to ignite in a

major conflagration.

was a devout Catholic, but he opposed the more

II

fla-

grant manifestations of the Counter-Reformation, not only in

Bohemia but

also in the larger empire. Incidents like the expulsion

of Protestants from Graz and Styria represented a

tragic failure in

Rudolph's policy of attempting to keep Catholic zealots and Protestants,

It

who

actually were in the great majority,

was possibly

stable

in reaction to that failure in

Rudolph decided

to expel a cloister

residence where he had earlier invited

The normal Rudolph was not

from

Graz that

all-out conflict.

a mentally un-

of Capuchin monks from a

them

to live, near the palace.

given to such unexplained

monks accused Tycho of having

acts.

influenced Rudolph to banish

The

them

because their prayers interfered with the black magic he was using to
turn base metal into gold. (Had Erik Lange heard this accusation, he

would have rushed

to Tycho's side

However much Tycho

to his

reawakened

without

disliked the

skills in

delay.)

work he was doing,

it is

a tribute

the delicate handling of monarchs and the

balanced nature of his counsel that he survived Rudolph's period of

Many other powerful men were permanently banished from

Nor had Tycho contrived to remain on the periphery. He was

madness.
court.

considered one of Rudolph's closest advisers. Extensive correspondence

survives in

which moderate Catholic

about influencing Rudolph to name

successor rather than his

first

leaders

his

communicated with him

second brother Albrecht

brother Matthias,

whom

as his

they judged to

be virulently anti-Protestant.

On
he

the

more

positive side, for Tycho, that

finally received his

deniably a part of

him

own
that

long-overdue

summer and autumn,

salary. Also, there

enjoyed moving

in the

most

was un-

elite circles

"Let

having powerful

at court,

peror's

Me Not Seem

men

enthusiasm for him.

had received

in

to

trust in

Vain"

in

He

also

for the treatment

many

in Prague.

copy made of one of the quadrants

Tycho's Mechanica, and the two

men had

from Graz

solar eclipse Kepler observed

he

took pleasure in the company

of other well-educated people, of whom there were

Hoffmann had ordered

27s

him and be aware of the em-

was vindication

It

Copenhagen.

Have Lived

used

it

to observe the

in

same

in July.

For Tycho, another mitigating factor about the move from Benatky
to Prague

was that he was able

Tycho had heard

against Ursus.

ous

to initiate the long-delayed proceedings

legal actions

Tycho

set in

that Ursus

was seriously

ill.

The

vari-

motion proceeded much too slowly and

inconclusively to satisfy him, for he chafed at the possibility that the

man

he considered

his nemesis, this slippery,

underhanded swineherd,

would escape punishment by dying. In mid-August Ursus did

that,

with Tycho's lawyers harrying him even

Ursus had not survived long enough to be,

as

as

he lay on

just

his deathbed.

Tycho reported

that the

commissioners had promised him, "branded in infamy, and beheaded

or quartered according to

Bohemian

law."

Hence, by the time the Keplers arrived

flesh

in Prague,

Ursus in the

was beyond Tycho's reach, but Ursus's book was not, and

its

very existence was a threat. Tycho told Kepler that he was not so

much concerned with

"destroying his person,

was clownish and vainglorious, but rather

many

insults

self

and

out

all

and

lies,

his

book, stuffed

full

of so

and restoring the glory and reputation of my-

my associates." On

order of the emperor, the printer sought

copies that could be found in Prague

the flames, and the

whom everyone knows

and consigned them

book was banned throughout

the empire.

It

to

was

an affront to Tycho when the council paid Ursus's widow three hundred gulden to compensate her for the confiscation of the books. But

Tycho could console himself that Rudolph

never have

let

that happen.

It

in

sound mind would

was a smaller setback than many

suf-

fered as a result of the emperor's brush with insanity.

With

all

the time spent carrying out the

move from Benatky

to

TYCHO

2 76

The

& KEPLER

Belvedere, a pavilion in the gardens of the imperial palace in Prague,

where Tycho

set

up

his instruments in the

autumn of 1600.

Prague, then from the hostelry to the house, while at the same time
dealing with a half-mad emperor, Tycho accomplished
ingful

work

in the

summer and autumn of

looked unlikely to improve. Longomontanus

left,

succumbing

homesickness that had been drawing Tycho's Danish

servants back to

Denmark. Tycho

man who had

mean-

little

1600, and this situation

reluctantly

to the

assistants

and

watched the departure

many years and joined him

in exile. Tycho had tried hiring various German scholars, none of
whom worked out successfully. More in need of analysis and computation than observation, he had been attempting to engage men
of this

helped him for so

capable of that sort of work. But in the

one

else

hope

to

The

autumn of 1600

there

was no

but Kepler in Tycho's employ with whose assistance he could

complete
last

his planetary theories in the

way he wished.

of Tycho's instruments reached Prague in October,

at

about the time Kepler himself returned. The emperor arranged for

Tycho

to

mount them on

the balconies of an ornamental

house in the palace grounds,

bitterly disappointed.

now

called the Belvedere.

He had hoped

struments in their clifftop bays

as

to use the

need to

summer-

Tycho was

install

the in-

an excuse to return to Benatky.

"Let

From

Me Not Seem

to

Have Lived

Vain"

in

277

the Belvedere's south-facing balconies, the emperor's palace

complex blocked off a good portion of the southwestern

By New Year 1 60 1 Rudolf's mental

,

state

sky.

had improved, and

his al-

ready high regard for Tycho had increased during the difficult months
they had weathered together.

When

Tycho petitioned

nobility for himself and his family in February, the

and

At

self sponsored their petition.

a status that

of their

bles

last

would permit them

new homeland.

for citizenship

emperor him-

Kirsten and their children enjoyed

to inherit

from Tycho and marry no-

Tycho's estate was

large, especially if

still

one included back pay from Rudolph (mounting up

again), the value

of instruments, books, and observations, and the loan (made shortly

he

after

left

Denmark)

that

he was

finally calling in

young dukes of Mecklenburg. The

seemed

On

from the two

future of Tycho's family at last

secure.

the other hand, his scholarly future looked increasingly bleak.

He had

been near to having a new Uraniborg the previous spring.

Now

seemed he would have

it

to relinquish

Rudolph bought him the same palace he had

came

from Denmark.

to Prague

It

sion

still

down

that, for

when he

a beautiful

months

earlier:

first

house

to live in the city could hardly

this hillcrest location. Nevertheless, the

had the same disadvantages

eighteen

rejected

was undeniably

and garden, and an astronomer forced

have done better than

hope of

all

that

had caused him

The tower was not

large

man-

to turn

it

enough, and

the location was too accessible to the court, just a few minutes' walk

west of the imperial palace and no time at

all

in a carriage.

Again, Tycho's enjoyment of a splendid, nearly royal

an antidote to despair.

He moved his library into

thousand books that had been waiting

He

took smug

ters inviting

satisfaction,

when

all this

lifestyle

the house, the three

time in Magdeburg.

spring came, in mentioning in

former acquaintances and

daughter Elisabeth's wedding that the

was

relatives in

summer

Denmark

nuptials

let-

to his

would be

held in his palace, formerly belonging to the vice chancellor of the

empire.

The contingent from Denmark was not expected

appearance, but

it

was a triumph

to

inform them

to

make an

how luxurious and


TYCHO

2 78

pampered

his present situation

& 1CEPLER

was and that

daughter was marry-

his

ing a nobleman.
Nevertheless, the discouragement of having to

move

family and

research establishment again, not back to Benatky but to this un-

wanted house, was

energies.
lost

During

a serious drain

on the

fifty-four-year-old Tycho's

that winter, his friends began to notice that he

some of his usual spark and seemed

age and declining health. Tycho's brother Jorgen,

younger than he, died

had

to be resigning himself to old

who was much

in February. Jesensky reported that in the

middle of a cheerful conversation Tycho would change the subject to

who was

talk

about death. Kepler commented in a

still

not answering, that Tycho was acting childish and capricious,

though he was

dened with

how

good-natured," and that Tycho seemed bur-

"still

cares:

"He

always resembles a lost man, but always some-

extricates himself.

His success

little

wondered

at."

his instruments for their

new

at this

Tycho made some progress reorienting

location, but he did

letter to Mastlin,

is

to be

observing and failed to

with the books that he had been working on for

of these were near completion, and

it

move ahead

many years.

would not have required

deal of effort to finish them, but he lacked the energy

When
moved

Tycho and

his family

moved

to the

and

at all

Several
a great

interest.

mansion, the Keplers

there too. Yet in spite of the difficulty Tycho was having find-

ing good computational help, he wasted Kepler's talents that winter,

partly because Kepler wasn't at his best

but also because Tycho was

not

satisfied that

still

his fever kept returning

paranoid about his observations and

he had completely defeated Ursus, even though the

man was dead and

all

known

copies of his offensive

book had been

destroyed. Kepler complained later in a letter to the astronomer

Giovanni Antonio Magini that Tycho would show him

his "choicest"

observations, but only "inside his four walls," and say to him, "Get
to work." If Kepler asked to see observations other than those
set before
I

him, Kepler was told he was being too

Tycho

inquisitive. "If only

could copy them quickly enough!" Kepler wrote to Mastlin, and in

the

same

letter

mentioned an idea

for prising

some of

the observa-

"Let

Me Not Seem

tions out of Tycho: "If

tions,
so.

he would,

to

Have Lived

in

Vain"

279

you would send him some of your observa-

think send some to you, too,

if you

ask

For in spite of all the instability of his character, he

man
As

of great benevolence." Mastlin did not

ories

for Kepler's

own

astronomy, he spent a

him

to

after

is,

do

all,

reply.
little

time on some the-

about Mercury, Venus, and Mars, discussed them with Tycho,

and thought about the orbit of the Moon, but

was not a pro-

this

ductive winter. "A fever gripped me," Kepler later recalled. "In the

meantime

wrote against Ursus on Tycho's orders." In a

Mastlin he complained, "Because of this

illness

nothing but write against Ursus." Kepler found

on the dispute

after Ursus's death,

of mine
it

but Tycho was

letter to

am

doing

distasteful to carry

obsessed with

still

proving that he, not Ursus, had invented the Tychonic system.

Not

only did he want to destroy Ursus's scientific credibility, to keep

him

from ever getting

ers

who, he

main current
Liddell,
in

credit for

it,

but he also wanted to discourage oth-

believed, were also guilty of plagiarizing his system.

target

of Tycho's

whom Tycho

fears

was a Scotsman named Duncan

had suspected ever since Liddell

1587 and 1588. Liddell seems

The

to have

visited

Hven

been completely innocent;

over the years he remained a responsible scholar and teacher and one

of Tycho's staunchest supporters, though he kept his distance because

of Tycho's suspicions and

hostility.

Kepler put his feverish head to the task of coming up with something that

more

would

clearly

fully

and

ascribe the

he "rebut even

than you have done previously Ursus's

and dishonest objections

distorted

pothesis

satisfy Tycho's instructions that

and more

new

to

my

invention of the

hypothesis to me, as

is

new

you did before with demonstrable reasoning." Kepler did not

his

finish

"Defense of Tycho against Ursus" that winter and spring.

would resume work on

it

several years later, but the

hy-

right, just as

still

He

unfinished

manuscript was not published until 1858. Kepler made the most of
a

poor assignment.

scientific

It is

one of the

finest analyses ever written

about

methodology, pointing out a difference between the

Ptolemaic and Copernican models that was of profound importance

TYCHO

28o

and

to Kepler
in favor

& KEPLER

that remains even today the primary reason for deciding

of Copernicus. In principle, Ptolemaic astronomy was not "in-

correct." It could plot

just as correctly as

and predict the courses of the heavenly bodies

Copernican astronomy. So could the Tychonic

model. But, wrote Kepler, "If in their geometrical conclusions two hypotheses coincide, nevertheless in physics each will have
additional consequence." In other words,

liar

its

own

when one began

pecuasking

the "why" questions, seeking the physical causes for the motion,

Ptolemaic and Tychonic astronomy could no longer hold their own.

To

Kepler, the search for physical causes

had become paramount.

In April, with his health not improved, Kepler interrupted

on

this treatise to

had

died,

and Kepler needed

wife's inheritance.

Keplers unless
thorities did

month

make another

trip

it

trip

to salvage

Most of that was

whatever he could of his

tied to estates

could be converted into cash.

and

useless to the

Though

was an

exercise in futility. Nevertheless, Kepler finally

fever that

had

afflicted

him

for nearly a year,

wrote to Barbara that he was enjoying visiting friends,

where were treating him

as a

welcome

he had promised. She could not

angry exchange of

letters

much money from

buy wood for the fire. An
as

paid, but to behave in future

considerately toward his "benefactor" and "have

at this insinuation that

ended

Kepler

agreeably, but

still felt

it

more

more confidence

Tycho

charity instead of fair recompense for his work.

nally

every-

ensued. Tycho told Kepler to calculate

what was owed and he would be

him." Kepler bristled

who

and he

guest.

Barbara wrote that she was not getting

as

the Graz au-

not block Kepler's return, in a financial sense the four-

shook off the

Tycho

work

back to Graz. Barbara's father

was giving

The contretemps

was symptomatic of

in

him
fi-

the dissatisfaction

with his working arrangement.

Kepler kept up with events in Prague through Barbara's

letters,

own secret code, which would not have

helped Tycho's paranoia if he had known about it. The most important
occasion of the summer was the wedding of Tycho's daughter Elisabeth
partly written in the Keplers'

"Let

to

Me Not Seem

Have Lived

to

in

Vain"

281

Tengnagel in June. Kepler inquired of Barbara in code whether the

bride looked pregnant. Perhaps she did, for Tycho's grandson was born
in late September.

Though Tycho

some

expressed

young couple

displeasure with the

prior to the wedding, perhaps because of the pregnancy, he

mensely

who

gratified that his daughter,

was im-

Denmark was not even

in

considered his legitimate child and could never have married into the

was marrying Tengnagel. Although Tycho had previously

nobility,

referred to

him

as his domesticus, or servant,

man, a man of great

trusted for

repaid a

many

umph

as

Tengnagel was a noble-

whom Tycho

promise

years. In this

had known and

marriage Tycho and his family were

and disgrace of Magdalene's

for the grief

little

trothal to Gellius.

list

political

Tycho did everything

in his

power

to

ill-fated be-

make

the

tri-

public as that embarrassment had been, and the invitation

was long and

Even Rudolph was

illustrious.

was no expectation that the

reclusive

sister

Sophie,

who had been

rows,

hoped

come, but

to

ill

invited,

though there

emperor would attend. Tycho's

intimately involved in Magdalene's sorhealth prevented her at the

last

minute.

She had previously begun several journeys to Prague and had to

terrupt

them midway because of Erik Lange's

recurring disasters.

wedding

for the Netherlands

Elisabeth

and Tengnagel

the

left after

along with another of Tycho's assistants, Johannes Erikson, so

Kepler returned in

late

make

that

autumn of 1601

for nearly a year

work was not

finished

when

August, a healthier, more optimistic, though

poorer man, the house by the wall was

By

in-

and

less

the decision
a half

crowded.

Tycho had been trying

had taken on

and would not

to

greater urgency. His

be, in his eyes, until there

was

complete justification of his belief in theTychonic system. His astron-

omy would continue

plishing

put his

what he had spent

full trust in

nitions that he
cision

to languish, incomplete, with

a lifetime

Kepler. If Tycho

had not long

would mean

to live,

trusting Kepler

no hope of accom-

working toward, unless he

finally

was indeed burdened with premohe surely anticipated that that de-

beyond

his death.

though

And

TYCHO

282

Tycho had

to have recognized that Kepler

him

trusting

man

any other

to better use than

mean

& KEPLER

available

trusting Kepler could not

ultimately to support the Tychonic system.

Nevertheless, with Ursus buried for

made

would put the observations

more than

a year,

Tycho

the leap of faith and wagered his earthly immortality

Tycho

invited Kepler to

There, for the

first

accompany him

time, he introduced

him

on

at last

Kepler.

to the imperial court.

to

Emperor Rudolph and

proceeded to make a dramatic proposal: Tycho and Kepler would take

on the prodigious
tables based

task of compiling a superb

new set of astronomical

on Tycho's observations and more accurate than any the

world had ever known. With the emperor's gracious permission, these

would be named the Rudolfine

Tables. Great astronomical tables in

names of their

the past, such as the Alfonsine Tables, bore the

sponsors.

The Rudolfine

Rudolph and

royal

monument

Tables would, similarly, be a

to

a testament to his generous support of learning. There

was nothing further required of the emperor than what he had already
granted Tycho

except for a salary for Johannes Kepler.

The emperor was

Kepler's salary

thrilled

with the

idea.

The paperwork

Tycho had previously provided

for the future

he had also provided for Kepler's future. With

Tycho placed
secrets

all

of his family.
this

On OCTOBER

13,

secrets

from Kepler.

1601,

only a few days after meeting

with the emperor, Tycho accompanied

wicz, to dinner at the palace of Peter

a friend, Councillor

the table for any reason before one's host had risen,
to this
it,

simple point of etiquette, "so

that brought

him

All the barriers that had kept

Minck-

Vok Ursinus Rozmberk

few steps from the emperor's gate. Courtesy forbade one to

he himself put

Now

bold decision,

his precious observations in Kepler's hands. Tycho's

would no longer be

adherence

for

was begun posthaste.

and

trivial

it

rise

just a

from

was Tycho's

an offense,"

as

to his deathbed.

Tycho and Kepler

at a distance

had

"Let

Me Not Seem

now disappeared, and it is

to

Have Lived

Vain"

in

283

Kepler's description that provides

more

in-

timate details about the days that followed than are available about

any other episode of Tycho's

Holding
seated.

his urine longer

than was his habit, Brahe remained

Although he drank

enced pressure on

Kepler wrote,

life.

little

his bladder,

he

overgenerously and experi-

felt less

concern for the

state

of his health than for etiquette. By the time he returned home,

he could not urinate any more. [Kepler here noted

positions of the

Moon,

Saturn, and

down

the

Mars on the night of the

banquet.]

Tycho's

own

medical expertise was considerable, and he tried various

remedies, but with no success.

He endured

five

days and nights of

agony, unable to sleep.

Finally,

with the most excruciating pain, he barely passed some

urine. But, yet,

it

was blocked. Uninterrupted insomnia

lowed; intestinal fever; and

condition was

little

made worse by

could not be deterred.

On

his

by

little,

way of eating, from which he

24 October, when

subsided for a few hours, amid the prayers,

his family to console

away very
At

him, his strength

his delirium

tears,

failed

and

had

efforts

of

and he passed

peacefully.

this time, then, his series

terrupted,

fol-

delirium. His poor

of heavenly observations was

and the observations of thirty-eight years came

end. During his

last night,

in-

to an

through the delirium in which

everything was very pleasant, like a composer creating a song,

Brahe repeated these words over and over again: "Let

seem

It

to

was only

me

not

have lived in vain."

to

God and

Kepler that the prayer could have been ad-

dressed. Several years later, Kepler

added

to his description in a

TYCHO

284

Tycho

Brahe's

tomb

in the

chapter of his book Astronomia

"although he

asked

me

knew

that

to present all

my

& KEPLER

Maria Tein church

Nova

that

in Prague.

when Tycho

lay dying,

was of the Copernican persuasion, he

demonstrations in conformity with his

hypothesis."

Perhaps, had there been a choice, Tycho

burial

on

his

Kagerod on
lay.

his ancestral estate

where

In Prague, even at Benatky, he

from home. But

do

so,

would have preferred

once-beloved Hven, or in the parish church in

it is

his parents

had always

and other family

felt like

doubtful that Denmark, even had

it

man

far

chosen to

could have given Tycho a more magnificent burial than

Prague did, or one that would have pleased him more. Kepler described

it:

"Let

The

Me Not Seem

to

Have Lived

in

Vain"

28s

and decorated

casket was draped with black cloth

gold

in

with the Brahe coat of arms. In front of the casket were carried
candlesticks,

likewise adorned with his arms,

damask banner displaying

his titles

and arms,

and

a black

Behind

in gold.

the casket was led his riding horse, followed by a black taffeta

banner and then another horse draped

by

men

The

walking single

file,

in black cloth. [Followed

carrying Tycho's sword and armor.]

casket was borne by twelve imperial

officials, all

noblemen.

Behind the casket walked Tycho's younger son, between the

Swedish count Erik Brahe and Baron Ernfried von Minckwicz,
in

long mourning dress.

councillors, barons,

and noblemen, Tycho's

vants, then Tycho's wife,

judges,

and

They were followed by other

zens.

The

finally his three daughters,

girls,

and

chairs in the

and

ser-

guided by two distinguished old royal

escorted by two noble gentlemen.

women and

assistants

imperial

after

one

after the other,

them

the

most distinguished

church in which the family

draped with black English cloth. The

ple that those in the procession

each

Then proceeded many stately

streets

walked

as if

were so

sat all
full

citi-

were

of peo-

between two

walls,

and the church was so crowded with both nobles and commoners that

was

one could scarcely find room

in

over, the banners, helmet, shields,

hung over

it.

When

the

sermon

and other arms were

the crypt.

Kepler did not record where he walked in the procession.

have been

knew

among

that he

the assistants

was no longer

and

servants.

to continue as

any

He must

However, he already
sort

of "hired hand."

19
The Best of Times
1601-1606

Kepler had the news

Barvitius, the imperial secretary,

two days

came

to

tell

after Tycho's death:

him

that the

emperor

had named him imperial mathematician, and he should apply

salary immediately.

The

title

carried with

of Tycho's instruments and manuscripts,

tion of his unfinished work,

it

responsibility for the care

as well as for the

comple-

most urgently the Rudolfine Tables. The

legacy was Kepler's. Tycho's full set of observations

hands, the pages open at

for a

had

fallen into his

last.

Tycho's instruments and intellectual property were not really the

emperor's to bestow, for they belonged to Tycho's family. So Rudolph

purchased them for 20,000

salary
ily

would have earned

florins,

more than Kepler

in a century.

Of course,

at his old

as the

Graz

Brahe fam-

were aware by now, collecting on such a promise from the em-

peror was no easy matter.

was beyond any

To

Kepler, the value of the observations

price.

Following Tycho's death and burial, the Keplers moved out of

Tycho's mansion by the wall to a house across the river from the imperial enclave, in a section

of Prague

known

as the

dated only from the fourteenth century). For the

New Town
first

(it

time since

The Best of Times

287

home of their own. Their house was across

the street from the Emaus cloister, an hour's walk from the palace.
Tycho would have been pleased to have that much distance between
leaving Graz, they

had

himself and the emperor, though

when he had to make it.

The first decade of the

it

was a long journey

seventeenth century was a glorious time to

With

be living in Prague, albeit an expensive one.

dence,

it

was the center of political

politan, rich in history but

Its

narrow

streets

for Kepler

life

the court in

in Europe, wealthy,

resi-

cosmo-

moving with energy into the new century.

many

echoed with

languages. Kepler called

gathering of nations." Carriages of courtiers drove along

its

it

"a

wider av-

enues and stopped at splendid houses that were not only impressively
large but also exquisite in their proportions

men

with treasures. Other

II

make good on

made. Nevertheless, Rudolph's

the arts set the tone of a court

many

superbly productive

details

and furnished

than Tycho and Kepler also learned that

the royal coffers were unable to

Rudolph

and

and

artists

all

the promises

interest in learning

a wider

community

and scholars

that

to Prague.

and

drew

One

of

Rudolph's numerous idiosyncracies was a shyness that at this time in

caused him to shut himself away for days

his life
tle if

any attention

name and

to the activities

reign are

still

paying

lit-

he supposedly supported, but

his

at a time,

linked with a great flowering of the arts and

scholarship.

There was no higher honor to which an astronomer could

than the one that was
gle, it

now Kepler's.

seemed that he and

Kepler had a house of her

his family

own

birth to a daughter, Susanna.

to

After so

were

was growing

prosperity,

The

larger

on

despair

and

strug-

their feet. Barbara

manage, and in July 1602 she gave

The

little

only of three uncomfortable refugees

Regina

much

at last

aspire

family that had consisted

Johannes,

and looking forward

Barbara, and

to happiness

and

with freedom from religious persecution.

years he lived in Prague were indeed golden years for Kepler,

the peak years of his

life,

with

many friendships,

respect he richly de-

TYCHO

288

and splendid

served,

& KEPLER

accomplishments, but the difficulty in

scientific

Not

collecting his salary cast a pall over them.

Kepler's

appointment did he

receive the first

until five

months

after

payment, and he con-

tinued to encounter obstacles collecting even a pitifully small portion of what he was owed.

He made

such a pest of himself with the

royal treasury that a nasty note about

When

treasury records.

the Keplers

fell

him

persistence failed,

appended

is still

and

to the

almost always did,

it

back on meager revenues trickling

in

from Barbara's

property and whatever extra compensation Johannes could scrape up

The

here and there.

home was

Keplers did not, however,

"simply run," as Kepler put

it,

live in poverty.

but the

lifestyle

aged to maintain was comfortable and appropriate for a

position. Kepler's

ing lace

collar,

wardrobe included fashionable

the expected

work clothing

mathematician appeared

perial

attire

What

did.

Kepler's letters,

man

Their

manin his

with a stand-

and when an im-

at court

in public.

Barbara Kepler did not find Prague nearly so congenial

band

they

as

her hus-

known about her comes almost entirely from

and in these when he mentioned her he most often
is

wrote in her defense, placing the blame on himself that their marriage

was not happy. Though

the

way Barbara had

few

skills in

Kepler's

lived

their lifestyle in

simple household

more candid

Prague was similar to

when she was a young woman, she had

letters,

economy

and, to judge from a few of

opted instead for a miserliness perhaps

born of fear of sinking into true poverty. Whether her overzealous

at-

tempts to economize were well-meant self-sacrifice or a kind of self-

martyrdom thrown

in the face

of her husband

chose, for instance, to cut back severely on her

at the risk

is

own

uncertain. She

clothing budget,

of becoming an embarrassment, in order to spend every-

thing on her children.

While Kepler
about
the

real

flourished, Barbara

grew melancholy and was

and imagined differences between her

women

she saw around her.

ther "the heart nor the means"

to

life

Her husband wrote

and the

that she

make herself better known

bitter

lives

had

in

of

nei-

Prague

The Best of Times

society, a plight she

make

evet,

much as he. She did, howon some who met her. Contemporary

may have lamented

good impression

289

as

descriptions call her lovely in appearance, polite, respectable, modest,

pious,

and generous toward the poor.

At home, where she was burdened with unpleasant economies

and

husband often buried

Barbara seems not to have been

letters

more sympathetic

in his studies, the

much

in evidence. In

Kepler described Barbara as "weak, annoying,

and

cholic"

"fat,

self in prayer

one of his
solitary,

later

melan-

confused, and simple-minded." She immersed her-

books, yet for

all

her piety she could not curb an ugly

temper. Kepler also was not unfailingly placid and long-suffering,

and of

their relationship

getting angry, but

it

much

he admitted, "There was

never came to any hostility

biting

and

both of us well

knew how our hearts felt toward each other." The quarrels would
end when Kepler saw that something he had said had deeply hurt
Barbara. Overcome with guilt, he would stop immediately. But "not

much

love befell" him.

Barbara did not understand astronomy, and though she had

lowed him into

were deeply

exile

because of his conscience, and both of them

religious, there

was

little if

any discussion of religion be-

tween them. Kepler, either because he thought

cated faith

would

fol-

his mature,

compli-

disturb his wife's simpler beliefs, or because these

were not matters to discuss with a woman, always spoke in Latin and
avoided

German

(the language she understood)

about religion with

visitors to their

Meanwhile, though Kepler may have

Barbara, he was deeply

mathematician and

and widely loved

scientific

pany.

felt

for.

he lacked for love from

in Prague.

as a private individual,

appreciation of a sort he had never

shamefacedly, longed

when he conversed

home.
Both

as imperial

he received attention and

known

before and had always,

The emperor himself kept up with

Kepler's

work, and visiting dignitaries and royalty sought his com-

He had many devoted

officials to

personal friends, from the highest court

simple uneducated people whose uninformed opinions

TYCHO

29o

& KEPLER

about astronomy and astrology he seemed genuinely to value

own

spur to his

thinking. His old friend

Hoffmann, who had

as a
first

brought him to Prague, remained close and provided him with two
astronomical instruments, for Tycho's instruments remained locked
away, unavailable, waiting for the emperor to

promised payment to the Brahes. Kepler

spondence

for

he was an engaging

make good on

also kept

up

the

a lively corre-

with numerous

letter writer

acquaintances and scholars.

As imperial mathematician, Kepler was expected

endars

and

he had in Graz

as

trology. Kepler

an activity he

had become

now

less

produce

cal-

Rudolph advice based on

to give

and

to

less

as-

fond of casting horoscopes,

described as "unpleasant" and "begrimed" work,

He

which should nevertheless not be "smothered."

began applying

new, more scientific approach, attempting to trace whatever appeared to be established from experience back to causes and physical
links,

and

in

1605 he stopped producing prognostications

entirely.

His advice to Rudolph often came in the form of essays, not

rectly related to astrology, for

Rudolph had got

ing Kepler's predecessor Tycho for

many

all

di-

into the habit of ask-

One

kinds of advice.

essay

was an opinion about a dispute between the Republic of Venice and

V about a pump without valves that Kepler had invented.

Pope Paul

Another had

When

to

do with

came

it

Galileo's discoveries

to Kepler's scholarly work,

with the telescope.

it

was antagonism with

the Brahe family that unexpectedly determined his research agenda.

At the time of Tycho's death and

funeral, Tengnagel, Elisabeth,

Tycho's eldest son were away. Kirsten was distraught with

of the

rest

how

and
and

of the family only Magdalene and Tycho's younger son

Georg were
out

grief,

in Prague. Kepler did not wait to consult

financial matters

would be

settled.

He

them or

find

took charge of

Tycho's astronomical observations. During the year after Tycho's

death, he reveled in the freedom to consult

them whenever he

wished, without Tycho to snatch them away and accuse

ing too inquisitive.

him of be-

The Best of Times

291

Tengnagel returned to Prague in October 1602 and found that

there

had been almost no payment from the royal treasury

He

struments, observational logs, and manuscripts.

discern that Kepler had

made any

Through machinations

uscripts.

for the in-

could not

also

progress

on completing the man-

at court,

Tengnagel contrived to

have the task of composing the Rudolfine Tables transferred to him-

double Kepler's

self, at

rial

salary,

though Kepler continued

mathematician. To Kepler's

of progress, and

it

impeplenty

was inconceivable that he should relinquish the

Mars data when he was

He handed

so close to answers.

the material, but not the

thinking

to be

way of thinking, he had made

Mars

observations.

Those he

over most of
secretly kept,

improbable that Tengnagel would actually consult the

it

observations himself and notice that something was missing.

In the course of this unpleasantness between Kepler

emperor

the

planned to publish in the near future to

perial

of

his

and Tengnagel,

autumn of 1602 inquired of Kepler what he

in the

mathematician. Kepler

employment

justify his

made some

as

im-

rapid decisions. Taking stock

unfinished works, he promised two books:

First,

within eight

weeks, by Christmas, he would complete Astronomiae Pars Optica (The

Optical Part of Astronomy). That, he thought, was nearly finished
ready, the fruit of the
ily's

summer he had

al-

spent in Graz prior to his fam-

expulsion. Second, he informed the emperor, by the next Easter

(1603) he would complete "Commentaries on the Theory of Mars."

He had
he had

been working on Mars,

albeit

with

many

interruptions, since

joined Tycho at Benatky.

first

Kepler was being overly optimistic about completing Astronomiae

Pars Optica

by Christmas.

He was

still

the

twenty-six had written that his eagerness led

things as easy,

which proved

rying out" and

about

new

difficult

him

"to think

and time-consuming

who "in writing [would]

He had already begun

things."

same man who

at age

of a

lot

of

in the car-

continually start thinking

to consider

many

elements

of optics that were relevant to astronomy besides those he had been investigating in

Graz

for instance, the extent to

which

light

is

refracted

TYCHO

292

as

it

& KEPLER

enters the atmosphere, the question that

Kepler put his

mind

to this

had plagued Tycho.

problem without complete

success, for

used erroneous data. Also, he decided there should be exhaustive

ment

book of eclipses and

in the

Moon. He

anticipated

producing a

the sizes

great

on the

treatise

subject.

human

In this area, Kepler

and distances of the Sun and

problem

there, for

he was currently

Soon he decided, however,

and not include

that material separate

the function of the

no

But he needed

it.

eye.

met

great success.

The

question of how the eye

to explain

but Kepler's previous optical analyses gave him the background to

were wrong.

discover, after rigorous calculation, that the old theories

Applying

his idea

of light

age of the outside world

is,

to keep

to delve into

works was not new, and there were theories that attempted
it,

he

treat-

rather, projected

Working

by a

like a "pencil

the image

on the

rays,

is

he was the

not captured in the fluid of the eyeball.

lens in the eye

of light,"

retina.

to realize that the im-

first

as

onto the surface of the

he called

it,

It

retina.

the light rays "draw"

Kepler discovered that the image

upside

is

down and backward on the retina. He was not able to explain how
the mind compensates for this, but he did arrive at a precise understanding of the way in which differently shaped eyeglasses could correct nearsightedness

and

was

farsightedness. This

a particularly rele-

vant question for him, because he wore spectacles himself.

In the introduction to the book, Kepler spoke of another discov-

ery he had made: the inverse square law of light. If a burning candle
is

set

cle,

on

a table, the lighted area

with the candle

surrounding

in the center

of the

it

circle.

on the

table

a cir-

is

Kepler, thinking in

three dimensions rather than two, reasoned that light, starting

from

out not just in a

circle

one point
but in

in space (the candle flame), spreads

all directions, in the

within reach of the

light,

also

Wherever you

you can think of yourself

edge of a sphere centered on

away can

form

of a sphere.

the light source.

imagine himself or herself being

centered on the light source. At

as

Someone
at the

being
little

are,

at the

farther

edge of a sphere

that second location, the sphere

is

The Best of Times

bigger,

and the

How much

dimmer.

light looks

293

dimmer? was the

question. Kepler reasoned that the light's brightness was related to

the size (the area) of the sphere. If
at the light,

two observers were both looking

and observer B was twice

as far

away

as observer

A, then

observer B's sphere was four times as large as observer A's sphere.

saw the
far

light

away

saw the

as

only a fourth

as bright as

A did.

A, B's sphere was nine times

light

only a ninth

If

B was

as large as A's sphere,

as bright as

did.

As

and B

Kepler's inverse

square law of light

states,

tional to the square

of the distance. The square of two (two times

far

away from the

the intensity of light

light source)

is

times as far from the light source)

In January 1604, a

little

which he had promised

script

four.

is

more than

it,

The

nine,

and

is

three times as

inversely proporas

square of three (three

so forth.

a year after the Christmas for

Kepler presented the completed manu-

of Astronomiae Pars Optica to the emperor, and the book went

into publication.

The

ideas

and

that Kepler wrote about in this

discoveries about light

book and

later

and

optics

applied to the

tele-

scope in another work, Dioptrice, became the foundation for seventeenth-century optical theory.
After their clash in the

autumn of 1 602, Kepler and Tengnagel were

often at loggerheads, but they

managed

to

make some

joint progress

on the completion and publication of Tycho's posthumous works.

There had been an extremely uncomfortable
1

603 when Tengnagel, turning

moment

his attention to the

in the spring of

Rudolfine Tables,

had discovered that the Mars observations were missing. Kepler

tantly surrendered them.

Optica,

He was

and the removal of the

have caused him to go

as

at that

reluc-

time writing Astronomiae Pars

possibility

of working on Mars

may

deeply as he did into that other subject.

Tengnagel's most impressive talents lay in politics and diplomacy,

which Tycho had recognized and put

to use

when

courting favor

with the royalty of Europe. Hence more and more of Tengnagel's

time was taken up with Hapsburg politics and the deteriorating political

situation in

Bohemia and Germany.

In the

summer of 1604 he

TYCHO

294

& KEPLER

conceded that he could not possibly complete the Rudolfine Tables

by himself. In return for a promise
satisfactory to

complete them in a manner

to

Tengnagel and to seek his approval before publishing

anything based on the manuscripts, Tengnagel allowed Kepler to use

some of Tycho's

The

observational journals.

Mars observations were once more

precious

in

Kepler's

hands. However, promises to Tengnagel notwithstanding, he did not

set to

work on

He was

the Rudolfine Tables.

again engrossed in his

study of Mars's orbit. His book about that, promised for Easter
1603, was well behind schedule.
to print until late in 1605,

propriate

In the

pregnant,

title,

and

it

would, in

not be ready to go

fact,

would have

new and

highly ap-

New Astronomy.

Astronomia Nova

autumn of 1604

moved house

Old Town,

It

the Keplers, with Barbara six

again, this time to

nearer the palace but

Kepler's dearest friends,

in the

One

across the river.

still

months

Wenzel College

of

Martin Bachazek, rector of the University

of Prague, lived there. Kepler relished the opportunity to converse

with him

daily.

That same autumn, not long

move and while Kepler was

after the

wrestling with one of the most difficult problems in his

Mars, a

don

celestial

his writing

event occurred that

roused the family at

new

skeptical. Six days

ten the incident

He saw

1 1

When

event be-

Kepler could

make

on the previous evening he had

through a gap in the clouds. Kepler was

of overcast skies followed.

when on

The

of great agitation

He had

the evening of October

almost forgot-

7 the sky

cleared.

the star himself and realized that the messenger's excitement

had been
all

star

that

book about

choice but to aban-

official in a state

dawn on October

man, he learned

seen a brilliant

him no

desk and his columns of calculations.

gan inauspiciously when a court

sense of the

left

justified.

As bright

as Jupiter, sparkling like a

diamond

in

the colors of the rainbow, this nova appeared in the sky near

Saturn and Jupiter, which were near conjunction. Mars was also close
by.

Tycho had had

his "star,"

and now Kepler had

his.

2%

The Best of Times

As

Kepler's fateful

drawing for

his class in

Graz had demonstrated,

and Saturn come into conjunction every twenty

Jupiter

regular pattern in

which the conjunctions occur means

The

years.

that ten con-

junctions happen within each of four areas of the zodiac. Astrologers

associate the areas with the four elements identified

water, earth, air (see figure 12.1).

conjunctions to pass through

all

It

at the

fire,

years for the

The

as "trigons."

time of the appearance of

marked the beginning of the two-hundred-year period

"Kepler's star"

which the conjunctions would occur

the element

by Aristotle:

hundred

known

four areas,

conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn

in

takes eight

fire,

the "fiery trigon."

Any

on human

to have important effects

in the trigon associated

with

conjunction was considered

events, mostly bad; a conjunc-

tion in the fiery trigon presaged even greater calamity.

In view of the astrological implications of such a conjunction

a

new

star at the

same time, Rudolph would not

rest until

and

he and

all

the other nervous citizens of the empire could be informed by the

what they should make of

imperial mathematician

this

wonder.

Bachazek built a small wooden tower so that Kepler and he could see
the star better,

and Kepler almost immediately produced

a delightful

short report to reassure the emperor and the populace of Prague.

Among
good

other possibilities, Kepler predicted (with tongue in cheek)

sales for booksellers,

physician, mathematician,

own

ideas

on the

To help

fulfill

because every theologian, philosopher,

and scholar would want

to publish his

matter.

that prediction,

two years

later

Kepler himself

dedicated a book about the nova to the emperor, based on research

De

Novas

and continual observation

as

A Book Full ofAstronomical,

Physical, Metaphysical, Meteorological and

Astrological Discussions,

it

faded.

and

Glorious

Stella

subtitle

was

Unusual. There was a widely

held opinion that the planets had ignited the nova. Kepler insisted
it

was

much

fixed stars,

farther

away than the

and he made

good

the fixed stars were not suns.

planets, at the distance of the

case (based

He

on erroneous

data) that

also rejected the suggestion that a

TYCHO

296

& KEPLER

group of atoms had come together by pure chance

star.

That, he wrote, was

like

thinking that "if a pewter dish, leaves

of lettuce, grains of salt, drops of water, vinegar,

had been

flying

around

happen by chance

form a new

to

oil

in the air for all eternity,

that a salad

would

result."

He

and
it

slices

might

of egg
at last

even had men-

tioned the matter to his wife as she set a salad on the table before

him. As he wrote:
this

"'Yes,'

responded

my

not so nice

dear, 'but

as

one of mine.'"

Kepler ruminated a bit about the astrological implications of the

star,

but he ended by telling his readers that the best advice he could

give

them was

to

examine

their sins

and

no

repent. Star or

star,

that

could certainly do them no harm.

Modern

research shows that Kepler's Star, like Tycho's in 1572,

was a Type
last

thousand

supernova. There have been three in our galaxy in the

years.

(The other was

pernova that would be

in 1006.) Kepler's

visible to the

naked eye

occurred in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a

was the

until 1987,

satellite

last su-

when one

galaxy of the

Milky Way. Tycho and Kepler had no idea how extraordinarily

tunate they were each to see one.

haps not so

The

much

serendipitous salad was per-

less likely after all.

Kepler family kept growing. In early December 1604, Barbara

gave birth to a son, Friedrich,

The domestic
claim in a

make

The

for-

who was to be a great favorite of Kepler's.

disruption surrounding his birth caused Kepler to ex-

letter,

"For what a business, what an

to invite fifteen or sixteen

childbed, to receive

them

women

to visit

hospitably, to see

activity,

does

my wife, who

them

it

not

lies

in

out!" Perhaps he

should have reconsidered his lament that Barbara had neither heart

nor means to make herself further

house became

livelier

known

in society. Sadly, as Barbara's

with children, she herself withdrew further into

melancholy.

For Kepler the astronomer,

604 was both

a frustrating

and an

ex-

hilarating year as he struggled daily to solve the riddle of Mars's orbit.

He came

to think

of

it

as a

war with Mars, by ancient

tradition the

The Best of Times

most warlike of the

planets.

By

297

the time Friedrich was born, Kepler

still

wasn't sure whether he was nearing success, whether victory might

still

be several years

off,

or whether the orbit of Mars was perhaps not

mathematically describable at

all.

Astronomia Nova was not a report on

the results of completed research. Kepler had written fifty-eight chapters

of the book in almost

orbit

is

final

form before he discovered

that Mars's

elliptical.

Tycho's records contained plenty of data

on Mars,

for the "prob-

lem of Mars" had caused him over a long period of time

to

make

that

planet the focus of many observations. That "problem" was the catalyst that led

Kepler to his

first

two laws of planetary motion.

Already in antiquity, observations of Mars had

made

it

clear that

the speed of the planet does not remain uniform throughout

its

orbit.

Astronomers in the intervening centuries had used ingenious devices

to describe such irregularities in a mathematical/geometrical way.

Once such

device was an "eccentric" orbit

an

orbit not precisely

centered on the center of the system (not precisely on Earth for

Ptolemy; not precisely on the Sun for Copernicus).

straight line

drawn through the center of the system (Earth or Sun) and the center
of the eccentric orbit was called the apsidal
apsidal line passed through the point

from the center of the system

(at

line.

Extended

farther, the

where the planet was

farthest

aphelion) and the point where

it

was

closest (at perihelion) (see figure 19.1).

Common

experience indicates that objects seem to

more slowly the

farther

away they

are.

can easily appear to win a race with a plane

sky.

Closer looks

Tycho had

all

faster.

move much

bird flying close overhead

far

higher above

it

in the

Ptolemaic astronomers, Copernicus, and

considered the possibility that what appears to be a

variation in the speed of a planet, as viewed

from the center of the

system (Earth or Sun, depending on whether one followed Ptolemy

or Copernicus),
traveling
times.

on an

is

only an illusion created by the fact that the planet,

eccentric orbit,

But they had

is

sometimes closer than

realized that this explanation

was not

at

other

sufficient

TYCHO

298

& KEPLER
Orbit of planet

Aphelion

Perihelion

Figure 19.1 (Apsidal

An

line):

off-center orbit

Sun) was

to be "eccentric."

The

known as the "eccentricity" of the orbit. A straight line drawn through

both of those two points

to

was said

and the center of the system (Earth or

distance between the center of the orbit

is

the apsidal

line.

Extended

passes through the point

where the orbiting planet

the system (at aphelion)

and the point where

it is

is

farther, the apsidal line

farthest

from the center of

closest (at perihelion).

down

account for the extent of speeding up and slowing

revealed

by observations. Ptolemy experimented with an equalizing point or

"equant" that was not the center of the system (Earth in his case),

and not the center of the eccentric

was a third point along

orbit. It

the apsidal line, a point from which an observer

planet appeared to be

moving with constant

The "problem of Mars" was

three outer planets to

that

accommodate

the greatest eccentricity.

it

would

was the most

in this

find that the

speed.
difficult

of the

manner. Mars has by

far

Tycho must have been well aware, when he

decided to train the instruments of Uraniborg and Stjerneborg on

Mars, that that planet provided not only the

also the best

might hope,
decree that

stickiest

problems but

opportunity to define what the problems were and, one

to solve
I

came

them. As Kepler put

at exactly the

busy with Mars. Because assuredly

it,

"I

consider

it

a divine

when Longomontanus was

either through it we arrive at the

time


The Best of Times

knowledge of the

299

of astronomy or

secrets

else

they remain forever

concealed from us."

Although scholars had been studying the heavens

one had discovered that Mars's orbit was not a

no

for centuries,

circle,

but ancient and

medieval astronomers cannot be accused of ignoring data to adhere

to

an erroneous assumption. The amount by which a planet's

even the orbit of Mars, departs from a

circle

errors in the observations available prior to

great as ten minutes of arc,

tronomers were well aware

orbit

was other than

to within

and

circular.

extremely small.

Tycho were

margin of error

this

made

is

it

orbit,

The

at least as

of which

as-

impossible to discern that the

Tycho's observations were trustworthy

two or three minutes of

arc, a great

improvement on the

ten-minute error tolerated before, but the discovery that Mars's orbit

was

would not come

elliptical

Kepler's simply plotting a

Mars and then

would

all

one might naively suspect

from

number of points where Tycho had found

failing in the

pass through

as

attempt to draw a

circle

whose rim

of them. To discover the true orbit of Mars

from Tycho's observations required a

level

of subtlety, insight, and

in-

ventiveness from Kepler that arguably has not been surpassed in the
history of science.

The
Tycho

attack
to

on the problem of Mars

as

it

was originally assigned by

Longomontanus and Kepler was not intended

the question whether or not Mars's orbit was circular.

basic calculations.

The

first

to address

involved two

was the position of Mars's apsidal

the straight line passing through

(for in the

It

its

line

aphelion, equant, eccentric,

Sun

Tychonic system Mars orbited the Sun), and perihelion.

The second was

the extent of Mars's eccentricity

(how

far the center

of Mars's orbit was from the Sun). If Ptolemy was right about the position

of the equant in relation to the center of the system and the ec-

centric, they

could expect to find that Mars's equant was twice

from the Sun

From

as far

as the eccentric was.

the time Kepler

Benatky, he chose to

let

first

began working with Tycho's data

at

the tight constraints of mathematical/geo-

TYCHO

300

metrical logic

and

& KEPLER

precise observations be his primary guides

give them, for a while, precedence over the ideals of

when

fortable

to

ting a precedent

and

logical

whether

marks
ries:

measure

not survive the

is

He hoped

Kepler was

test.

correct,

but where there

had

is

criteria for

suspicion

up on

also not given

his

if

his polyhedral

and harmonic

rasa.

Though he

voyage of exploration, he,

like

most

former theo-

on the

or-

described his

ef-

explorers,

rection he thought he was heading, if not exactly

there.

He had

already

come

to believe that

He
it

that caused

rigor, ideals

of symmetry

were incom-

dove into a body of data that he trusted

was not

enough and

Sun

for a physical explanation

Kepler did not think that mathematical

though

for the motion,

that an essential part of

in their orbits.

and harmony, and the search

patible.

the di-

what he would find

the physical explanation was a force residing in the

move

knew

understanding planetary

motion required knowing the physical explanation

and he had already reached the conclusion

the planets to

those hall-

theories were correct.

of Mars with his mind a tabula

forts as a

judging

with Tycho's observations to be able to find out

In other ways as well, Kepler did not begin his assault

bit

set-

followed in science, where symmetry, harmony,

still

a theory

He

ideals.

them and be uncom-

beauty are not the most important

are absent. Kepler

whether

his theories against

his results did

to

symmetry and

harmony. However, he had by no means abandoned those

would continue

and

his

own, placing

his instincts correct,

his bets that if his

implicitly,

math was good

he would come out the other side

with his convictions about a physical explanation confirmed, and

also clutching the trophies

of symmetry and harmony.

traveled this particular route before. Kepler

No

one had

was not merely using

sci-

ence to find answers; he was working out what "science" was and

would

be, for himself

and future generations.

Unlike Galileo when he wrote

intend the book he

of Mars," which

first

later

his

referred to as

famous Dialogo, Kepler did not

"Commentaries on the Theory

evolved into Astronomia Nova, for the popular

The Best of Times

301

market. His target audience were his fellow early-seventeenth-

men

century astronomers,

well versed in mathematics

and planetary

astronomy, including Copernicus's astronomy, although most of

them did not think Copernicus had been suggesting anything

when he put

the

Sun

credit the ancient

iar

his

in the center.

models of astronomy had best take place on famil-

ground, with familiar weapons, and not look

book would have

fortable,

his

contemporaries

Hence

felt

com-

not to mention where they were capable of recognizing and

to trust his

Kepler's

own knowledge and

mind was

skill.

well suited to this kind of discourse.

twenty-six he had written, "There was nothing

could not also contradict."

models

tional

like a battle.

spend some time meandering benignly

to

through intellectual landscapes where

coming

"real"

Kepler realized that a battle to dis-

in a fair

way of discovering

He had no problem

At age

could state that

setting

more

tradi-

and serious manner against Tycho's data

for himself

and leading

as a

his readers to see that

no

astronomer, even with the utmost mathematical and geometrical ma-

He hoped to consurvive the common-

neuvering, could rest his case with these theories.

vince his readers that a theory had to be able to
sense questions of

among
would

what might

on

in the heavens

and why. Thus Kepler thought he

new astronomy, and it would prove to be ac-

these huge, real bodies

set the stage for his

actually be going
.

curate to the limits of Tycho's observations.

At the

outset, a confident

who had promised to finish this book by Easter of 1 602 had no

way of knowing how long it would take him, how doubtful its outcome, how much ingenuity it would require of him, how many times
he would fail, and how new his new astronomy would have to be.
Kepler

To understand
one must bear
there

in

Kepler's achievement in writing Astronomia Nova,

mind

was no reason

the Ptolemaic system

orbit. It sat
like the

still.

to

that for

most of

wonder what

and even

in the

Kepler's contemporaries

the orbit of Earth was

like.

In

Tychonic system, Earth had no

Copernicus had implied that Earth orbited the Sun

other planets, but he had not carried through with this in his

TYCHO

302

mathematical

analysis. It

& KEPLER

was a matter of extreme

whether or not Earth did indeed orbit

up when
farther

closer to the

away

aphelion).

(at

the true, visible

right. It

Sun

Sun

had been

interest to Kepler

like the other planets,

speeding

(at perihelion)

and slowing down when

He

must and

believed

it

move when,

a significant

that if he used

point he would find he was

as his reference

Benatky in the spring

at

of 1600, he asked for and obtained Tycho's permission to use the true

Sun when

He again

calculating Mars's orbit.

used the true Sun

he determined that Earth does move more quickly when

Sun and more slowly when

to the

this regard,

many

is

nothing unique.

it is

It is

pages persuading his readers that

Such an approach
of invisible

circles

invisible points.

him

also

made

it

when
closer

farther away. Earth, at least in

just a planet.

A physical explanation demanded

Sun.

it is

it

Kepler would spend

was better to use the true

it.

ridiculous to use devices consisting

centered on invisible points on invisible circles on

However,

it

was not only

to keep his readers with

that Kepler continued to use traditional Ptolemaic tools such as

epicycles

and equants,

for Kepler

needed

all

the mathematical and

geometrical help they could provide to find his

that could

way

an astronomy

do without them.

While Kepler had

a superb

mathematical mind, and improved his

continually as he wrote Astronomia Nova,

skills

to

much

mathematics, including calculus, had not been invented

of modern
yet.

He

also

lacked the concept of inertia, though his contemporary Galileo un-

derstood

it.

Kepler did not visualize a universe in which an object

keeps moving in a straight line at the same speed unless something

comes along
sat

still

move
had
does

to affect that

unless something

it, it

moved

it,

and

if

that

something ceased to

reverted to stillness. In looking for the causes

to ask not only,

it

movement. Instead he thought an object

move

at

all,

"Why

does

it

and why does

move

it

as

it

it,

does?" but also,

"Why

keep moving?"

Perhaps most significant of all, as Kepler

was, as he put

of motion he

set

"armed with incredulity"

out on his quest, he

and hence ready

to

The Best of Times

question

all

assumptions from the past

discoveries he
Kepler's

made himself along

303

as well as the theories

the way.

work with the Mars data had begun

happy spring of 1600.

Kepler believed

God's work on

it

If the

and

hand of God was

at

Benatky in the un-

in this enterprise, as

and Tycho Brahe would not have disagreed

had begun considerably

earlier,

then

and Astronomia

Nova, which would be Kepler's masterpiece, was the result toward

which divine purpose had been moving Tycho and Kepler with the
most

intricate

No

and unlikely maneuvering

for at least fifty years.

one could possibly have obeyed Tycho's dying plea

not seem to have lived in vain"

did, but as

Tycho had

feared,

more

he did

it

his

Tycho had intended, and history would

revolution, not the Tychonic revolution.

"Let

me

magnificently than Kepler

own way,

not the way that

celebrate the

Copernican

20
Astkonomia Nova
1600- 1605

AFTER BEGINNING

Astronomia Nova with a strong demon-

how important the role of the Sun is, something he

to hammer home even more emphatically later, Kep-

stration of

intended
ler

turned his and his readers' attention immediately to Ptolemy.

His strategy was to improve and generalize Ptolemy's theories

Ptolemy himself might have done had he had Tycho's data

ercise

an

as

ex-

of which no Ptolemaic astronomer could disapprove. Kepler

appropriately titled this section of his

book "In Imitation of the

Ancients."

Kepler
scribing

felt

and

obliged to preface his "imitation" with six chapters de-

justifying the rigorous reworking he

them

observations in order to use

necessity of

and

Mars

fined as being

For example, Kepler

at opposition.

when

a planet

is

7.6).

its

made

Opposition

the

extensive use of obser-

is

on the opposite

Sun. However, at opposition, Mars

because of

One problem was

effectively.

undoing some choices and corrections made by Tycho

his assistants.

vations of

had given Tycho's

is

normally loosely deside of Earth

from the

rarely directly opposite the Sun,

latitude north or south of the ecliptic (review figure

Tycho and

his assistants

knew

they had to compensate for

this,

Astronomia Nova

305

Equant

Center

of

# Earth

Figure 20.1: Ptolemaic astronomers placed the center of a planet's eccentric

orbit precisely halfway

between

to find out for himself

equant and the Sun

its

equant and the Earth

Kepler wanted

lay in relation to

its

(right).

but they had failed to do so consistently, nor was

logs

(left).

where the center of Mars's orbit

it

always clear in the

whether they had or had not.

In imitating the ancients, Kepler began by pointedly choosing not

to imitate

them

in

one important

detail:

Ptolemaic astronomers placed

the center of a planet's circular eccentric orbit precisely halfway be-

tween the equant point and Earth. Kepler wished to make no such

sumption but
His work on

to discover for himself

this

where Mars's

model began when Tycho was

as-

orbital center lay.

still alive,

tinued in the months after Tycho's death. Kepler was

still

and

it

con-

thinking in

terms of a circular orbit.

To develop

his

model, Kepler chose observations of Mars that

Tycho had made when Mars was

Earth,
in

and the Sun were

in line,

approximately the position

it

at opposition.

At

this

time Mars,

and an earthly astronomer saw Mars

would appear

at that

moment were

he or she standing on the Sun. There were ten oppositions of Mars in

Tycho's log, the

first

in 1580.

Hoping

had made observations with extreme

to

measure Mars's

care.

Kepler would

parallax,
later

he

make

two more himself. Determining the position and time an opposition


TYCHO

306

& ICEPLEU

occurred, with the precision Kepler required, was no easy matter.

was a considerable achievement, requiring

a great deal

understanding, to deduce this information, for

directly.

time during opposition,

Though

when

the two bodies are

possible to see the

it

the Sun, for the

It

and

could not be found

Sun

is

on opposite

background zodiac

stars

sides

permanent

are wearied

too bright.

by

family budget did not allow

difficult, the

assistant to share the

this tedious

on me who

ers, "take pity

of

behind

the calculations involved in developing Kepler's

model were long and

you

skill

No astronomer was able to see Mars and the Sun at the same

Earth, nor was

to hire a

it

of

new
him

mathematical drudgery. "If

procedure," Kepler begged his read-

carried out at least seventy trials." Finally

he was able to make a simple model that agreed with four of Tycho's
observations of Mars at opposition.
late, for
its

From

this

model he could

calcu-

any given time, where Mars would be seen from the Sun

"heliocentric longitudes." Kepler checked the theory against the

remaining

six

observations from Tycho, and later against the two of

own, and he found

his

his

model agreed within the

limits

of those

observations.

However, Kepler declared the model unsatisfactory.

that if one were standing

by

sitions predicted

on the Sun, one would

his theory.

stars, as

It

Mars

knowing

its

position against the

seen from the Sun. Kepler wanted to

far the planet was from the

Sun

was true

in the po-

But there was more to finding the

correct location of a planet than

background

see

know how

at these positions.

In answering this question, Kepler discovered a serious discrepancy. His

new

theory indicated that the center of Mars's orbit was

six-tenths of the

way from

halfway between,

as

the

Sun

to the

equant point rather than

Ptolemaic astronomers assumed. However, to

obtain the correct distances, he had no choice but to put the center of
the orbit right back where Ptolemaic astronomy had traditionally

put

it.

And when

he did

that, his

theory no longer predicted correct

heliocentric longitudes (positions of the planet as seen

from the

Astronomia Nova
Sun).

The

were

errors

as large as eight

in Tycho's observations did not allow

The

failure

was not a

307

minutes of arc* Kepler's

him

to let this pass.

had

defeat. In fact, Kepler

he wanted them, forced to admit that something

had given

"After divine goodness

where

his readers

new was

Tycho Brahe,

us, in

faith

required:

so careful an

observer that from his observations the error of calculation amount-

ing to eight minutes betrayed

nize
is,

and

utilize in a

we should

appropriate that

itself, it is

manner

thankful

this

we

recog-

good deed of God's

that

take pains to search out at last the true form of the

heavenly motions." Kepler's model, which he dubbed his "Vicarious

Model" or "Vicarious Hypothesis," had brought him

to a crossroads.

Kepler then told his readers that a "renovation of the whole of as-

tronomy" must begin

deed

all

observations

from a moving Earth.

picture of this

would cause
Kepler
Earth

It

errors in

(as

correct.

in-

to be sure that their

flaw in that understanding

any other astronomical work. In that

and asked

directions

Copernicus had suggested) made

behooved astronomers

motion was

now changed

as

home. Suppose Tycho's observations

at

were

his readers to

though they were standing on Mars. With a

interest,

look toward

brilliantly

con-

ceived triangulation from Earth's orbit to Mars, Kepler demonstrated

that Earth's orbit

Though

and motion were

Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Tycho had

center of Earth's orbit was the

showed

like that

that

it

lay instead

same

as its

of the other planets.

all

thought that the

equant point, Kepler's

somewhere

in the

results

middle between the

equant point and the Sun, and that was where astronomers had
tionally put the center of the orbit of a. planet.

"Eight minutes of arc

is

the equivalent of a

little less

Even more

tradi-

significantly,

than the thickness of a penny held

at arm's

length and viewed edgewise.

In order to appreciate fully the

be necessary to follow him in

much

manner

in

which Kepler used Tycho's observations,

far greater detail

simplified fashion just this

than

is

possible here.

one short phase of the work

Appendix 3

it

might seem

That would come

it

later.

could have.

It

did not lead

him

would

to give a flavor of the interplay

between Tycho's data and Kepler's use of it. The process did not "draw Earth's orbit"

though

it

describes in a

to conclude that the orbit

for Kepler,
is

elliptical.

TYCHO

308

& KEPLEU

Kepler had found that Earth was speeding up

the

Sun and slowing down

moving

as

it

moved

when

it

came

closer to

away. In other words,

it

was

The discovery that Earth behaves like a planet

momentous advance and a strong argument on behalf of

like a planet.

was a truly

Copernican astronomy. In
his readers to that

his

book, Kepler had cleverly introduced

argument before they had a suspicion of where they

were headed.
Kepler saw that the speeding up and slowing
dictable mathematical regularity to

and perihelion was

He

Sun.
lion

it.

The speed of Earth

inversely proportional to

decided that

this rule surely

and perihelion but

down had

had

its

at

a pre-

aphelion

distance from the

to apply not only at aphe-

to the entire orbit. Kepler

had arrived

at his

so-called distance rule.

Whether or not
Kepler had

would turn out

this tentative "rule"

clearly, in getting there,

become

to be correct,

a virtuoso in the use of

Tycho's observations, devising ingenious ways to exploit their unique

accuracy and comprehensiveness, bringing together

tions so that the

honing

parts,

whole amounted
mathematical

his

constraints of this precise data.

to

much more

skills

and

sets

than the

of observa-

sum of the

his creativity against the

Such mastery of the

creative nexus

between observation and theory has seldom been achieved and never
surpassed in
able to see

all

the history of science. Tycho, had he been alive and

beyond

cheered for

his bias for the

joy, for

Kepler was asking questions that no one had

thought to ask before, and

them were

Tychonic system, might well have

still

the observations required to answer

right there in Tycho's log.

Kepler did not turn directly to the question of whether his distance rule was correct, for he was determined to prise open a door
into a

new

era of science

where the search

was of paramount importance.

tion of the planets

they
tion.

knew

He was

for physical explanations

convinced that the true mo-

would elude him and

all

other astronomers until

the answer to the question of what was causing that

So he chose

at this

mo-

juncture to shift his focus to the search for

Astronomia Nova
by

physical explanations, thinking of this as

309
far the

most urgent part

of his work.
Kepler was wrong to believe that understanding the physical ex-

come

planation for planetary motion had to

what

that

motion was. His

before knowledge of

discoveries of his three laws of planetary

motion would precede by about three-quarters of a century Newton's

discovery of the physics that lay behind them. However,

tions,

though often

his laws.

One immediate
was that

it

seems that

were a necessary step in the process through

futile,

which he discovered

it

and understand the physical explana-

Kepler's attempts to discover

result

how

pointed up

scriptions of planetary
in a planet's distance

of Kepler's thinking along physical

ridiculous

motion were.

and

He

from the Sun appeared

motion must be

Though he had

made up

already

his

wrcphysical previous de-

reasoned that since changes

speed, the cause of the

book Kepler paused

lines

to dictate changes in

its

one of the two bodies.

in

own mind on

that score, in his

to consider that idea in the contexts

of the

dif-

ferent planetary models. In the Ptolemaic system, for example, if the

force that

moved

the circle, then

bly

move

stance.

It

it

a planet in a circle resided in a

was

was even worse

cled in the epicycle.

seriously,

difficult to

conceive

with no body

in a circle

It

if

had

and Kepler sent

the planet

clearly

how

at its center

body

must change

epicycle, for in-

its

speed

to take

bumping

will

melt

all this

Ptolemaic machinery

like butter,"

as

it

cir-

Ptolemy

off on a trick

unicycle with the wheel attached off-center to nothing at

Sun

of

a planet could possi-

an

become impossible

that ancient genius

at the center

all.

"The

wrote Kepler,

"and the followers of Ptolemy will disperse, partly into Copernicus's

camp, partly into the camp of Brahe." Kepler carted the epicycle off
the stage, but he didn't throw

The Tychonic system

moving

it

away.

fared hardly better.

force residing in the

Sun caused the

fine for the five planets that Tycho's

when

the Tychonic

The

idea that a planet-

planets to orbit

worked

model had orbiting the Sun, but

model required the Sun,

in turn, to orbit

around

TYCHO

310

a stationary Earth, the

arrangement floundered unless there was a

separate force in the Earth to

move

geometrically equiv-

Copernican system, but Kepler saw that

in terms of the possibility

distressingly, unlikely.

posed a

parallel

it

of a physical explanation.

was no match
It

was simply,

Kepler might have imagined Tycho whisper-

ing urgently in his ear that the

this

the Sun, a force that did not af-

The Tychonic system was

fect the other planets.

alent to the

& KEPLER

Moon

circles Earth,

not the Sun, and

problem. But Kepler put that off until another

time and another book.

Kepler considered what the planet-moving force might be.
to

emanate through space

The

in the

way he had

strength of gravity, like the brightness of light, does

fall

and hence

failed to arrive at the

as to state, "If

had

off as the

inverse square of distance, but Kepler did not discover that

he came so close

It

discovered light does.

it

does,

modern concept of gravity, though

one would place a stone behind the

Earth and would assume that both are free from any other motion,

then not only would the stone hurry to the Earth but the Earth

would hurry

to the stone; they

would divide

the space lying between

in inverse proportion to their weights." In spite of his

comparison

with

by the plan-

light,

he decided that the strength of the force

ets fell off as

Kepler

son that

felt

obliged to justify that conclusion for the obvious rea-

when he

studied the relative speeds of the planets, and the

relationship for a single planet between

its

orbit,

felt

the simple inverse of distance.

its

speeds in various parts of

he found that the planets' speeds did reflect a simple inverse

relationship to distance

from the Sun. There was no empirical

evi-

dence for an inverse square law. Gravity works in a more indirect

way, so that the inverse square law, though

only indirectly in planetary distances and

Kepler speculated that the Sun must rotate.

think of a lecturer
the direction he
his eyes." If

is

surrounded on

all

it is

correct,

shows up

speeds.

sides

He asked his

readers to

by an audience. Those

in

facing "see his eyes" while others "lack the aspect of

he turns,

his

head turns, and

his gaze

sweeps the crowd.

Astronomia Nova
\>A<7

Oa

<( )>

Figure 20.2: If the strength of the force

tance, planet B, twice as far

fourth as

much of the

Ob

fell

off as the inverse square of dis-

away from the Sun

as planet

the planets to sweep around.

tied to the

Sun by

this force, as

a wheel, because they

had
ets

moved

The

though

feel

Sun caused the

only a

force that

planets could not be rigidly

fixed at the ends of spokes of

at different speeds.

to be rotating at a speed that got

were "prone to

A, would

force as planet A.

Likewise, wrote Kepler, the rotation of the

moved

311

The Sun

therefore

ahead of them. Because the plan-

rest" (recall Kepler's lack

of the concept of inertia),

they lagged behind.

rotating

body

empty

that exerts a force at a distance through

space, affecting closer things

more

strongly

and giving out

the shape of a sphere, reminded Kepler of reading he had

its

force in

done

recently

about magnets, in books by Jean Taisner and the Englishman William

Gilbert. Kepler never decided that the planet-moving force

netism, but

it

was mag-

was encouraging that such a force was known to

and that Gilbert had recently shown that Earth was a magnet.
reasonable to think that the

suggestion was that as the

tions

coming from

Having
along the

it

Sun could

Sun

also rotated, in turn

all

all

moving the

directions

all

planets.

directions, not just

from the sphere of the Sun

which Earth replaced the Sun, was

planet were too far "north" or "south"

on the other

it

would be

side of the rotating globe.

directions in the force that reached

result in

emana-

orbit near the plane of the solar equator. Kepler's an-

swer, using an analogy in

tion

was

Kepler was obliged to account for the fact that the

planets are not spread out in

but instead

exist

exert a similar force. Kepler's

rotated, a field of magneticlike

stated that the force propagates in

ecliptic,

It

it,

It

affected

would

felt

by the mo-

feel conflicting

which over the

complete confusion. Hence Kepler

that if a

"poles"

would

that the planets could

TYCHO

312

& KEPLER

not help but end up orbiting only near the plane of the Sun's equator,

where they were not affected by the opposite stream of motion on the
other side of the Sun.

Kepler was
tion for

why

more

a planet

slowly than one closer, and

tance from the

from the Sun would move more

why a planet's

speed would vary

from the Sun should ever change at

work were

around

carried

for

why a
only

If the

all.

moving the

on the Sun,

in circles centered

never speeding up or slowing down. Something

alternately

as its dis-

a planet-moving force residing in the Sun, then

would be

the planets

distant

an explana-

Sun changed. But he lacked an explanation

planet's distance

thing at

He had

with a stubborn problem.

still left

planets toward

as yet

unknown was

and away from the Sun,

to dis-

tances where the Sun's planet-moving force was stronger or weaker.

He

speculated that a planet might have a mind, or

mental mechanism, yet

that

mind

or

were

if this

so, there

was

mechanism would know how

some other nona question

still

distant

it

Sun. Yet a planet seemed mysteriously able to decide

should move away before coming back, and

enough

to

move away

when

clearly,

He conceded

parent size of the Sun's disk.

and that

that there

how

far

was

it

again. Kepler could think of only

which distance from the Sun shows up

how

was from the

one way

is

it

close

in

in the ap-

might be ways

of "perceiving" that humans knew nothing about.

An

explanation for planetary

with a "mind" to help steer

modern

it

movement

ears like a "physical explanation." Kepler

this

endows

a planet

through the heavens does not sound

idea himself, but he could not dismiss

At

that

it.

point in his book, Kepler decided that he had, for the

ment, done

all

and needed

to return to the

he could

in the

to

was not fond of the

way of pursuing

mo-

physical explanations

problem of describing the

planets' true

motions mathematically and geometrically.

How much
its

orbit

clear.

time

it

took a planet to

depended on how

The

far

it

travel a given distance

was from the Sun, so

planet was slightly changing

its

along

much was

distance from the Sun, and

Astronomia Nova
hence

its

speed, continually

way around

the

all

313

To

the orbit.

get a

handle on these changes, Kepler needed integral calculus, but that

would not be invented

He

for at least three-quarters of a century.

nonetheless found another way.

A circle has 360

circular orbit into

degrees, so Kepler divided the circumference of a

360 equal

calculate the distance

of these separate

Then he

arcs.

from the Sun

arcs, as if

laboriously proceeded to

(off-center in that circle) to each

measuring the length of every spoke of

Of course

wheel that has an off-center hub.

he had to calculate only

180 of the 360 "spokes," since planet-Sun distances on the other side
of the orbit would be the same. Having done
stance,
first

imagine a planet starting

at

that,

he could, for

in-

aphelion and passing through the

orbit. The sum of those 30 orbit-tosum of all 360 distances, as the time it took

30 of the 360 degrees of its

Sun distances was

the planet to

move

to the

those 30 degrees was to the time

to complete an entire orbit of 360 degrees.

Even

it

took the planet

for Kepler this pro-

cedure became unendurably tedious and complicated.

He decided

to

look for a shortcut.

Kepler recalled a method that the ancient mathematician Archi-

medes had used

that a circle

to calculate the area

was made up of an

infinite

with their bases on the rim of the

Knowing he must

many show up

circle

use something

number, Archimedes,

like

of a

circle.

Archimedes reasoned

number of isosceles
and

triangles"

their apexes at the center.

more manageable than an

someone who has baked

infinite

few that

a pie for a

to eat, divided the circle instead into very fine, equal

isosceles triangles, again

with their bases on the rim of the

circle

and

their peaks at the center.

It

went without saying

jacent triangles of equal

combining

"An
it

that

size,

when Archimedes combined

isosceles triangle

is

a triangle having

few ad-

he was doing two things. One, he was

their bases along the

does not show an infinite

rim of the

two

sides

number of triangles.)

circle.

The more

triangles

of equal length. (See figure 20.3 [a], though

TYCHO

314

& KEPLER

he combined, the longer the portion of the rim taken up by those

bases. If he

complete

combined

circle.

all

of the

triangles,

he would have taken up the

Two, he was combining the

areas of the triangles. If

he doubled the number of triangles in the group, the area doubled;

triple the

number, and the area

tripled;

and so

forth. Clearly there

was a relationship between the amount of the rim that the combined

and the area of the combined

bases covered

an arc twice

for

as long, the area

triangles.

would be twice

For example,

as big.

Kepler suggested that combining the triangles does more than

combine

and combine the lengths

their areas

the rim of the circle.

an

infinite

He

thought of the

circle as a

an

infinite

number of

each triangle

distances.

would con-

these spokes. Kepler, like Archimedes,

could not compute with infinite numbers. However, though

not possible to say

how many

more

triangles

two

of equal

triangles

With

so forth.

it

was reasonable

you combined, the more of

were in the combined

Even more

area.

area,

this idea,

it

was

spokes were contained in any one

angle or combination of triangles,

the

up on

spoked wheel with

number of spokes representing center-to-rim

No matter what size one made the triangles,

tain

their bases take

tri-

to conclude that

these spokes there

precise than that:

Combine

and the number of spokes doubles, and

Kepler had found a

way

to think about the

relationship between orbit-to-Sun distances, the time that passed as

the planet

Whether
bit,

moved along

this line

where the

lematic.

And

its

orbit,

and

areas

within the

circle.

of reasoning could be applied to an off-center or-

triangles

were no longer

isosceles triangles,

was prob-

of course the whole point of the exercise was to illumi-

nate the workings of an off-center orbit.

Kepler persevered, and he reached a tentative conclusion:

straight line

drawn from

would sweep out equal

tried this rule

a planet to the Sun, as the planet orbits,

areas of the circle in equal times.

with Earth's

nearly confident

orbit,

enough about

never even clearly stated

it

in

it

it

When

he

worked. Though he was not yet

to declare that

it

was

correct,

and

Astronomia Nova, Kepler had arrived

at

Astronomia Nova

315

Figure 20.3: If the Sun were in the precise center of the orbit

would be

isosceles triangles.

But with the Sun off-center

(a),

(b),

the triangles

the triangles

Kepler was considering were no longer isosceles triangles.

Figure 20.4: Kepler's area rule,

of planetary motion, with an

he was

rule,

still

shown here

in

elliptical orbit.

trying to apply

it

its

final

When

form, as his second law

he

Imagine the planet moving around the orbit with

from
line
it

it

to the Sun.

move

for, let

first

arrived at the area

to a circular orbit.

As the planet moves,

a straight line

drawn

Watch the
of the pie wedge

so does the straight line.

us say, two minutes, then measure the area

has "swept out." For every two-minute interval, the wedge will have that

same

area,

but

it

will

not always be the same shape, nor will the edge of it that

touches the orbit always be the same length. Near the Sun the wedge will be
fat

and cover

thin

a long portion of the orbital path. Far

and cover

planet

is

moving

much

shorter portion,

meaning

a shorter distance in the

from the Sun

that far

two-minute

it

will

be

from the Sun the

interval.

TYCHO

316

& KEPLER

what has come down through history

"second

as his "area rule," his

law of planetary motion." Confusingly, he did not discover

law" until somewhat

his "first

later.

Kepler realized immediately that his old distance rule and

new

The

area rule were not necessarily the same.

tional accuracy

it

limits

of observa-

impossible to judge which was correct for

He knew he must look at the orbit of another planet.

moment in October 1602, Kepler was rudely inter-

Earth.

At

made

this

this critical

rupted by Tengnagel's return to Prague and his conclusion that Kepler

had made no progress

ficult to

understand

correctly, that

The

in the use

of Tycho's observations.

why Kepler secretly kept

Tengnagel would not notice

old "problem of Mars"

now

the

Mars

It is

not

dif-

data, judging,

at least for a while.

offered a splendid opportunity.

Because Mars's orbit was farther from being centered on the Sun than
Earth's orbit was, a flaw in the area rule

was more

likely to reveal itself.

Kepler used the area rule to compute where Mars should be in

bit at given times
orbit,

or-

during the 687 days the planet takes to complete the

and then he checked these predictions against the

longitudes of his Vicarious Hypothesis.

came

its

He found

agreement when

to certain parts of the orbit but not others. In fact,

to an eight-minute discrepancy! Again,

it

heliocentric

had come

to a

it

he was back

showdown:

Either the circular orbit was wrong, or the area rule was wrong. Kepler

could not rule out even the possibility that both might be wrong.

Though

still

far

from completely trusting

his area rule, Kepler de-

cided to take the plunge and try a noncircular orbit.

like the

one he had used

path was indeed not a

a racer

who

Doing

that while

lion

cheats by
still

circle

but bowed in

coming within the

having to make

and perihelion) would change

The

precise

A triangulation

earlier for Earth's orbit indicated that Mars's

it

at the sides.

circle

Mars was

like

of a circular racetrack.

around two goalposts (aphe-

a circular race into

amount by which Mars was

an oval

race.

"cheating" in this race was

fiendishly difficult to establish. Circles, except for size, are identical.

"Oval," on the other hand,

is

much less precise term. An ellipse is one

Astronomia Nova
kind of

sume was

harmony and symmetry

correct. Kepler did not.

might be expected

in nature

Not only did movement

orbit appear to defy a physical explanation, but

easy an answer. Kepler wrote to his friend

if

and the one a man ob-

oval, the best defined geometrically

sessed with

tical

317

it

also

in

to as-

an

ellip-

seemed too

David Fabricius that

surely

the orbit were a perfect ellipse the problem he had been struggling

with would have been solved long ago by Archimedes or Apollonius.

At the time he wrote

that letter, in July 1603, Kepler

had been

forced to abandon the struggle with Mars, because Tengnagel had

nally noticed that the

Mars observations were missing and

cated them. Kepler was working

It

was not

until a year later that

As Kepler resumed juggling

for the rest

intense. His

rule.

He

ovals,

which he would continue

math was inadequate. He was

to

do

suspicious of his area

even had some doubts whether Mars's orbit

mathematically at
tions degree

instead.

he had the Mars data again.

of 1604 and in the beginning of 1605, his frustration

grew

sort

on Astronomiae Pars Optica

fi-

confis-

all.

An

made

sense

attempt he made to calculate Mars's posi-

by degre^ gave him unsatisfactory

results

and was the

of procedure he despised. This was not geometry, and Kepler

took issue with

comment about

God on the matter, in words he might have used to

a human colleague: "Heretofore we have not found

such an ungeometrical conception in his other works." Kepler had

not changed in his intolerance of procedures or results that insulted
his geometrical sensibilities.

Kepler resorted to working with an

proximating

ellipse," to see

ellipse that

what he might

That presented a new problem.

learn

He had earlier

(as

he called the "ap-

from the

he described

exercise.
it)

been

obliged to "squeeze in" his circular orbit as though he were holding a

"fat-bellied sausage" in his

the

hand and squeezing

meat was forced out into the ends. With

he had squeezed the sausage too much.

something

it

his

The

in the

middle so that

approximating

correct orbit

ellipse,

had

to

be

in between.

Kepler's desire for a physical explanation

made

his efforts

more

TYCHO

318

difficult.

force

He had begun to

think that the force resembling a magnetic

might account not only

Sun but

the

also for their

& KEPLER

motion of the planets around

for the

motion toward and away from

out of the question with an

elliptical orbit.

epicycle as a computational device

One

it.

That was

of Kepler's uses of an

had led him

to have rather high

hopes for the magnetic hypothesis, so he brought yet another epicycle

out of storage. That resulted in a "puffy-cheeked" orbit (via buc-

one of the

cosa). It is

ironies of scientific history that

it

was an error

in his calculations that caused Kepler to reject this orbit. Kepler

reached chapter 58

when he

considering and calculating this matter.

planet

would

And

rather go

his

approximating

satisfying to
its foci.

on an

fell

why the

and

dream and saw

new

light,"

An elliptical orbit halfway between

had

a circle

a feature that

was deeply

one who loved geometric harmony. The Sun was one of

Kepler had arrived at his

This, as

from

into place.

ellipse

could not find out

elliptical orbit!"

then, "As if I were roused

a torrent of answers

had

wrote, "I was almost driven to madness

Kepler put

this ellipse, the orbit

it,

"first

was "the

made

that a force residing in the

law of planetary motion."

sort

of thing nature does." With

physical sense, supporting his conviction

Sun moves the

the area rule was correct, this

planets.

model agreed

What was

"to the nail"

more,

if

with the

long-trusted heliocentric longitudes of his Vicarious Hypothesis.

This one shape of

orbit,

and only

right place at the right time.

"There was nothing

this shape, got the planet to the

The man who had

could state that

had discovered a piece of incontrovertible

At Easter 1605, the second Easter

promised

his

said of himself,

could not also contradict,"

truth.

after the

one

for

book, Kepler decided definitely on the

which he had

ellipse.

He

fin-

ished the manuscript that year, adding a subtitle to emphasize that his

"New Astronomy" was

"Based on Causes, or Celestial Physics." Kepler

ended Astronomia Nova with the hope that God, having so

dowed

his creatures

with analytical brains and insatiable

richly en-

curiosity,

and

Astronomia Nova

Figure 20.5: Kepler's

liptical orbit,

his

law of planetary motion:

first

and the Sun

is

at

one focus of the

A planet

moves

in

an

el-

ellipse.

Creation with surpassing beauty and ingenuity, would allow hu-

mans

sufficient

time on

this

Earth to resolve questions he, Kepler, had

not yet been able to answer.

The adventure begun on Hven when Tycho

to train his fabulous instruments

astronomy.

many

He had made

first

made

the decision

on Mars had taken Kepler

sense of the positions of

to a

new

Mars spread over

pages of observational logs. In this miraculous cohesion of ob-

servations

and mathematical

Kepler scholar

Max

theory, the

numbers, in the words of

Caspar, "no longer stand together unrelated but

rather each can be calculated

from the

other."

The

limits

of accuracy

of Tycho's observations had turned out to be exactly right for the task
Kepler undertook:

"

[They were] narrow enough so that Kepler could

not afford to neglect those very important eight minutes ... but had
they been considerably narrower, he would certainly have been caught
in a fine

meshed

net, because in

many of his

calculations he

would no

longer have been permitted to overlook certain inaccuracies, as was

necessary for the progress of his research." Nevertheless, the precision

of Tycho's observations made

cal orbit

it

of Mars even though

possible for Kepler to find the elliptiit is

so near to being a circle that any

TYCHO

320

Figure 20.6:

imating
the

Sun

Comparing

ellipse.

the eccentric circle, the true ellipse, and the approx-

F designates the two

are the foci

of the true

of the approximating

look even slightly

elliptical

is

ellipse.

The drawing greatly exaggerates

drawn

at this scale,

from one another or from a

drawing of it on the page (such

it

foci

ellipse.

centricity of the ellipses. Correctly

sible to distinguish

& ICEPLER

as the

they would be impos-

circle.

ones in this chapter) that makes

a gross exaggeration.

Kepler's discoveries that Earth behaves like a planet,

first

in

E and
the ec-

and of

his

and second laws of planetary motion, were towering landmarks

human

intellectual

and

scientific history.

He had

indeed plumbed

the depths of a complicated universe and found harmony.

also given

Tycho Brahe

his earthly immortality.

He had

21
The Wheel of Fortune

Creaks Around
1606-1618

THE AGREEMENT STRUCK

between Kepler and

earlier

Tengnagel required Kepler to submit the manuscript of Astronomia

Nova

to

argued for the Copernican rather than the Tychonic system.

clearly

The

Tengnagel for approval. Tengnagel was not pleased: The book

difficulty

was

settled

when Kepler

agreed to allow Tengnagel to

write a preface.

Hence Astronomia Nova,

tionibus, begins

with an unpromising warning, in

like

De Revolu-

Copernicus's

this case that readers

should "not be swayed by anything of Kepler's, especially his liberty in

disagreeing with Brahe in physical arguments." Both Tengnagel and

Osiander

(in the case

prefaces to

The

of De Revolutionibus) emerge looking foolish in

two of the most

significant

publication of Kepler's

astronomy books

book moved

printing didn't even begin until 1608.

tribute

when

it

all

copies of a

book by

appeared in the

entire edition

It

in history.

his imperial

right to dis-

mathematician, but

summer of 1609, Kepler had

back to the printer

in

The

at a snail's pace.

was Rudolph's

Heidelberg to

sell

to give the

to cover

un-

paid costs.

January 1610 marked ten years since Kepler had

first

arrived in

Prague in Hoffmann's carriage. There was abundant reason to

cele-

TYCHO

322

& 1CEPLEK

brate the anniversary. Kepler's reputation as scientific heir to

Brahe, and the books Kepler had written, had elevated

status of an

over Europe and in Britain.

all

This success redounded to the emperor's credit

on Kepler and granted him

ished praise

friendships,

Rudolph

lav-

been paid.

it

warm

and almost universal respect was marred not only by

his patron.

ous Protestant
still

as well.

bonus of two thousand

decade of superb scholarly achievement,

problems collecting

was

which would have been splendid had

Sadly, Kepler's

and

the

impoverished provincial mathematics teacher to that of a

celebrated figure in educated circles

talers,

Tycho

him from

his salary,

Barbara had

women

his

but also by the decline of both his wife

made some

of Prague, but

friends

among

the

more

pi-

decade in the city she

after a

miserably homesick. In spite of her discontent, the Keplers

had seldom been out of Prague

at all

during the years since Tycho's

when the plague came back in

had moved to new lodgings near

death, except for a sojourn in Moravia

autumn of 1607 they

1606. In the

the great bridge over the

river.

Ludwig,

December. In 1608 Regina, Barbara's daughter and

there that

Kepler's stepdaughter, married Philip

from

Ehem, who was descended

prominent Augsburg family and was currently

There were many reasons

fered chronic

for happiness

and

stood

for the emperor,

pride, yet Barbara suf-

by the time he granted

his habitual state

him

Palatinate.

bad health and deepening depression.

bonus, Rudolph had been stripped of almost

enough,

a representa-

IV of the

court for Elector Frederick

tive at the imperial

As

second son, was born

their

in rather

endless, stalemated

of

Kepler's celebratory

all

political indecision

good stead

his power.

Oddly

and inaction had

many years. He had kept up an

Ottoman Turks and held together,

for

war with the

often only by failure to act or react, an empire forever threatening to

disintegrate.

Rudolph had always been quirky and pathologically

shy,

but over time his indecision and stubbornness had degenerated to

paralysis,

and

his

mental

state

had continued

to deteriorate until

was rumored to be insane. Though he was such a

recluse that

it

he

was


The Wheel of Fortune Creaks Around
difficult to

323

confirm or deny the rumor, he had clearly become a threat

to the royal

house of Hapsburg and the empire.

The Austrian Hapsburg

family had

met

in secret in April

606 and

agreed to recognize Rudolph's younger brother Matthias as the head of

Two

the family instead of Rudolph.

from Vienna into Bohemia

years later, Matthias led an

to within

army

march of Prague.

a day's

kingdom of Hungary and

Rudolph abdicated, ceding

to Matthias the

the archduchies of Austria

and Moravia, keeping only Bohemia

cluding Prague),

and Lusatia

Silesia,

for himself,

with Matthias

(in-

named

as his successor there.

In the spring of 1610, a few

months

after Kepler's anniversary cel-

ebration, nature for a time upstaged domestic or political concerns, at

least for

Kepler and some of his close acquaintances.

carriage stopped at Kepler's door.

Its

Wackher von Wackenfels, who was an imperial

years Kepler's senior, a distant relation,

On

March 15

passenger was Kepler's friend

and a

councillor twenty

brilliant

man with many

Von Wackenfels stuck his head out

come down immediately, for
there was stupendous news: Galileo Galilei, with his new telescope,
had discovered four new planets. Von Wackenfels and Kepler were so
scholarly

and

of the carriage

scientific interests.

window

to call Kepler to

overcome they could do

Kepler's enthusiasm

coveries were planets, or

Wackenfels was not

little

more than babble with excitement.

was tinged with anxiety over whether these

sure,

moons around one of the

other planets.

dis-

Von

but Kepler said they surely must be moons,

because he had established with his polyhedral theory that there could

be only

six planets.

A copy of Galileo's book reporting the discovery

(The Starry Message)
Kepler's

reached the emperor,

own copy arrived soon

after via the

who

Sidereus Nuncius

loaned

it

to Kepler.

Tuscan ambassador with a

request that the imperial mathematician send his opinion back with

the

same courier before the week was

that the "planets" were four

moons

out.

To

Kepler's

relief,

he read

orbiting Jupiter.

Kepler's response enthusiastically agreed with Galileo that the

TYCHO

324

& KEPLER

Galileo Galilei

discovery of Jupiter's
it

moons supported Copernican astronomy,

was evident that not everything

around Earth. The

like disks

but the

fact that
stars

peared to the naked eye

away

as

in the universe

for

was revolving

through a telescope the planets looked

remained points

indicated

no

larger than they ap-

that the stars were indeed as far

Copernican theory required. As

for Kepler's theories,

longer seemed such an oddity that Earth should have

sion of a "planet-moving force" to keep a

moon

its

own

it

no

ver-

orbiting. Kepler

suggested that Jupiter must have intelligent inhabitants; otherwise,

why should God

ciated by

have given Jupiter moons that would go unappre-

any creature except the few Earth dwellers who had

scopes? Kepler was not

Kepler's letter

him

four months, but

faith in

first

my

19, in time for the courier's re-

response was not so rapid in coming.

trip. Galileo's

it

was

tele-

those fortunate Earth dwellers.

was ready on April

turn

were the

among

effusive: "I

It

took

thank you because you

one, and practically the only one, to have complete

assertions."

The Wheel of Fortune Creaks Around

32s

There was widespread curiosity about Kepler's reaction

he had written to Galileo

discovery. Kepler published the letter

cum Nuncio

thirty-five-page book, Dissertatio

with the Starry Messenger).

it

was that Kepler

felt

called

One
on

to Galileo's
as a

Sidereo (Conversation

of the most surprising things about

to defend the use of the telescope as a

reliable scientific instrument.

Some astronomers had

cions that Galileo's discoveries

might be nothing more than

of the instrument, not something

voiced suspiartifacts

really there. Kepler's reassurance

about the use of telescopes, though he had seen only inferior models
in

Prague and was relying on his knowledge of optics, was almost

as

valuable as his defense of the plausibility of Galileo's discoveries.

Kepler had hinted broadly to Galileo that he would like to have one

of the telescopes Galileo was sending to important people

Europe, but Galileo did not send him one,
discoveries himself, "plausibility"

In the late

summer and

early

belated reply, Kepler was able to

Elector Ernst of Cologne,

was

as far as

autumn, soon

borrow

after receiving Galileo's

a telescope Galileo

duke of Bavaria. Kepler

by one another, they agreed that each

comment, draw

9.

had sent

called together the

mathematician Benjamin Ursinus and several other

the telescope and, without

over

Kepler could go.

viewed Jupiter from August 30 to September

led

all

unable to confirm the

so,

friends,

and they

To avoid being mis-

man would
in chalk

on

look through
a tablet

what

he had witnessed through the lenses. Only after everyone had done
this

were the drawings compared.

Kepler simultaneously followed up on ways two lenses could be

combined

to

magnify images. That same August and September he

wrote a book on the subject, Dioptrice, which was published in 1611.

Kepler warned in the preface,
matical book, that

is,

book

"I offer

that

is

you, friendly reader, a mathe-

not so easy to understand." His

approach in Dioptrice was indeed rigorously mathematical. The book

contained the

first

detailed optical theory of

new, improved telescope design, later

or "Keplerian" telescope.

two

known

lens systems

as the

and

"astronomical"

TYCHO

326

made

Kepler

& KEPLER

several attempts to continue the

with Galileo, but Galileo, except for a short

recommending

later

His silence

may

letter

correspondence
seventeen years

a student, apparently never wrote Kepler again.

have been partly a reaction to Kepler's

first letter

about the moons of Jupiter, for Kepler had not hesitated in a friendly
fashion to set the historical and scientific context straight by

men-

tioning other researchers whose imaginative thinking might have

helped lead Galileo to his discoveries. Mastlin congratulated Kepler

on having

"pulled out Galileo's feathers exceedingly well,"

and since

Galileo had chronic difficulties recognizing fine gradations in friendship and support, he
Later, in

may

have seen Kepler's

letter as threatening.

an appendix to a small book defending Tycho Brahe's theo-

about comets, Kepler upbraided Galileo for erroneous ideas

ries

about them and pointed out that the phases of Venus that Galileo
sisted

were strong support for Copernicus's model were

in accord

little

for the rest

that the

tides.

At

to take well to such reproofs, but he

who was

had exchanged more

and

man

And

of his

Moon

letters
life

and

ideas, Galileo

a whimsical

gift,

1611,

a letter

puns that he put

Strena,

and Galileo

might not have gone

believing that planetary orbits were circles

to

do with the movement of the

Kepler would have learned about

New Year

it.

his scientific equal. If Kepler

had nothing

inertia.

Kepler gave his friend von Wackenfels

why snowflakes are hexagonal. Kepler's

mood that early winter as he invented the

about

writing reflected his cheerful

read

had

support from the scientific community and had probably

never met anyone

on

much

with Tycho's.

Galileo was not a

had

just as

in-

in his letter, anticipating

a New Year's

Gift;

or,

On

Wackher's laughter

when he

the Six-Cornered Snowflake

was

both a delightful bauble and a pioneering study in what would become

the science of crystallography. Kepler could not

spent on this letter would be the

last

know

that the time

happy hours, and Strena the

last

The Wheel of Fortune Creaks Around

lighthearted achievement, of his years in Prague

327

among such

friends as

von Wackenfels.

That winter, Rudolph made

plotted with his cousin

bring an army to Bohemia.

complish

is

not

waited in dread

a desperate

Archduke Leopold

move.

foolish

He

What Rudolph hoped

would

this

ac-

In February, while the populace of Prague

clear.

Leopold's undisciplined, unpaid soldiers ravaged

as

the countryside and neared the

Barbara was

and

V, bishop of Passua, to

tragedy struck the Keplers.

city,

recovering from Hungarian fever, which she had

still

caught just before

New Year, when

the three children

came down

with smallpox. Eight-year-old Susanna and three-year-old Ludwig

recovered, but six-year-old Friedrich,
light to Kepler, died

on February

he and Barbara had

lost their first

Barbara was

less resilient.

who had been a particular dehad been many years since

19. It

two infant children. This time

Kepler wrote that she was "wounded to

the depths of her being by the death of the

boy who was half

little

her heart to her." She slipped into even deeper depression.

Within days of Friedrich's death, Leopold's troops were

in Prague

and occupied the area surrounding the palace and the Lesser Town
nearer the

river.

Bohemian

other parts of the

city,

Protestant vigilantes

banded together

ostensibly for defense purposes but also to loot cloisters

churches in the
tlefields as

Old Town. The

streets

and Catholic

of Prague became bloody bat-

the two groups fought for turf, while in the imperial palace

the atmosphere was thick with madness

off Leopold's

men

and

(the treasury, for once,

ruin.

The emperor

crown Matthias king of Bohemia.

tempt

Life as Kepler

on both the personal and public

In the spring of 161

to

make

1, as

paid

was responsive), and they

departed, but Rudolph's reign was over. Preparations were

Prague,

in

including the area around the Keplers' house,

levels,

made

had known

had come

Kepler put out urgent

to

it

to
in

an end.

feelers in

an

at-

provision for his and his family's future, he once

again looked hopefully to his native Wiirttemberg.

With

list

of

achievements and honors to match any in Europe, he hoped to be

328

TYCHO

welcomed home with

a professorship or a political

& KEPLER
appointment

in

the ducal court.

In April that door was emphatically

slammed

plication denied because of his earlier admission,

in his face, his apstill

on

record, that

he believed a Calvinist also was a "brother in Christ." In Lutheran

Wiirttemberg

this

amounted

might spread

his

poisonous ideas

to a criminal view.

among

A man espousing

it

his students. Ironically,

Kepler was excluded for following one of the basic tenets of

Lutheranism, the principle of a "priesthood of all believers" in which

it is

every believer's right to interpret the Scriptures for himself.

Though

there were other possibilities

had Kepler had time and

heart to pursue them, he accepted a teaching position in Linz in a

school similar to the one where he had started his teaching career.

was not

a university

thought awaited a

man

appointment of the

sort

It

one would have

of his stature, but he could look forward to

being treated with respect, and the position of provincial mathematician was created especially for him. Since Linz was in Upper
Austria, he could also retain the

title

The new emperor Matthias could be

of imperial mathematician.

expected to reconfirm that ap-

pointment. Kepler's contract called for him to "complete the astro-

nomical tables in honor of the emperor and the worshipful Austrian

House,

[to benefit] the entire

praise."

He was

also

land and also for his

charged with making a

map

own fame and

of Upper Austria

and "producing whatever other mathematical, philosophical, or

torical studies

ments, Kepler clung to the hope that

be more

like

his-

were useful and suitable." As he made these arrange-

it

had been

endured ten years

life

for Barbara in Linz

would

in her beloved Graz. For his sake, she

in Prague,

and

it

had

was her turn to find some mea-

sure of happiness.

In June, returning to Prague from a journey to settle matters in

Linz, Kepler
troops,

now

found Barbara again dangerously

in the city to establish peace,

ill.

Matthias's Austrian

had brought a contagious

The Wheel of Fortune Creaks Around

portrait believed to be of Johannes Kepler, painted

329

by Hans von Aachen

around 1612.

fever.

Barbara had insisted on helping nurse the

caught the fever

herself.

She died on July

3.

Kepler and what remained of his family did not

Linz immediately, for Rudolph

still

and she had

sick,

needed him

make

the

in Prague.

To

move
the

to

last,

Kepler remained loyal to his unfortunate patron, dividing his time

between

a grief-stricken

political situation

home and

a doom-stricken palace.

beyond hope, he nevertheless struggled

trology as far as possible out of the heads of the gullible

his closest advisers,

and attempted

to mislead Rudolph's

Matthias.

still

predicted long

Rudolph died

in

life

for

Rudolph and

the

emperor and

enemies by

forming them, counter to what he was actually finding in

that the stars

With

to keep as-

in-

his astrology,

difficulties for

January 1612. Matthias renewed Kepler's

TYCHO

330

appointment
Prague. In

mathematician but permitted him to leave

as imperial

May

& KEPLER

1612 Kepler, soon

to be followed

by

his

two

children,

aged eight and three, moved to Linz without the wife and mother for
the sake of whose happiness Kepler

to

go

there.

on

taking

this issue

him

and,

Lutherans to lean toward Calvinism, he was not a Calvinist.

me heartsick,"

among

scraps together wherever

home with

earthly church
plight

makes

"It

he wrote, "that the three big factions have so miserably

torn up the truth

so at

for Cal-

to Linz. The Lutheran pastor asked him to

when he refused, denied him the privilege of
Communion. Though Kepler may have seemed to militant

vinist views followed

recant

had decided

Nonconformist with a tolerance

Kepler's reputation as a

his

themselves that

have to gather the

find them." This devoutly Christian

God, found himself without

and having

to

home

endure gossip in Linz about

little

man,

in

any

his religious

and exclusion from Communion.

There was, however, a brighter

of 400

florins

was actually paid

side to his

new situation. His

regularly. Also, in

salary

1612, Kepler finally

became custodian of all Tycho's observations. Tycho's son Georg was

by then serving

as the

a staunch ally at court

Brahe family's representative and proved to be

when Jesuit astronomers with

attempted to take Tycho's

library,

imperial support

instruments, and manuscripts.

Kepler, with Georg's help, kept the precious observational data.

The

first

task Kepler set his

With two young

children,

it

was

mind

was not

to in Linz

essential that

scientific.

he remarry. That con-

cern occupied his thoughts for a year while he considered no fewer

than eleven candidates. As a topic of conversation in Linz, the subject

of Kepler's wooing eclipsed the subject of his religious problems.

He weighed
letters to

the advantages of each

woman

own mind and in

them not by name

in his

an acquaintance, discreetly referring to

but by a number.

Number one was an experienced homemaker about his own age,

Number two was her daughter. She was too im-

but her breath stank.

mature and accustomed

to luxury.

Numbers

three

and four were up-

The Wheel of Fortune Creaks Around

staged by

number

gality, diligence,

five,

a serious, loving

dowry

marrying beneath
four had
ceited,
five.

grown

woman, whose

independent mind, and fondness for

pressed him. However, her family was

four and her

331

less

his children

him he would be

So he favored three again, then

of waiting.

Number

six

her.

Back

But then some friends suggested number seven,

When he failed to make

up

his

but

four,

was immature and con-

though there was a certain nobility about

blewoman.

im-

number

respectable than

smaller. Kepler's friends told

his station.

tired

humility, fru-

mind

to

number

who was

a no-

immediately, she

re-

Number eight was unsure whether she wanted to marry a

man excluded from Communion. Number nine had a lung disease.
Number ten was ugly and fat. Number eleven was offered and then

jected him.

the offer withdrawn because of her youth. Finally Kepler cast aside

consideration of status, family opinion, dowry, and improvement of

his social

rank through marriage and declared that

back to choose number

The daughter of a
old, seventeen years

five

most of her

God had

led

him

Reuttinger.

cabinetmaker, Susanna was twenty-four years

younger than Kepler and only a year older than

his stepdaughter Regina.

lived

Susanna

life as

She had been orphaned

the

one of Kepler's patrons

at

an early age and

ward of a baroness whose husband was

in

Linz.

Kepler's

stepdaughter Regina

thought that Susanna was too young to be a good mother to his two

young

children,

and there were some comments

age difference, but Kepler had

made up

his

mind.

in Linz

about the

He loved

Susanna,

her. They were married on October 30, 1613. The

summer Susanna gave birth to a daughter, Margarethe Regina,
named after Kepler's stepdaughter.
Kepler's scholarly work slowed down during the time he wooed and
chose among the eleven women, but he did not abandon it entirely.
Once again, it was not the long-languishing Rudolfine Tables that he
worked on primarily, nor was it the map that was in his contract.
Instead, new inspiration came from an unlikely source. Traveling on
the Danube, Kepler saw many differently shaped wine barrels on the

and he trusted
next

TYCHO

332

riverbanks and

became intrigued with the problem of how

to express

Because of an unusually good wine harvest, he decided

their volumes.

to install

& ICEPLER

some wine

casks at

home and

learned in the process that

Austrian wine merchants measured only the diagonal length of a bardisregarding

rel,

its

shape. Kepler's

book on

the subject was not a huge

popular success, and his superiors in Linz were not impressed that their

mathematician was thinking about wine

rather than the

barrels

Rudolfine Tables and the map. However, Kepler's study of the wine
barrels did satisfy

him

that the old, simple

quate for Austrian wine casks.

More

way of measuring was

ade-

significant for the future, the

mathematics that Kepler developed in the process became an important step in the history of the

Another unexpected

development of

side advantage

integral calculus.

was that when Kepler

failed to

find an interested publisher, he brought a printer, Johannes Planck, to

Linz and published Nova Stereometria Doliorum Vinariorum

Solid

Geometry of Wine

When

ing

little

money

there

Barrels) himself

Kepler began producing calendars again in 1616, Planck

printed those too.

Kepler, "a

The production of the

calendars was, according to

more honorable than begging."

for the next publishing effort

had been many

coveries he

It

had written about

in

was

his

way of rais-

he had in mind, for which

requests, a textbook that

would make the

dis-

Astronomia Nova more accessible to

nonexpert readers, to "the low schoolbenches,"

three

(New

as

he put

it.

The

first

volumes of the seven that would comprise Epitome Astronomiae

Copernicanae (The Epitome of Copernican Astronomy) were ready

for Planck in 1615, but the final pages of the seventh did not

off the press until 1621.

to

By

this

come

time Kepler had added enormously

Copernican astronomy, and there was

as

much

if

not more of

Kepler in the book than of Copernicus. Epitome was an influential

book, read

all

over Europe.

Meanwhile, however,

after

completing the

first

three volumes of

Epitome, Kepler turned to producing an immediate moneymaker, an

The Wheel of Fortune Creaks Around

Ephemeris for 1618.

An

ephemeris consisted of tables giving the posi-

day of the

year,

invaluable reference for both navigators

and

tion of each planet for every

and such

would be

book was an

astrologers. Kepler

that after the Rudolfine Tables were published,

lazy

333

knew

anyone who was not

able to calculate planetary positions without using an

ephemeris, and sales on those would drop. If he wanted to profit from

the sale of ephemerides (plural of ephemeris),
Printers normally did not have

enough numbers on hand

ephemeris, and Kepler purchased his

Planck to

use. Kepler's

year after year

is

now was

own

set

the time.

to print an

of numerical type for

confidence about producing these ephemerides

evidence that he had

made

ing the orbits of the other planets besides

Kepler's MARRIAGE

substantial progress study-

Mars and

Earth.

Susanna began only a brief respite

to

from personal problems. In December 1615, news arrived from

Wiirttemberg from

his sister Margarethe,

who was now Margarethe

Binder: Their elderly mother had been accused of witchcraft.

Katharina Kepler's reputation

woman and

as

an unpleasant, meddlesome

her expertise in herbs and folk medicine had set her up

as a target for the sort

of grudges and gossip that in the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries in southern

into a witch

trial.

Germany could

Frau Kepler was probably an intelligent

but she was not a wise one, and she had no social
ple with
her,

whom

easily degenerate

she associated, or

who were

skills.

woman,

Those peo-

willing to associate with

were the dregs of society.

The

crisis

had begun when she had sided with her son, Kepler's

brother Christoph, in a minor business dispute with one of her

friends, Ursula Reinbold.

"the crazy,"

Frau Reinbold,

had been imprisoned

whom

Kepler

the disadvantages of that profession was that she often

illicit

later

for a time for prostitution.

had

dubbed

One

of

to abort

pregnancies, sometimes with the dubious help of her brother, a

TYCHO

334

& KEPLER

barber-surgeon, and at least once in the past with the help of a herbal

mixture Katharina Kepler had provided.

erupted

when Frau

Reinbold,

ill

after a

The

present difficulty had

botched abortion that had

nothing to do with Katharina, chose to believe that the potion

Katharina had given her three and a half years
"witch's drink"

and was causing her present

distress.

that Katharina produce a "witch's antidote."

had been a

earlier

She demanded

Even though Frau

Reinbold's brother held his sword at her throat, Katharina refused.

To produce

the potion

would be admitting she practiced

witchcraft.

After that frightening episode, in August 1615 Katharina,

on the

advice of Christoph and Margarethe's husband, a village pastor, took

the wisest step available, though by

no means

good one. She brought

a libel suit against Ursula Reinbold.

In late December,

when Kepler

finally received Margarethe's letter

informing him of these events, his "heart almost burst."

ately

wrote to the town senate of Leonberg, choosing

fully to
tial

He immedi-

his

words

skill-

remind them they were dealing with a powerful and influen-

man and demanding they send him

copies of all legal proceedings

involving his mother. Several years before, he had revised his fanciful

student essay about the

scribed the narrator's

with the power to

sibility that

Moon,

mother

summon

news of

as

using a plot device in which he de-

an old

woman

skilled in folk

magic

demon. He agonized over the pos-

his essay, or

even a copy, might have reached

Wiirttemberg or Leonberg.

As

it

happened, events in Leonberg were delayed for a time. The

bailiff there,

one Lutherus Einhorn, had been present when Frau

Reinbold's brother held the sword to Katharina's throat.

to reveal his part in this affair,

Not wanting

he managed to postpone the

libel case

until the following October.

Six days before the proceedings were finally to begin, Katharina

walking along a narrow path and met a group of girls

ing bricks to a kiln.

The

girls,

knowing

the old

who were

was

carry-

woman's reputation

as


The Wheel of Fortune Creaks Around
a witch, stepped aside as

33s

much as they could to avoid any physical con-

Katharinas version of what followed was that she gave them a

tact.

and wide berth

dirty look

brushed their clothing and walked on. The

of them (whose mother owed

on the arm and

no longer
girl's

feel

money

that the pain in that

or

was so narrow,

but, because the path

girls'

version was that one

arm had

hit

increased until she could

move her hand. Katharinas enemies,

family, contrived to

had been

to Frau Reinbold)

including the

have Katharina brought before the

bailiff, still

He called in a medical consultant, none other than

who had earlier held his sword to Katharinas

Lutherus Einhorn.

Frau Reinbold's brother,

throat. Einhorn's verdict was, "It

is

a witch's grip;

it

has even got the

right impression."

At

this point,

tempted

to bribe

with her

libel

Einhorn,

for

light.

and

He

Katharina Kepler

Einhorn with a

action
still

and

suspended the

forget the

arm

libel case

move. She

at-

he would proceed

incident. This

was a windfall

would come

to

and sent charges of "witch's drink"

attempted bribery, to the High Council

Christoph Kepler, Margarethe, and Margarethe's hus-

in Stuttgart.

that she

a disastrous

fearful that his part in the lawsuit

"witch's grip," as well as

band made

made

silver goblet if

a quick decision.

had

fled

Though

there

was a

risk

of implying

because of a bad conscience, they bundled

Katharina off to Margarethe's house in

Heumaden and from

there to

Kepler in Linz, just in time, for the council issued an immediate order for Katharinas arrest and "strenuous examination" about these
matters and her theological beliefs.

A witch

trial

had begun.

Katharina lived with Kepler and his wife in Linz for almost a year,
until the following

September, 1617. She was not a congenial pres-

much earlier had not been flattering,

an elderly woman she was sixty-eight

ence. Kepler's description of her

but

now

that she

was such

he was ready to attribute her

complaining" to old age.

and

his wife

"trifling, nosiness, fury,

The household

and obstinate

that year included himself

Susanna, his two surviving children by Barbara

336

TYCHO

Susanna and Ludwig

and

& KEPLER

one-and-a-half-year-old Margarethe

new

Regina. In late spring there was a

baby, christened Katharina af-

her grandmother.

ter

During

that year, Kepler put his

mind and

tion.

He

efforts to refuting the

own

charges against his mother and preserving his

safety

and reputa-

hired lawyers for Katharina in Leonberg and for himself in

Tubingen and

were rumors that he himself dab-

Stuttgart, for there

He

bled in the "forbidden arts."

wrote to the vice chancellor of the

duke of Wiirttemberg, informing him of Einhorn's

bias in the case.

In September 1617, double tragedy struck the Kepler family.

Two-year-old Margarethe Regina died, and the same month the

news arrived of the death of her twenty-seven-year-old namesake,

who had

Kepler's stepdaughter Regina, the dearly loved child

companied him and Barbara

womanhood
husband Philip Ehem
grow

ter,

to

into exile

and

whom

ac-

he had watched

during the happier years in Prague. Regina's

pleaded with Kepler to send his eldest daugh-

fifteen-year-old Susanna, to

Regensburg

to care for the three

motherless grandchildren.

Kepler and Katharina traveled with Susanna up the

Danube from

Linz to Regensburg, and then, after seeing Susanna settled there,

journeyed to Wiirttemberg.

The

interest in Katharina

have abated. Kepler hoped he might get her

tion,

to

but that was a

fruitless effort, as

reconcile himself with those

Calvinist.

He visited

It

seemed

safe

enough

He

1618. Kepler's

lost three

new

seemed

to

back in mo-

Tubingen

to try

thought him a closet

and they discussed the

at length.

to leave Katharina in Leonberg, so Kepler

arrived

that the six-month-old

9,

a visit to

still

the very elderly Mastlin,

forthcoming Rudolfine Tables

returned to Linz.

was

who

libel suit

home

just before

baby Katharina was

ill.

Christmas to discover

She died on February

wife was suddenly childless, and Kepler had

daughters within

six

months.

22

An

Unlikely

Harmony

1618-1627

KEPLER WAS TOO DISTRACTED

trate

on the tedious

with grief to concen-

calculations required for the Rudolfine Tables.

"Since the Tables require peace," he wrote, "I have abandoned

and turned

them

my mind to developing the Harmony." The Harmony was

a continuation of the

book he had begun

in

Graz during the time

when he and Barbara had mourned the death of his first infant
Susanna. Now, in another profoundly heavy period, when the decimation of his family gave scant evidence of a

rational, loving deity,

nevertheless returned to this attempt to reveal

the

wondrous wisdom and

rationality of God in nature.

His research

followed up on his conviction that mathematical harmonies

the planetary orbits, speeds,

he

what he believed was

among

and distances from the Sun must be

linked on a deep level with music. In 1607 Kepler had acquired a

Greek manuscript by Ptolemy,

empted

his

own

ideas

by about

stunned and inspired by the

During
the

list

also entitled
fifteen

Harmony, that had pre-

hundred

years.

He was

both

similarity.

Kepler's lifetime, evolving musical theory

had added

to

of musical intervals that the ancient Greeks had declared

pleasant to the

human

ear.

There were now seven

ratios that

were ac-

TYCHO

338

& KEPLER

cepted as the basis for what was called the "just"

scale.

Kepler had

lis-

tened to these intervals and found he agreed with the additions.

With

his usual

these

numbers

number

7, for

brand of curiosity, he wondered

example?

mony, while an

him of his
only

Why

infinite

Some

chosen

leave out the

divisions of a harp string produce har-

number of others do

insight that an infinite

not,

and

that

reminded

number of polygons could produce

He began to look for a similar way that the raconsonance had been singled out. He thought the

polyhedrons.

five

of musical

tios

why God had

produce musical consonance.

to

"knowability" of the polygons might provide the answer.

Kepler began by dividing the polygons into

ity."

The

triangle, square,

levels

of "knowabil-

pentagon, hexagon, and octagon could

be constructed with ruler and compass, the

Euclidean

classical

all

tools.

Kepler dubbed them "knowable." Since the heptagon (seven-sided)

couldn't be constructed with ruler

and compass, he dubbed

it

"un-

knowable." Likewise nine- and eleven-sided polygons.

Kepler uncovered a mysterious link. If the number of sides of the

knowable polygons
string lengths,

(3, 4, 5, 6,

harmony

and

8)

were used

resulted. For instance,

in the ratios

between

both the triangle and

the square were, by Kepler's definition, "knowable," and a ratio of

string lengths of 3:4
triangle

produced a harmonious musical

and the pentagon were "knowable," and

lengths of 3:5 produced a harmonious interval.

a heptagon, with seven sides,
tio

with a 7 in

that the

it

numbers of sides

been avoided by

in the

God when

a ratio of string

On

the other hand,

was "unknowable." Sure enough,

produced dissonance.

It

seemed

The

interval.

a ra-

logical to Kepler

unknowable polygons would have

designing the universe.

Hence 7,9,

11,

and so forth were not part of ratios producing musical consonance.

Kepler reasoned that because

human

beings are fashioned in the im-

age of their Creator, they have an innate ability to enjoy manifestations of consonant ratios, an ability that doesn't require

any knowl-

edge or awareness of the mathematics or geometry involved. Tycho

had thought

similarly

when he designed Uraniborg.

A house built on

An
the principles of harmony

Unlikely

Harmony

339

would be conducive

to lofty thoughts

and

worthwhile study, even for those unaware they were living in such a
structure.

When

Kepler had devised his polyhedral theory and compared

the results with the available data, he had been content with a mar-

gin of discrepancy that his faith in Tycho's observations had not

allowed

him

cided to

to tolerate later

revisit

when he wrote Astronomia Nova. He

the polyhedral theory and investigate

God might

principles, in addition to the polyhedrons,

setting

up the

ancies Kepler

de-

what other

have used in

solar system, principles that could explain the discrep-

knew he now had

to take

more

seriously. Kepler's re-

search included acquiring an extensive knowledge of music theory,

for

he was becoming more and more convinced that the answers he

sought were intimately connected with the combinations of musical

human

intervals that

ears find pleasing.

Kepler examined the planets' distances from the Sun

mean

and

at aphelion,

find

no helpful harmonious

and

its

their

fastest

speed

He

He

could

tried looking for

planet's slowest speed (at aphelion)

and between and among those

(at perihelion),

more than one

at perihelion

from the Sun.

distances

relationships there.

between a single

relationships

speeds using

and

planet.

Within a few months he did

in-

deed find an arrangement that was true both to the principles of musical

harmony and

to the planets' observed distances, speeds,

and

ec-

centricities.

Of more

significance,

on

May

15, 1618, as

he was finishing the

book, he discovered a third law of planetary motion, his "harmonic

law," the true relationship

between the

and

their distances

way

to a "sacred frenzy," as he put

rejoiced,

"whether for

matter.

It

waited

six

orbital periods

from the Sun. Kepler was

can await

it.

"I

am

ecstatic,
.

of the planets

wanting

writing the book," he

my contemporaries or for posterity,

its

reader for a

hundred

to give

years, if

it

does not

God Himself

thousand years for His contemplator." Near the end of the

book he included

a prayer that vividly reveals this remarkable

man:

TYCHO

340

Ta

is

the time

& KEPLER
Ra

it

takes Planet

A to

complete an

orbit

is

Planet A's

average distance
from the Sun

(Ta/Tb)^ = (Ra/Rb)'
Tb

is

the time

Rb

it

takes Planet

complete an

orbit

is

Planet B's

average distance
from the Sun

to

Figure 22.1: Kepler's third law of planetary motion, the "harmonic law."

Kepler discovered the true relationship between the orbital periods of the

and

planets

their distances

Harmonice Mundi.
tio

from the Sun

in

1618, as he was finishing his book

Kepler's third law of planetary

motion

of the squares of the orbital periods of two planets

is

states that the ra-

equal to the ratio of

the cubes of their average distances from the Sun.

you who by the

of grace, so that by means of that You can transport us

light

into the light of glory:

You have

cause
1

of nature arouse in us a longing for the

light

lured

give thanks to You,

me

into the

Lord Creator, be-

enjoyment of Your work, and

have exulted in the works of Your hands: behold,

consummated
abilities that

works

to

the

work

You gave

to

to

which
me;

pledged myself, using

mind was made

mind can
most

for the

have

all

the

have shown the glory of Your

men, and those demonstrations

the meanness of my

now

to readers, so far as

capture the infinity of it, for

my

perfect philosophizing; if any-

thing unworthy of Your deliberations has been proposed by

me, a worm, born and raised

want mankind
if

to

know

in a

hog wallow of sin, which You

about, inspire

me

as well to

change

it;

have been drawn by the admirable beauty of Your works

into indiscretion, or if

men
ciful,

have pursued

my own

glory

among

while engaged in a work intended for Your glory, be mer-

be compassionate, and forgive.

An

Harmony

Unlikely

341

Kepler dedicated the Five-volume work Harmonice

(Harmony of the World)

hope

of England, expressing the

that these examples of the glorious

harmony with which God

had endowed
bring

King James

Mundi

to

his creation

might strengthen James

harmony and peace among

in attempts to

the tragically divided churches

and

other polities. However, only four days before Kepler completed his

book and penned

that dedication, Protestant

spent the ten best years of his

Bohemia, where he had

exploded in a revolution that be-

life,

gan the Thirty Years War.

For Kepler there was soon to be trouble closer to home. In the

summer of 1618, an ominous

letter

(possibly acting as Kepler's lawyer)

came from an old classmate

on the law faculty at the University

of Tubingen, warning of a strategy that the Reinbolds and Einhorn

might be planning. In autumn 1619 the warning proved

counter

civil suit

was

filed against

correct.

Katharina Kepler for damages for

poisoning Frau Reinbold with the "witch's drink." By that time

had collected

Katharina's enemies

a forty-nine-count indictment

against her, including a plethora of local gossip

called unnatural, eerie behavior.

The

and fancy that

re-

charges included riding a calf to

death, muttering fatal "blessings" over infant children, causing pain

without touching people, the unnatural death of animals, and trying

to entice a

young

girl to

become

a witch.

One

accusation was true.

Katharina, having heard in a sermon about an archaic custom of

fashioning goblets from the skulls of dead relatives, had asked the
gravedigger for her father's skull so that she could have
for her

With Einhorn
1619.

The

still

acting as

set in silver

few days

later,

on August

awakened from her

chest, carried

At

bailiff,

testimony began in November

following July the Reinbolds succeeded in getting the

duke of Wiirttemberg to turn

chains.

it

son Johannes, the imperial mathematician.

this

7,

their

complaint into a criminal

case.

the seventy-four-year-old Katharina was

sleep in the

dead of night, bundled into a large

out of her daughter's house, and put in prison in

point her son Christoph managed to have the

trial,

TYCHO

342

with

& KEPLER

the spectacle and scandal attached to

all

transferred to

it,

Giiglingen, but he and Margarethe's husband,

Georg Binder, were

abandon Katharina and scramble

to salvage whatever

inclined to

own dwindling

they could of their

The

reputations.

faithful

Margarethe was of a different mind. Once again she wrote to her

brother in Linz. Kepler applied to the duke of Wiirttemberg for a delay in the trial until he could arrive, for

he planned to defend

Katharina himself.
Kepler chose to take his family with

He and Susanna now had

September of 1620.

who had been born

again.

They

crept

in

away

Kepler

like thieves in the night,

may
on

still

his

young

Linz that

son, Sebald,

without even

telling

where they were headed. The reason

was too shocking to have

left his

left

January 1619, and Susanna was pregnant

Kepler's assistant Gringalletus

for the trip

him when he

it

spread abroad in the town.

family in Regensburg, where his daughter Susanna

have been living with Regina's family, and proceeded alone

grim journey to Wiirttemberg. The mystified people of Linz

thought their mathematician had

fled for

good.

Kepler found his mother in prison in chains with two guards and
required to pay these guards herself, as well as for her food and upkeep.

The Reinbolds complained

ing used up in this

when

the

trial

was

manner

that so

that there

much

of her

would be

money was

little left

for

be-

them

over.

Kepler had been advised that having the defense case written

down would

help the outcome, and he insisted that

all

the defense

lawyer's

arguments be put in writing. Christoph lamented the greater

cost for

what he thought was already

a lost cause.

The

proceedings

dragged on, with more lawyers, more witnesses, and more written

guments. Kepler traveled to Stuttgart to consult

and they put together

a 126-page legal brief,

ar-

his lawyer in person,

much of it in Kepler's
The trial ended

handwriting, that rebutted the charges one by one.

in August,

and

all

the proceedings were sent, as was the custom, to

the law faculty of the University of Tubingen.

It

was they who would

An

make
ulty.
trial,

Unlikely

Harmony

343

the decision. Kepler's friend Christoph Besold was

on

that fac-

Nevertheless, even the force of Kepler's presence throughout the

his skill in devising the defense,

not bring about an acquittal.

The

and

his

powerful friend could

court declared

itself

uncertain and

ordered that Frau Kepler be examined once more under the lightest

form of torture, verbal

terror while being

shown

the instruments of

torture.

On

September 28, 1621, Katharina was dragged

to the torture

chamber, accompanied by three representatives of the court, a

and

a bailiff (not

Einhorn

this time).

The

torturer himself

scribe,

showed

her his instruments, described their use, and with the greatest possi-

and melodrama commanded her

ble sternness

Contrary to

the truth.

tell

expectation, Katharina Kepler gathered her aging

all

wits about her,

to

summoned

son,. and saved herself.

the eloquence she had bequeathed to her

As the report

reads:

She announced one should do with her what one would.

Should one pull one vein

after

knew

to say.

had nothing

that she

another out of her body, she

She

the Lord's Prayer, and declared that

she were a witch or a

sorcery.

came

to light

lence

had been done

take His

demon

Should she be

and

Holy

fell

God

to her knees, uttered

should make a sign

God would

to her, for she

knew

florins

for

fense, Kepler's

trial

and

vio-

He would

not

set free.

her.

The Reinbolds

having begun the proceedings, and

Christoph Kepler was ordered to pay thirty

transferring the

that

from her but would stand by

The charges were dismissed, and Katharina was

were fined ten

see that the truth

reveal after her death that injustice

Spirit

do with

or ever had anything to

killed,

if

florins for the

to Giiglingen. Despite the

expense of

power of her

self-de-

mother was a broken woman, and she died the follow-

ing April.

As soon

as

he knew his mother was acquitted, Kepler

set off on the

TYCHO

344

& KEPLER

journey back to Linz. There were two young children in his family

now, for Susanna had given birth to a daughter, Cordula, the previous January, and Sebald was nearly three. But Linz, in the autumn of
1621, was a different city from the one they had
earlier.

Not long

been defeated
olution in

after his departure, the

Bohemia was

over,

Linz. In Prague, Ferdinand

sible for the

Bohemian

of White Mountain.

at the Battle

II,

left in secret

Protestant rev-

but the Bavarian army

the

army had

rebel

The

a year

occupied

still

same man who had been respon-

Counter-Reformation edicts that had forced Kepler out

of Graz years before, was

now emperor

of the Holy

Roman Empire

and was overseeing the brutal execution of Protestant

leaders.

Jesensky (who had aided Kepler in his early unhappy negotiations

with Tycho, had delivered the eulogy

at Tycho's funeral,

been Kepler's powerful friend during the years

in Prague)

and had

was one of

them. Jesensky's tongue was cut out before he was quartered. His
gory head, along with others, was stuck on a pike on the bridge
tower,
off,

where they were

left to

decompose

for ten years

one by one, onto the bridge or into the

There was fortunately

less

and

finally fell

river.

savage treatment of Protestants in Linz.

Kepler remained unscathed, despite speculation in the city that he had

fled because

Ferdinand had put a price on

knew
Communion. Though

since everyone

The

an odd suspicion

Kepler entertained some doubts that

happen, Ferdinand reconfirmed

matician.

his head,

the Lutherans had excluded Kepler from

next year, 1622,

his

appointment

when

all

was sealed

the requirement that to have

it

would
mathe-

Protestants in Linz were re-

quired to convert to Catholicism or leave the

to stay, although his library

it

as imperial

city,

for a time

Kepler was allowed

and he agonized over

unsealed he must choose which of his

beloved books to surrender to the censors. His children were forced to

attend Catholic church services. But he was allowed to keep Protestant
Planck, his printer, with

him along with

as

many

skilled assistants as

Planck required. All the turmoil had not completely halted Kepler's

An

Unlikely

Harmony

345

seventeenth-century drawing showing the heads of executed Protestant

leaders

work on

impaled on the bridge

in Prague.

the Rudolfine Tables, nor had the death of yet another of his

summer of 1623.
The production of the Tables had been a matter of the highest priority when Tycho died, and during his years in Prague Kepler had
children, four-year-old Sebald, in the early

filled

ally

hundreds of sheets with calculations in preparation

for eventu-

completing them. Kepler's discovery of his planetary laws were a

huge step toward

this end,

but those discoveries also presented

new

challenges.

Kepler had derived his

first

two laws from the Mars observations.

In order to complete the Tables, he had to

plied to the other planets.
in
it

Much

show that

the

same laws ap-

of this work had been accomplished

connection with the writing of Epitome and Harmonice Mundi, but

was not

finished. Kepler explained in the preface to the Tables that

the reason for the long delay in their appearance was "the novelty of

TYCHO

346

& KEPLER

my discoveries and the unexpected transfer of the whole of astronomy

from fictitious circles to natural causes." No one, he pointed out, had
ever attempted anything of the kind before.

work on Harmonice Mundi, Kepler had come

In 1617, while at

book by John Napier on logarithms.

across a

A year later he realized

how much this new invention would simplify the computations that
took so much of his time. In the winter of 1621-22 he wrote his own
book on logarithms, and he proceeded

to use

them

to solve

some of

the problems involved in composing the Tables.

At

last,

in 1624, Kepler finished the Rudolfine Tables in the

new

logarithmic form. Tables like these did not give daily positions of the

were

planets; rather, they

ble to figure out

any

far

more

generally useful,

planet's position for

making

it

possi-

any time thousands of years

into the future or the past. In the case of the Rudolfine Tables,
Kepler's instructions about their use, with examples, took

half the

volume of the work. Kepler included logarithm

Tycho's catalog of a thousand

many cities.
Once again,
with

it

lem.

up about

were

far

trip to

won him
cities that

stars,

and

latitudes

having completed a major work, Kepler's

from

over.

tables,

and longitudes of

difficulties

Financing publication was a serious prob-

Vienna, where the imperial court was

now

situated,

promises that payment would be forthcoming via various

would turn imperial funds over

months of traveling among

nothing to show for the

these cities, he

effort.

He had

der four bales of paper from the

and had them sent

directly to

cities

to Kepler, but after ten

came back with

virtually

taken the opportunity to or-

of Memmingen and Kempten

Ulm, where he expected

to print the

book. Eventually he would have to pay for the publication himself,

with Tycho's heirs

and censorship

all

the while trying to claim a share of the profits

rights. Nevertheless,

it

was the Rudolfine Tables, more

than any of Kepler's other works, that led to the widest recognition

of what he had achieved.

An

manuscript such

of complicated

its

far,

and

any

he, in

Ulm seemed

where there were other

work done

As

this

case,

was eager to leave

to Kepler the best place

and no war

skilled printers

going on, but Emperor Ferdinand rebelled

the

347

was a printing challenge beyond anything

religious turmoil.

to print the book,

Harmony

with 120 pages of text and 119 pages

as this,

tables,

Planck had attempted so

Linz and

Unlikely

at the

notion of having

outside Austria.

was debated, the Thirty Years War, which had not ended

with the quashing of the Bohemian rebellion, came perilously close

again.

peasant uprising in the

in driving the Bavarian troops

Upper

and Ferdinand's

forces out of Linz

on the

Austria. Kepler's house, situated

opened
and

summer of 1626 almost succeeded

city wall,

had

for soldiers guarding the wall, while peasant bands,

looting, threatened the capital.

During

Kepler almost lost the Rudolfine Tables.

peasant rebels spread and

consumed

this

and

to be

burning

two-month

siege,

On June 30, a fire started by

Planck's press but

somehow

spared the handwritten manuscript.

The

loss

of the press and the near destruction of

manuscript

his

He had lived in Linz for fourteen years,

longer than he had in Prague. He was exhausted by the confusion and
disorder and wanted nothing so much as to complete the publication

were the

last

straw for Kepler.

of the Rudolfine Tables in relative peace.

When

the siege was finally

lifted in

August, he wrote to request again the emperor's permission to

depart,

and

this

time

it

was granted. In mid-November 1626, the

Kepler family took a boat up the

this time, there

old,

in the direction

of Ulm. By

were two more young children, Fridmar, three years

and Hildebert, one. Their

Regensburg the

Danube

river

elder sister

Cordula was

five.

was completely frozen, so Kepler

Beyond

left his

Ulm
When

and children there and went on alone overland toward

wagon laden with

rived,

plates

on December

of my figures and Table work."

10, 1626,

he found lodgings across the

from the printing shop of Jonas Saur, who

wife

"on a

he

ar-

street

finally printed the Tables.

TYCHO

348

& KEPLER

Kepler oversaw every aspect of the printing and worked almost

daily with the typesetters.

He had

brought with him

own

his

when

numerical type (which had not been destroyed

set

of

the press

burned) and the astronomical type that he had had custom-made

As the pages came off the

for the Tables.

one. Kepler saw this

book

Tycho Brahe's and

times,

himself, discovered the

as the

his

new

press,

he proofread each

crowning achievement of two

life-

own. Even though he had written

made

laws that

the calculations, he put Tycho's

name

first

it

correct,

on the

and done
page

title

it

all

as the

primary author.
Kepler decided that the Rudolfine Tables should have an elegant

He had

frontispiece.

an idea in mind and asked a friend from

Tubingen, Wilhelm Schickard, to prepare a sketch of

summed up

tispiece

cluding

its

whimsy.

It

hewn

are

history,

Kepler's concept of the

and was

at

the

in-

at the

back

and a Babylonian astronomer stands there using only

make an

had

Nearer the front, Hipparchus on the

on the

right stand

ground

sits

propped

fron-

a masterpiece of

shows a pavilion with twelve columns. Those

logs,

roots.

The

world of astronomy,

same time

his fingers to
its

it.

observation. Babylon was where astronomy

by columns

built

left

and Ptolemy

of brick. Closer in the fore-

Copernicus by an Ionic column on whose pedestal he has

his

famous book, and Tycho stands by

column

a Corinthian

with some of his celebrated instruments hung on

it.

He and

Copernicus are deep in discussion, presumably about the Tychonic

and Copernican systems,

ple,

where there

is

about

at the ceiling

of the tem-

drawing of his system. Kepler cunningly has him

not telling Copernicus that

(How

Tycho points

for

it is

correct,

but asking, "Quid

si

sic?"

that?)

Ringing the rooftop are

six

goddesses, each a symbol of something

that helped Kepler in his discoveries:

Magnetica (on the

far right);

then Stathmica, the goddess of law; Geometria; Logarithmica; and

finally a
casts a

goddess holding a telescope and another with a globe that

shadow.

An

The

Unlikely

its

349

frontispiece of the Rudolfine Tables.

At the very top of the pavilion

dropping from

Harmony

flies

the

Hapsburg

eagle,

with coins

beak, a symbol that needs no explanation.

Kepler did not show Tycho's heirs the panels in the base of the
pavilion before publication,

though they would have approved the

center panel, a

map

ting at a table,

by candlelight, a few numbers scratched on the

cloth, his

of Hven. To the

major books

listed

on

left is

a panel

banner above

showing Kepler

his head,

and

sit-

table-

model

TYCHO

350

& KEPLER

Detail from the frontispiece of the Rudolfine Tables.

of the roof of the temple on the table before him. Tycho stands above
beside the

most elaborate column, but

it is

Kepler

who

has labored in

the basement, at night, and brought about this marvelous achieve-

ment,

temple of the goddess of astronomy Urania, the Rudolfine

this

Tables.

The

Very few of the coins are dropping onto Kepler's desk.

Rudolfine Tables lived

up admirably

to Tycho's

and

Kepler's

hopes for them. The planetary positions given by the Tables were

more
tables

that

had been composed by Longomontanus and

Predictions for Mars, for instance,

grees.

much

accurate than those given by the Alfonsine or Prutenic Tables or

The

had previously erred up

others.

to five de-

Rudolfine Tables stayed within plus or minus ten arcminutes

of the actual positions.* In 1629, when Kepler was preparing an

63 1 he

ephemeris for the year

*This information comes from

Owen

realized that because

Gingerich (1973).

of the depend-

An
ability
sits"

of his Rudolfine

that

of Venus

Unlikely

Tables,

would occur during

not

De

one of Mercury and another

that year

Raris Mirisque

live to see

351

he could confidently predict two "tran-

across the disk of the Sun.*

a short pamphlet,

He would

Harmony

He published his predictions in

Anni 1631 Phenomenis (1629).

how superbly accurate

he had been.

"On November 7, 1631, the astronomer Pierre Gassendi observed the Mercury transit from
Paris. The result was a triumph for Kepler's astronomy. The transit of Venus was not visible in
Europe, because it was night there when it occurred.

23
Measuring the Shadows

ONCE BEGUN,
September

printing the

627 Kepler took copies

finally rejoined his family in

to leave

the

them again

book

to

after

had

son

good

also

as the

spirits

Book

Fair

and

December, only

in Prague,

where

king of Bohemia, and everybecause the Protestant revolt

was the defeat of invasions

in the north

by the

King Christian IV of Denmark, none other than Tycho

Brahe's old nemesis. Christian

and

in early

been completely put down. The most immediate cause

for celebration

Protestant

to the Frankfurt

Regensburg

In early

quickly.

Christmas to take a presentation copy of

his

in exceptionally

finally

went

Emperor Ferdinand. The court was

Ferdinand was installing

one was

Tables

from the

had been driven from German

entire formerly

Noticeably absent were

all

soil

Danish peninsula of Jutland.

Kepler's old Protestant friends, in-

cluding poor Jesensky, whose head was a grisly presence on the

bridge tower. But

many

many

other old friends were in Prague as well as

admirers, and the emperor was so pleased with the Rudolfine

Tables that he granted Kepler four

yearly salary.

That brought

money owed him from

to twelve

thousand

florins, ten

thousand

florins the

times his

amount of

the treasury, or the equivalent of thirty years'

Measuring

salary.

Kepler

peror's service.

knew he would
As

the

Shadows

never collect that

was, he was told that

it

353

all

if

he

the

left

em-

he had

his fears that

al-

ready lost his job because of the emperor's edicts in Linz were
groundless. All he needed to

do was convert

to Catholicism. Kepler,

of course, refused.
Kepler had been offered a job in England, and he might at this
point have

made an abrupt

there immediately

had

had

decision to forfeit

not been for a

all

back salary and go

man with whom

by correspondence but not met

a long association

fore.

it

Kepler had

in

person be-

Albrecht Wallenstein had commissioned a horoscope from

Kepler in 1608 without revealing

who

he was or anything about

himself except the date and time of his birth. Kepler, always good at
horoscopes, had produced one that greatly impressed Wallenstein.

Wallenstein was a favorite of the emperor and was, in

fact,

general largely responsible for the defeat of Christian

Denmark. He
must

let it

be

coexist peacefully,

in his Silesian

known

that he believed the different faiths

and he allowed the practice of Protestantism

duchy of Sagan. By moving

there, Kepler

would be

able to maintain his faith while remaining in imperial service.

agreement

finally

the

IV of

As the

was worked out the following February 1628,

Kepler was promised a house, a printing press, and a generous stipend

of a thousand florins a
Kepler

made

year.

a final trip to Linz in the early

beleaguered city surprised

him with

florins for their presentation

moved

his family to

Sagan in

little

payment of two hundred

copy of the Rudolfine

July.

Kepler was unhappy in Sagan.

one. There was

summer, where the

He was

Tables.

fifty-six years old.

No one knew him,

intellectual stimulation,

and he knew no

and the

local dialect

was so different from the German Kepler spoke that he had

understanding

it

or

making himself understood. He was

usual in his later years, from eczema

ing of all, he had hardly arrived

and

when

Kepler

abscesses.

difficulty

suffering, as

Most discourag-

the Counter- Reformation fol-

lowed him. Once again he was exempted from enforced conversion

TYCHO

354

Kepler's daughter,

& KEPLER

Susanna Kepler Bartsch,

and the banishment of those who refused

ter

experience to see

it all

happening

done

in a painting

to convert, but

to a nearby

it

town

an

assistant.

bit-

it

finally

type by

ma-

hand

March Susanna,

for printing. In

by Barbara, married Jacob Bartsch, a student of

mathematics and medicine in Strasbourg

as

at

own

Kepler the trouble of setting his

Kepler's daughter

was a

mood lifted a little. The

long-promised printing press and a printer to work

and taking

it

for a third time.

In the winter and spring of 1630, Kepler's

terialized, saving

in 1630.

who had worked for

Kepler

Kepler decided that the wedding should take place in

Strasbourg, though that was too far

age and the fact that his

by the time of the

own

wife

away

for

would be

him

to attend, given his

eight

months pregnant

festivities.

Matthias Bernegger, a longtime friend and correspondent living

in Strasbourg,

young couple

had recommended Bartsch

as a suitor

account of the celebration in a

letter.

On March

received his medical degree in the morning,

and

12, the

his

and glowing
bridegroom

later in the

couple were wed. Kepler's brother Christoph, his

and

and brought the

together. Bernegger gave Kepler a detailed

sister

day the

Margarethe,

son Ludwig were part of a wedding procession that included

Measuring

Strasbourg's
streets as

most prominent

they passed.

the

Shadows

and huge crowds lined the

citizens,

was meant,

"It

355

to

especially,

honor you,"

Bernegger told Kepler.

month

Anna

youngest child,

later Kepler's

Maria, was born.

Now he had two grown children by Barbara and four younger ones by
Susanna, although two of those would not

had been

five others

who had

There had been Friedrich, the shining boy

and

live to

adulthood. There

died in infancy or early childhood.

Kepler's beloved stepdaughter Regina,

who had died in Prague,

who had died as a young

married woman.

Anna

In the days just after

leave his wife's side long

Maria's birth,

enough

when Kepler could not

to oversee the printing

of his next

se-

of ephemerides, he told his printer to work instead on a book

ries

that he

had begun

During the Prague

much

as

an essay

when he was

a student in

Tubingen.

had expanded the essay into a short

years he

to the delight of his friends, for he laced

it

story,

with puns and

allu-

sions that they could appreciate. This was, in fact, the piece that he

had feared might jeopardize

with the

trial

long past he

how

notes pointing out

it

Somnium (The Dream)

fifty

his mother's case in the

felt

travels, visits

fiction.

cient Danish.

the

way

The hero and

is

The

Most of the

widely regarded

story in the witch

story takes place

and Earth appear

notes concerned

much more

trial. It

He

until

on the

and

as the first

many

assistants

he learns

suffi-

Moon and is about

to inhabitants there.

than the possible misuse of the

was here that Kepler showed that he un-

derstood the concept of gravity better than he

for.

and

narrator, in the course of his

Uraniborg, where he finds Tycho and

the heavens

trial,

with some

consists of a twenty-eight-page story

speaking languages he does not understand

all

it,

might have been used out of context.

pages of notes and diagrams and

work of science

witch

vindicated in publishing

is

often given credit

described clearly the point between Earth and

Moon

where

their separate gravitational attractions exactly cancel out.

The

printing of

Somnium proceeded

sporadically between print-

TYCHO

356

& KEPLER

was not finished when Kepler

ing runs for the ephemerides.

It

from Sagan

once again, to recover some of his back

and

it

also

1 1

try,

seemed there was hope. After being put off again

had been promised

again, Kepler

November

He

October to

in

This time

salary.

out

set

that if he appeared in Linz

he would be paid some interest on investments

on

there.

planned to attend a meeting taking place near that time in

which the future of his patron Wallenstein, now

Regensburg

at

from

hung

grace,

fallen

in the balance.

Kepler was exhausted

when he

rode out of Sagan on October

He had pushed the printer and himself unmercifully. He had

autumn book

to ship ahead of him, for the

8.

needed

fair in Leipzig, a large

stock of books: fifty-seven copies of ephemerides, sixteen copies of

the Tables,

and seventy- three other books.

It

had

also taken

time and

documentation he had collected

effort to gather together all the

through the years about everything that was owed him.

After Leipzig, Kepler rode to Regensburg and arrived there on

November 2

after a cold

autumn journey on

a nearly worthless old

horse that he sold in the city for a few florins.

mined not
illness as

to neglect anything

no more than

he had

He grew worse,

that.

ium.

A doctor came and bled him,

At

last a

man

his fever soared,

Protestant pastor was

felt

ill

but, deter-

out to do, shrugged off his

set

a nuisance. For a

than

He

his age,

it

was more

and he lapsed into

which did not

delir-

help.

summoned. Kepler

drifted in

and

out of consciousness for several days and in his few lucid moments
tried to explain to the pastor that
cile

Catholics and Protestants.

Kepler that

this

was

like

Christ. Kepler, as usual,

he had done

The

pastor

his

utmost to recon-

admonished the dying

expecting to bring together Satan and

was not dissuaded from

his

own

beliefs.

When

asked on what basis he hoped for salvation, he answered,

"Solely

on the merit of our Savior Jesus

Christ, in

and

Protestantism,

and no pastor could take exception

On November

is

found

all

Those words were the very essence of

refuge, solace,

salvation."

whom

15, 1630, Kepler died.

Though

to them.
his grave has

been

Measuring

lost,

the

he was not buried in obscurity.

illustrious

men

Shadows

357

Some of the most powerful and

of the empire were in Regensburg for the meeting

Kepler had planned to attend, and

many of them walked

in the fu-

had so

neral procession for the imperial mathematician they

cele-

brated but also so poorly supported. That evening there was a meteor
shower. As

it

was reported

at the time, fiery balls fell

from heaven.

Kepler's gravestone in the Protestant cemetery bore an epitaph

that he

had written himself:

Now the earth's shadows

Earthbound, my body rests.

measured the heavens,

Skybound,

my mind.

measure,

Appendix

ANGULAR DISTANCE
A simple way to approach

the definitions of the terms angular distance, angle ofsepof arc is to imagine oneself at the center of a giant clock face,
where the two hands meet. From that point of view, the angle of separation or an-

and

aration,

degree

gular distance between an object at "twelve o'clock"

thirty degrees

o'clock,"

and so

and another

360

at

degrees.

imaginary

want

to

forth.

that the line has

is

let
it

of arc, and so forth. The entire

circle has

draw an

sixty degrees

stars directly

that line continue

comes up the other

drawn

huge

overhead whose angle of separation you

all

the

If the

two

their angular separation

circle all the

stars

the earth be-

and

other end, so

way around

look to be

and you

at, let

joins

its

the celestial sphere.

are in the center

us say, one

and two

That

where the

o'clock, then

thirty degrees.

is

celestial objects that interest

one degree of arc, degrees

way around you and

side of the sky

the equivalent of the clock face,

two hands meet.

Because

"one o'clock"

the concept roughly with regard to the sky,

is

between two

measure and

is

at

angular distance between an object at "twelve o'clock"

To understand

line

circle

The

"two o'clock"

neath your feet until

huge

and an object

of arc. Likewise the angular distance between "one o'clock" and "two

astronomers are often closer together than

are divided into smaller segments.

There

are sixty

minutes

of arc in one degree of arc; sixty seconds of arc or arcseconds in one minute of arc.

Two

objects

twelve to one

whose angle of separation

on the clock

face as

be either quite close to one another or very

window of my

study,

see

two

is,

let

us say, thirty degrees of arc (from

viewed from the center of the clock) can actually

trees

far apart.

For example, looking from the

whose distance from one another

(if you

go out

Appendix

36 o
and measure

it) is

about twelve

feet.

about thirty degrees. Beyond them

two

stars also

Their angular separation from where

is

the sky. Lining

up each

tree

with a

stand

star,

is

those

have an angular separation from one another of about thirty degrees

when viewed from my study. However, those two stars are definitely not just twelve
feet apart. Knowing what angle separates two objects does not tell us the distance between them.

Appendix

VOCABULARY OF ASTRONOMY
Much

of the vocabulary that

is

Meridian

circle:

you

meet

celestial pole, to
is

book

this

it all

its tail

way around

the

is

explained in

useful terms:

draw an imaginary

are standing, then continue the line

sphere until you have brought

drawn

more

Starting at the north celestial pole,

zenith above where

south

understanding

essential to

the relevant chapters, but here are a few

line to the

around the

celestial

the celestial sphere, through the

again at the north celestial pole.

What you

have

a line of longitude or a meridian, the celestial equivalent of the lines of lon-

gitude or meridians to be found

on

a globe of Earth. This meridian

perpendicular

is

to the horizon.

Altitude

is

the distance of a star or planet above the horizon, measured in degrees.

A complete circle
No

star

is

360

degrees, so the altitude of a star at the zenith

is

90 degrees.

can ever have an altitude greater than 90 degrees.

Azimuth

is

the distance of an object from the meridian, also measured in degrees.

Imagine again drawing the meridian hoop. Stand facing north and imagine that
line. If you see a star

ian. Its

azimuth

is

off to the

the

left

or right of that line, that star

measurement of how

Meridian, altitude, and azimuth

where an observer

is

poles.

measurements
An

it is

is

not on your merid-

from the meridian.

dependent on

like

horizon and zenith

will

not change with the position of the ob-

are

standing.

Astronomers need measurements that

server

far

that stay put, as

astronomer in

Denmark must

do the

celestial

be able to

tell

equator and the

an astronomer in

celestial

Italy

what

Appendix

362
the position of a star or planet

another

set

is

without using

Denmark as

a reference point.

Hence

of terms:

The prescribed meridian

is

the meridian line established not by the position of the

observer but by the position of the Sun at the vernal equinox.

The

declination of a celestial object

is its

distance in degrees above the celestial

equator.

Right ascension

is its

distance in degrees east of the prescribed meridian.

Declination and right ascension are hence independent of the observer's position

on

Earth.

Whether you

are in

New York or Arizona

or Turkey, the declination and

right ascension of a particular star will be the same.

Two more measurements

are related not to the horizon or the celestial equator but

to the ecliptic:

The

latitude of a celestial

body

is

how many

degrees

it is

above or below the

ecliptic.

Longitude

is

a body's position along the ecliptic, measured in degrees eastward

from the vernal equinox.

It is

useful to

remember

all

these terms in groups of four:

Altitude and azimuth are measurements related to the horizon and the meridian.

Declination and right ascension are measurements related to the

celestial

equator

and the prescribed meridian.

Latitude and longitude are measurements related to the
equinox.

ecliptic

and the vernal

Appendix 3

KEPLER'S USE OF TYCHO'S OBSERVATIONS OF

MARS

TO FIND THE ORBIT OF EARTH

To

discover

what

Astronomia Nova

The Martian
line (that

is,

motion was

Earth's

in the position

begins the series of observations

when Mars

is

on

Earth's apsidal

the line running through the Sun, the center of Earth's orbit, Earth, and

Earth's positions at aphelion

after that

Kepler put himself and the readers of

like,

of a Martian astronomer observing Earth.

(687 Earth-days

and perihelion

is

one Martian

see figure 19.1).

year), the

Every 687 Earth-days

Martian takes another observa-

Each time, Mars has completed an orbit and returned to Earth's apsiTo put himself and his readers in the place of that Martian observer, Kepler
reversed the direction along which Tycho had observed Mars from Earth, in effect

tion of Earth.
dal line.

allowing himself to watch Earth from a stationary Mars.

Appendix
is

3,

at opposition,

at this

moment

the

same time

belt

and Mars

Figure

shows the Sun and Earth and Mars arranged so that Mars

an observer on Earth (were

as the
at

but the diagram gives no indication of distances.

it

Sun) would find the Sun

at the

point called Z-l in the zodiac

would

find Earth

and the Sun both

at

Z-l. At the

tured here, Earth, Sun, Mars, and those points in the zodiac are
straight line; if Earth

is

on

its

apsidal line, then obviously so

Using Tycho's collection of observations

stances

shows only that

Z-2; an observer on the Sun would find Earth and Mars at Z-2; an

observer on Mars

same

It

possible to see the stars in the sky at

687 Earth-days

(a

Martian year)

as his

apart,

background

beginning

all
is

moment
located

cap-

on the

Mars.

data, Kepler

found

when Mars was on

in-

Earth's

Appendix 3

364

M
ft

ft

ft

ft
ft

#Z-1

ft

ft
ft

ft
ft

ft
ft
ft

ft

Psun
P

ft

Earth

ft

O Mars

ft

ft

z"2

Appendix
stars

3,

Figure

1:

^
The drawing

represents a large circular room, with the

of the zodiac "belt" painted on

its

These

walls.

stars,

whose positions

and angular distances from one another were well known

to early as-

tronomers and astrologers, are the fixed background against which an inhabitant

of the Solar System observes the planets. According to Copernicus, the

The

much

Sun

is

ther

away from the Sun and Earth than the dimensions of a room can

in the center,

and Earth

is

near

bly simulate. But their great distance

means

apsidal line.

really

have. Earth

would be

which

is

that whether viewed

arrived back

takes only

365 days

always on Earths apsidal

line.

on

far-

possi-

from Earth,

in the zodiac, just as

end of every

that line at the

would not

complete an orbit

to

in a different place each time.

Earth showing up at positions designated Earth

tion

of course,

were on the walls of a huge room.

Though Mars would have

687-day period, Earth

stars are,

same positions

the Sun, or Mars, they occupy the

though they

it.

Appendix

Earth

2
,

3, Figure

2 imagines

and Earth 3 while Mars's

,

Mars, Sun, and Earth are points of a

1

triangle;

posi-

Mars,

Sun, and Earth' are points of another triangle; Mars, Sun, and Earth 3 are points of a
third triangle. All the triangles have a side in

of that

line

common,

(which coincides with Earth's apsidal

line)

the Mars-to-Sun line.

is

the

same

in

all

The length

three triangles.

Appendix 3

365

** * * ^

*
*

*
-sir

TV
Earth's apsidal line

-fr

SwIq'

Earth 3 ?

&
*

Earth ?

Earth'?
Q
Mars

sir

Appendix

3, Figure 2:

At the end of each 687-day

and made

pleted an orbit

its

way back

**

interval,

Mars has com-

to Earth's apsidal line, while Earth (re-

quiring only 365 days to complete an orbit) shows up at different positions. In

each case, Mars, the Sun, and Earth are points of a triangle.

have one

gles

line

From

line in

common,

The

three trian-

the line that coincides with Earth's apsidal

the Sun-to-Mars line.

this

"Martian astronomer"

and

exercise, Tycho's solar theory,

own

his

Vicarious Hypothesis, Kepler had the information needed to find out where observers

on any of the

against the

three bodies (Earth, Mars, Sun)

background

Earth (see Appendix

3

Knowing
trated in

angle

3,

stars

Earth

Sun-Mars
line.

see the other

at

Earth

two bodies

Earth 2 and
,

the angular distances between the positions where the three lines

Appendix

3, Figure

when Earth was

at

would

when Earth was

Figure 2).

at

which

He made

in turn told

him how

line (line

Comparing

tri-

the lengths of the sides

this calculation for the triangles

Earth 2 and Earth 3 All three triangles had one side in

,

illus-

3 ended in the zodiac gave Kepler the angles of the

Earth

were related to one another.

was

of the zodiac,

when Earth

common

the

C in Appendix 3, Figure 3), which coincided with Earth's apsidal

the lengths of the other sides with the length of that

common

side

366

Appendix 3

** * * *

*
*

*
*

fc

Sun

Line

Earth

::::

A...

Mars

fc

&

Line C,\

Line

^r

it

Appendix
vation,

3,

The

Figure 3:

made from

triangle

* &

&

when Earth was

at Earth': Tycho's obser-

Earth, of Mars's position in the zodiac told Kepler where

the Earth-Mars line (line A) ended in the zodiac. Tycho's solar theory (the the-

ory in which the Sun orbits the Earth and the planets orbit the Sun) gave

what Kepler judged

to be accurate positions for the Earth in the zodiac as

viewed from the Sun, which means he knew where the Earth-Sun

line (line

B) ended in the zodiac. Kepler's Vicarious Hypothesis's heliocentric longitudes

told

him where Mars appeared

where the Mars-Sun

told

him how

line (line

all the sides

in the zodiac

C) ended

when viewed from

the Sun;

of all three triangles compared with one another.

knowledge, in principle, allowed Kepler to find the position of Earth in

the time each of the observations were

made

i.e.,

in the zodiac.

Earth', Earth

2
,

and Earth 3

words, to draw a diagram placing the three Earth positions where they

And

that

its

orbit at

in other

really

do oc-

not just in imaginary places. Using those three points, he could draw a

circle

through them to represent Earth's orbit and find out where the center of the

circle

cur,

was. That should give

and the radius of the

sets

him

orbit.

the position of the center of the orbit relative to the

Sun

Kepler double-checked his findings using several different

of triangles based on different observations.

Drawing

all

those points in turn might seem certain to have described the shape

Appendix 3
of Earth's orbit and to have revealed that
timate the

pitfalls

was seeking. The

was an

ellipse.

To think

so

is

to underes-

and uncertainties involved, and the subtlety of the answer Kepler

ellipse

impossible to find

it

367

it

he would

by

this

later discover

is

so close to being a circle that

method, even had there been no error

it

was

at all in his cal-

culations. For this particular procedure, each piece of data provided an opportunity
for error,

and

in a process that

meant seven chances

pecially

when

it

circular,

triangles.

To

this

side, that

if

sets

of

he did.

outcome was by no means

showed

es-

the true orbit

Kepler might easily have got different results for different

his chagrin,

However,

common

involved small angles, magnified any error. Even

had been

Kepler's results

used three triangles with one

go wrong. The trigonometry used in the computation,

to

that contrary to

complete disappointment, because

what Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Tycho had

thought, the center of Earth's orbit lay somewhere in the middle between the equant

point and the Sun, and that was where astronomers had traditionally put the center

of the orbit of a. planet. Also, Kepler had found that Earth was moving like a planet,
speeding up

when

it

came

closer to the

Sun and slowing down

as

it

moved

away.

Notes

JKGW refers
Max

to the twentieth-century

compendium of Kepler's works and letters:

Hammer, and Volker Bialas, eds. Johannes

Caspar, Walther von Dyck, Franz

Kepler Gesammelte Werke. 22 vols. Munich: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and

the Bavarian

Academy of Sciences, 1937-.

TBDOO refers to Tycho

Brahe's collected works:

Brake Dani Opera Omnia. 15

Mechanica

refers to

John Lewis

E. Dreyer, ed. Tychonis

Copenhagen: Libraria Gyldendaliana, 1913-29.

vols.

Tycho Brahe, Astronomiae Instauratae Mechanica, Raeder

et al.

translation.

have used the following form for quotations where the original

is

in

Danish and

have taken the translation from an English source: Original source/English translation source. For example: Gassendi 3:20/Thoren

Gassendi, volume

3,

page 20; and

20 means that the

original

is

have used the translation on page 20 of Thoren.

PROLOGUE
3

1.

"You

will

letter

154.

come": Brahe to Kepler, Jan. 26, 1600,

JKGW,

vol. 14,

LEGACIES

For

much

of the information

in the early chapters

of

this

book

am

indebted to

Victor Thoren, whose Lord of Uraniborg (1990) superseded Dreyer's 1890 book

Notes

370
Tycho Brahe:
finitive

his

Picture

Mechanica, 106

youth

of Scientific

Life

and Work

in the Sixteenth Century as the de-

biography of Tycho Brahe. Tycho provided an autobiographical summary in

in Cloister

and Christianson has done

ff;

and

a splendid job of recreating Tycho's

and

Observatory: Herrevad Abbey

"without the knowledge":

Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg.

The quotation and

Tycho's telling of the

incident are from Mechanica, 106.

1 1

"was sent to grammar school": Ibid.

13

where Tyge lodged: For Thoren's speculation on

this subject see

Thoren 1990,9-10.
13

grounded

in the "liberal arts":

On

Philippist university curriculum,

see ibid., 11.

2.

ARISTOCRAT BY BIRTH, ASTRONOMER BY NATURE

25

chose the University of Leipzig: Tycho reported the

in Mechanica, 106, but placed

two years

it

earlier

move

and

to Leipzig

said nothing

about the previous three years in Copenhagen.

27

"bought astronomical books" and following quotations: Mechanica,

107. Pages 107, 108 are Tycho's account of his early attempts in

astronomy.

of affairs": Thoren 1990, 17.

28

"rectify this sorry state

28

cross staff, or radius: Mechanica, 108.

28

"stayed awake the whole night": Ibid.

28

"had no opportunity":

31

The story of the

down by word of mouth over the next hundred
years and finally written down by one Jacob Stolterfoht, a Lutheran
clergyman who was the grandson of the woman who knew Danish.
See Thoren 1990, 23. Tycho's own mention of the duel story is in

Ibid.

each demanding that the other draw his sword:

duel was passed

TBDOO,
32

(fn)

34

34-35

Tycho's
a

new

biographer:

80-83.

"placing the vertex": Ibid., 107.

35

The quadrans maximus:

37

Ramus,

38

Thoren 1990, 25/Gassendi, 10:209.

pair of compasses: Mechanica,

"He

Ibid.,

88-91.

in his next book: Petrus

versus lac.

3.

1:135-36.

first

Ramus, Defensio pro

Aristotele ad-

Schecium (Lausanne, 1571).

dwells

on

earth":

TBDOO,

9:173/Thoren 1990, 45.

BEHAVIOR UNBECOMING A NOBLEMAN

39

complicated system of reciprocity: For the feudal system in

Denmark,

see Christianson 2000,

25-26. Christianson has brought

Notes

together from

many

371

sources, including Scandinavian ones (see his

bibliography), information about

mark with which he has been

Den-

in sixteenth-century

life

sometimes scarce

able to flesh out the

biographical information about Tycho.

40

Herrevad Abbey: The description of Herrevad and its background

come from my own visit there, and from a thorough background

and description of what

it

information about Steen

41-42
43

"Verily, there

was

including

like in Tycho's time,

much

Christianson 1964.

Bille, in

did once": See Christianson 1964, 43.

Kirsten Jorgensdatter: For discussion of and speculation about her

Thoren 1990, 45-48, and Christianson 2000, 10-14. When I

Knutstorp in 2000, I found the conviction still strong in the

see

visited

community
43

"a

woman

46-47

"I

knew

that Kirsten

had been the

pastor's daughter.

of the people": Gassendi/Thoren 1990, 45

perfectly well":

1964, 122.

The

De Stella Nova, TBDOO,

full title

of the 1573 book, best

6/Christianson

known

as

De Stella

Nova, in which Tycho described the event was (translated into

English) Mathematical Contemplation of Tycho Brahe of Denmark on
the

New and Never Previously Seen

November
47

"I

in the Year

Star First Observed in the

Month of

of Our Lord 1572.

doubted no longer": De

Stella

TBDOO

Nova,

l:18/Christianson

1964, 123.

47

"Let

49

turned the sextant around: Mechanica, 84-87.

51

an "oration":

all

philosophers": Ibid.

TBDOO,

54

The oration
De Stella Nova: Ibid.

55

Johannes Kepler wrote: Thoren 1990, 72.

55

Baade concluded:

56

Radio astronomers: see

in

is

vol. 1.

see Astrophysical Journal

J.

E.

102 (1945): 309.

Baldwin and D. O. Edge, "Radio

Emission from the Remnants of the Supernovae of 1 572 and

Clark,

604,"

H.
"The Location of the Supernova of A.D. 1572," Quarterly

The Observatory 11 (1957): 139ff; and

F.

R. Stephenson and D.

Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 18 (1977): 340ff.

4.

HAVING THE BEST OF SEVERAL UNIVERSES

57

One copy

of the invitation

still

survives: see

Thoren 1990,

57, in-

cluding footnote.

myself cannot":

TBDOO,

l:131-32/Thoren 1990, 75.

58

"I

58

an elegant new quadrant: Mechanica, 12-15.

61

"there
ture:

is

something

TBDOO,

in

man," and other quotations from Tycho's

l:163/Thoren 1990, 83.

lec-

Notes

372

62

"When

62

"according to the models," "adapted to the stability": Ibid.

67

"the

71

Tycho decided he would

74

"I

heard": Ibid., 171-72/84.

172-73/85-86.
motions of the planets":
.

172-73/85.

Ibid.

settle in Basel:

Mechanica, 108.

did not want to take": Tycho to Pratensis, mid-February, 1576/

Christianson 1964, 130.

75
5.

"Hear now":

Ibid.

THE ISLE OF HVEN

77

island of

Hven: Tycho Brahe described the

observatory in Mechanica,

121-40.

am

island

and

his palace-

also indebted to

John

Christianson (2000 and 1961). Christianson 2000 includes biographical information before and after the Uraniborg years and

capsule biographies of the assistants

Uraniborg and

78

"free

who worked

for

Tycho

at

later.

from the commotion":

TBDOO, volume

4/Christianson 1961,

120.

79

recounting

tales:

For the legends of Hven, see Christianson 2000,

112.

80-81

80

82

The village's three great fields: Tycho described the topography of

Hven and his later improvements to the island in Mechanica, 138-39.
The map is from a 1588 Atlas of European Cities. Tycho later included his own, more accurate map of Hven in Mechanica, 138.
"to have, enjoy"

and "observe the

law":

TBDOO,

l4:5/Christianson

1961, 119.

84

Tycho's house plan:

byThoren 1990,

The proportions of the

86

"pipes reaching": Mechanica, 129.

87

ceremony

structure are described

109.

for putting

it

in place:

Tycho described the ceremony

in

ibid., 130.

87

"consecrated with wines": Ibid.; Tycho reprinted the inscription

here.

89

"well-formed" and "over fond of":

The horoscope

is

in

TBDOO,

1:183-208.

90

he saw an exceptionally bright

comet
6.

is

star:

Tycho's description of seeing the

in ibid., 4:6.

WORLDS APART

Much

of the information for

this

chapter comes from Kepler's "Selbstcharakteristik"

of 1597 and other material reprinted

Caspar 1948/93.

as

"Heimat"

in

Schmidt.

am also

indebted to

Notes

91

pointed out the bright

with his mother in a

14,

vol.

letter

star

3J3

with a

letter,

tail:

Kepler told of seeing the comet

Kepler to Fabricius, July 4,

\603,JKGW

262; and also in his "Selbstcharakteristik,"

1597,

reprinted as "Heimat" in Schmidt, 220.

92

a noble family: Kepler told

about

to Bianchi, Feb. 17, 1619,

JKGW,

Kepler

his family's past in a letter,

vol. 17, letter

827; in Schmidt,

218.

92

candid about his severely dysfunctional family: Kepler's description

of his

relatives

92

and himself

and

his brothers

sister,

is

to be

found

in Frisch,

828-29 and 935-36;

in

8:670-72; for

Schmidt, 218, 219.

"His face" and other quotations: Frisch, 8:670-71; in Schmidt,

218.

96

a careful description: Tycho's study of the

in

98

TBDOO,

comet and

his report are

vol. 4.

"Pseudoprophets" and other quotations from Tycho's report on the

TBDOO, 4:381-96/Thoren

comet:

1990,

130-31. Thoren has

used a translation by Christianson.

100-101

He

gathered

all

104

book about the comet,

the observations: Tycho's

which he finished

in 1588,

"There was nothing

could

is

in

TBDOO,

vol. 4.

state": "Selbstcharakteristik"; in

Schmidt,

211.

7.

A PALACE OBSERVATORY
108

The information about the dining

room and dining customs, including the menu from another
Brahe household, comes from Christianson 2000, 77-78.
"the winter dining room":

Christianson

cites

an early-twentieth-century Scandinavian histo-

rian, Troels Frederik

Troels-Lund, an expert on daily

life

in that

part of the world in the sixteenth century.

110

Beds were portable: The information about the beds was told

me by

Henrik Wachtmeister, the present owner of Knutstorps Borg.

110-12

"desks for the collaborators": Tycho's description of the house and

garden

112

"one

is

in Mechanica,

mug

124-32.

after the other":

TBDOO,

7:327/Christianson 1964,

193.

113

"harmful, uncustomary": Records of Tycho's problems with the

landers, the king's responses to

TBDOO,
1

14

"like a

Tycho and the

vol. 14.

mild father": Quoted in Christianson 1964, 33.

1 1

"workshop

121

"people

121

"medium-size azimuth quadrant of brass":

for the artisans": Mechanica, 139.

who

is-

peasants' appeals are in

shun": Ibid., 53.

Ibid.,

16-19.

Notes

374

122

"driven by necessity": Ibid., 144;

Tycho described these innovations

on 141-144.
Fig.

8.

7.8a

"By turning one

single screw": Ibid., 143.

ADELBERG, HAULBRONN, URANIBORG

126-27

"only those

JKGW,
129

who were

hostile"

and the other quotations

that follow:

19:328-37; in Schmidt, 221.

Information about the globe

a giant globe:

in

is

Mechanica,

102-5.

129
1

"by inserting" and other quotations about the globe: Ibid.

built the great

rant

132

is

"The

28-31.

likeness": Ibid., 30.

134

"with no small difficulty" and "when accidentally": Ibid., 135, 137.

135

Stjerneborg was far from strictly functional: Ibid., 134-37.

138

"great equatorial armillary": Information about the armillary

ibid.,

Fig. 8.3

9.

mural quadrant: Information about the mural quad-

in ibid.,

"the

is

in

64-67.

two values found":

Ibid., 67.

CONTRIVING IMMORTALITY
14042

"Tychonic system of the world": For

a detailed description

simple explanation of Tycho's system and

Copernicus's, see

its

Kuhn, 202-4. For Tycho's observational campaign

to find the parallax

tem, and Tycho's

of Mars,
of

series

its

connection with the Tychonic

letters

sys-

about the parallax search, see

Gingerich and Voelkel 1998 and Gingerich 1992, 251-56.

ter also tells

and

equivalence to

The

lat-

about the Danish Tycho Brahe scholar John Louis Emil

Dreyer.

145

"6:27 P.M.

a meridian altitude":

The sequence of observations

took place on March 10 and 11, 1587,

is

that

from Gingerich and

Voelkel 1998, 17 and 21.

147

A chain of events began: Tycho's description of this incident

lated in Rosen,

39-40. Rosen

also reprints excerpts

witness account of Lange's secretary,

250-53). Christianson's

148

"four whole handfuls":

in

150

retelling

is

trans-

Michael Walther (Rosen,

in Christianson

From Michael

is

from the eye-

2000, 89.

Walther's account, reprinted

Rosen, 251,252.

"an

evil,

scandalous

life":

Christianson, 126, translating from a

book by the nineteenth-century Danish church

Holger Frederik Rordam.

history scholar

Notes

10.

37

THE UNDERMINING OF THE HUMAN ENDEAVOR

153
1

54

155

"children of poor": See Caspar 1993, 43.

"for berrer

and more

dignified":

JKGW,

19:316.

"Although [Kolin] once made friends": Biographical material translated in Schmidt, 221.

155-56

"permanent repentance about

lost

time" and other quotes from

Kepler about his work habits: Ibid., 21 1-13.

have by degrees": Introduction to Mysterium; JKGW, 1:10.

58

"I

58

the sphere of the stars symbolized Christ:

The view of the

universe

with the Sun, the sphere of stars, and the area between representing
Father, Son,
his

and Holy

He mentioned

life.

he used

it

in

was

Spirit
it

a favorite analog)" for Kepler

in chapter 2

book 4 of

of Mysterium, and

all

much later

Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae

his

{\6\l-\62\)JKGW,yo\.7.
158

two formal academic debates: Kepler mentioned

his debates in the

introduction to Mysterium; JKGW, 1:9.

159

"Young Kepler": JKGW,

160

the third theological year: See

161

"tougher than

13:4.

Methuen.

Astronomia Nova,

actually":

JKGW,

3:108/Caspar

1993,51.

164-65

Rasmus

The Pedersen

Pedersen:

story- is told in detail in

Christianson

2000, 332-35.

165-68

As Frobenius described events

in his

memoirs: Christianson has

reprinted Frobenius's account, in English translation, in Christianson

2000, 151-53.
11.

YEARS OF DISCONTENT
169

a Rix: Correspondence

around the Rix episode appears

(s-.ITbTb'b; Tycho's letter to

170

wrote to

his friends:

For Tycho's

Gingerich and Voelkel 1998,

Tycho's parallax search,
1

Kepler

later

its

in

Wllhelm expressing discontent

1,

letters re

TBDOO,
is

on 229.

the parallax search, see

3-4. Gingerich and Voelkel discuss

outcome, and

his

motivation at length.

examined Tycho's observations of 1 582: JKGW, 1 :439-40;

Astronomia Nova, Kepler, 1992, Donahue translation, 302.

175-79

arrangement of a marriage: The story of the wedding plans and

failure

is

their

told in detail in Christianson 2000, 171-90.

176

courtship and marriage customs: See ibid., 173fT. Christianson cites

180

Epistolae Astronomicae:

social historian Troels Frederik Troels-Lund.

Tycho completed

1596 and presented copies

and

his chancellor.

to the recently

this

work

in

September

crowned King Christian

Notes

376
180

now

12.

dam and

"This

paper-mill":

The

cornerstone with this inscription

Knutstorps Borg.

resides at

GEOMETRY'S UNIVERSE
183

"foolish

little

daughter": Kepler repeated the epithet frequently. See

Gingerich 1973, 290.

1

83

183

"nourishing the superstition":

"If

God

84

"I inscribed":

84

"The

Fig. 12.1

JKGW, 4:

2.

gave each animal": Kepler to Mastlin, Dec. 8, 1597.

Introduction to Mysterium,

delight that

Figure 12.1

is

JKGW,

1:11.

took": Introduction to Mysterium,

JKGW,

1:13.

redrawing of Kepler's drawing in Mysterium.

pondered on

186

"I

187

the simple "naturalness" of the cosmos: See Gingerich 1973, 291.

187

"Almost the whole summer": Introduction to Mysterium,

this subject": Ibid., 1:9.

JKGW,

1:11.

188

man

created in the image of

God

Kepler voiced this conviction in a

could comprehend the

letter to

logic:

Mastlin (Kepler to

Mastlin, April 19, 1597) and later to von

Hohenburg (Kepler

von Hohenburg, April

quoted

10, 1599).

Both

are

in

to

Holton, 68,

69.
1

89

"Finally

came

close": Introduction to

190

"And behold, dear

191

"Behold, reader, the invention": Ibid.

192

"To

193

"polyhedral theory":

see

whether

JKGW, vol.
193

"Just as

Mysterium,

JKGW,

1:11.

reader": Ibid., 13.

this idea": Ibid.

The

letter

was Kepler

to Mastlin,

Aug. 1595,

13.

pledged myself to God": Kepler to Mastlin, Oct. 1595,

ibid., 40.

195

"lead to the ruin": Mastlin to Kepler, Mar. 9,

196

"What wonder

597,

ibid., letter

then": Introduction to Astronomia Nova,

60.

JKGW,

vol. 3.

196

"a childish

JKGW, vol
198

99

silk fleece":

"set [his] heart

"My
"It

Duke

Friedrich, Feb. 17, 1596,

Papius to Kepler, June 1596,

ibid., let-

on

is

fire":

Kepler to Fabricius, Oct.

1,

1602,

JKGW,

226.

assets are such":

13, letter 64.

199

Kepler to

43.

45.

vol. 14, letter

1

fateful":

8, letter

"with very good

ter

198

and

certain": Ibid.

Kepler to Mastlin, April

9,

597,

JKGW, vol.

Notes

13.

377

DIVINE RIGHT AND EARTHLY MACHINATION

202

"see

and

learn":

205

Tycho, quoting King Frederick, in Brahe to

mid-February 1576/Christianson 1964, 134.

Pratensis,
(fn)

"most of the larger problems": Stephenson, 1994, 75.

205

"Seldom

205-6

in history":

Gingerich 1973, 292.

Galileo wrote to Kepler: Galileo to Kepler, Aug. 4, 1597,

JKGW,

vol. 13, letter 73.

206

"would

it

not be better": Kepler to Galileo, Oct. 13, 1597,

ibid., let-

ter 76.

206

"could derive no profit": Praetorius to Herwart von Hohenburg,

April 23, 1598, ibid., letter 95.

206

"reviving the Platonic art":

Limnaus

to Kepler, April 24,

1598,

ibid., letter 96.

206

"specialist": Ibid.

207

"The

little

15, 1595,

207

knowledge

JKGW vol

...

love

take care: Kepler to Ursus, Nov.

13, letter 26.

"most distinguished man": Ursus to Kepler,

May

29, 1597, ibid.,

124/Rosen, 88.

209

"would have been beheaded":

212

"I

TBDOO,

8:7.

wish he had been there": Astronomia Nova, Kepler, Donahue

translation, 1992.

14.

CONVERGING PATHS
214-15

appeal to King Christian:

lated the entire letter,

215

215

Duke Ulrich
that Duke Ulrich
.

letter

went

to

TBDOO,

14:108-11. Dreyer has trans-

243-45.

agreed to intercede:
sent

Tycho

in

is

The

draft letter to Christian

TBDOO,

14:113, 114.

Lord Chancellor Erik Sparre: Brahe

to Sparre, ibid.,

119, 120/Thoren 1990,380.

216

Tycho's coach, drawn by six horses: Christianson 2000, 225.

not clear precisely

216

when Tycho

"audaciously and not without":

Dreyer,

12123. Dreyer includes the entire

letter.

218

"No doubt

218

"Elegy to Denmark":

the time will come":

TBDOO,

TBDOO,

248-52/ TBDOO,

for

14:

8:10/Thoren 1990, 381.

13:101-4.

volume containing the observations

It

was copied into the

1596 and 1597. Dreyer,

254, gives a description of it but does not print

220

It is

acquired the horses.

it

in

its

entirety.

"The whole German fatherland": Archbishop Elector Ernest of

Cologne to King Christian of Denmark, TBDOO, 14:140-41/
Thoren 1990,384.

Notes

378

221-22

"discern double-stars":

From

De Astronomicis

Ursus's

Hypothesibus.

Quotations are Jardine's translation; Jardine, 30-36.

222

"The bright

glory": Kepler to Ursus,

Nov. 15, 1595,

JKGW vol.

13,

letter 26.

223

"the prince of mathematicians": Kepler to Brahe, Dec. 13, 1597,

ibid., letter 82.

224

man

"That

224

"He hurt me with

225

"only better": Kepler to Mastlin,

letter 89,

225

From

[Kepler] has in everyway":

"Selbstcharakteristik";

Schmidt, 217.

in

180

11.

his

contempt":

Ibid.

March

\598JKGW, vol.

15,

13,

ff.

"Time does not

Kepler to Mastlin, June 1598,

lessen":

ibid., letter

99.

227

"He who

Johann Georg Brenegger,

distinguishes himself": Kepler to

Jan. 17, 1605, ibid., vol. 15, letter 317.

15.

CONTACT
231

from

a letter

Mastlin: Mastlin to Kepler, July 4, 1598,

JKGW,

vol. 13, letter 101.

231

reply Tycho

had written Kepler: Brahe

to Kepler, April

1598,

1,

ibid.,

letter 92.

231

Tycho had sent Mastlin

a copy: Tycho's letter to Mastlin, including

the copy of his letter to Kepler,

JKGW, vol
233 "Why does

is

Brahe to Mastlin, April 21, 1598,

13, letter 94.

[Ursus] ": Kepler to Brahe, Feb.

9,

599. This letter was

not preserved except in a copy that Kepler had

made and

sent to

Mastlin.

233

Tycho's response this time: Brahe to Kepler, Dec. 9,

599,

JKGW,

vol. 14, letter 145.

236

He

Edmund

wrote to

Bruce:

and Mastlin were Kepler

to

von Hohenburg, Aug.

1599,

236

letter

letters to

6,

1599,

letter

cal

128; Kepler

ibid., letter

130; Kepler to Mastlin, Aug.

132.

first

harmony

"a bird

Bruce, von Hohenburg,

599,

Kepler had begun to look to music:

Kepler's

240

The

to Bruce, July

and
is

under

with musi-

Stephenson 1994.

a bucket": Kepler to Mastlin,

14, letter 132;

thorough treatment of

later efforts to link the planetary orbits

and Kepler

to

Aug.

599,

von Hohenburg, Aug.

6,

JKGW, vol.
1599,

letter

130.

241

"little

paper houses" and

"My

opinion about Tycho": Kepler to

Mastlin, Feb. 1599, ibid., vol. 13, letter

13.

Notes

16.

379

PRAGUE OPENS HER ARMS

243-44

God

"perhaps

has acted" and "a splendid": Brahe to Rosenkrantz,

TBDOO, 8:163-66/Thoren

Aug. 30, 1599,

244

"from what

said": Ibid.,

1990, 411.

163-66/412.

244

"I

245

Tycho's odometer: This was the invention of Peter Jachinow.

saw

[the emperor]": Ibid.

According to Tycho,

it

signaled the passing of the miles

and portions

thereof "by striking distinct sounds with two bells." See

Thoren

1990,205.

emperor was very

245

"the

247

TBDOO, 8:l63-66/Thoren 1990, 413.

"leave Bohemia": TBDOO, 6:273/Thoren 1990, 416.
"the women were frightened": TBDOO, 8:193, 273/Thoren

favorably": Brahe to Rosenkrantz,

Aug. 30,

1599.

248

1990,

419.

248-49

"No matter what

Kepler to Mastlin, Aug.

fate":

599,

JKGW,

vol.

14, letter 132.

249

"I

249

"for in these matters": Mastlin to Kepler, Jan. 15, 1600,

could never torture myself": Ibid.

JKGW, vol.

14, letter 153.

250

"being forced"

251

"as

soon

"desired joint": Brahe to Kepler, Dec. 9, 1599,

145.

ibid., letter

as

arrived": Preface to Kepler's

"Defense of Tycho against

Ursus," Frisch, l:236-76/Rosen, 330.

251

"You

will

come": Brahe to Kepler, Jan. 26, 1600,/tfG^vol. 14,

let-

ter 154.

17.

A DYSFUNCTIONAL COLLABORATION

Kepler wrote about his

later

to

arrival

and

first

weeks

at

Benatky

in letters sent

somewhat

Mastlin and von Hohenburg: Kepler to Mastlin; and Kepler to von

Hohenburg, July

253

12, 1600.

JKGW vol

14, letter 168. See also Gingerich 1973, 294.

"saw immediately": Kepler to von Hohenburg, July 12,

JKGW, vol
254

"a reigning loneliness": Letter

254

"One day

JKGW, vol.
254

1600,

14, letter 168.

of March 1600; Schmidt, 232.

the apogee": Kepler to von Hohenburg, July 12, 1600,

14, letter 168; in Schmidt, 234.

"lofty topics":

Brahe to Kepler, April

1,

1598, JKGW,

vol. 13, let-

ter 92.

254-55
255

"One of the most

important": Kepler to von Hohenburg, July 12,

\600 JKGW, vol.

14, letter 168; in Schmidt, 234.

"quite a brilliant speculation": Brahe to Mastlin, April 21, 1598,

JKGW, vol

13, letter 94.

3So

Notes

256

'Tycho has the best observations": Written in March 1600;

Schmidt, 231.

256

saw that

possess": Kepler to

JKGW, vol.

14, letter 168, in

von Hohenburg, July

257

'I

258

'well-rounded way": Brahe to Kepler, April

thought

12,

1600,

Schmidt, 234.

would": Ibid.

1,

1598. JKGW,Vol. 13,

letter 92.

258

'Tycho was pleased": Kepler to von Hohenburg, July 12, 1600.

JKGW, vol

14, letter 168; in

259

'My greatest worries": From

260

'If I

262

'Tycho's house

262

don't want": Written in

is

Schmidt, 234.

"Selbstcharakteristik"; in Schmidt, 215.

March 1600; Schmidt, 232.

very cramped": Ibid.

'opinion of Brahe's hypotheses": See Rosen, 289, citing

JKGW,

14:225.

262

'was eager to know": See Rosen, 289.

262

'all

264

this

about

JKGW, vol
264

it,

by

"find out

Rosen

cites Frisch, 1:284.

compactly": See Rosen, 290. Rosen

a blistering, insulting letter: This

letter

264

is

cites Frisch, 1:281.

was not preserved, only Tycho's

cited below.

a third or fourth": Brahe to Jesensky, Aug. 4, 1600,

14, letter 161.

an apology to Tycho:

JKGW,

vol.

and

14, letter 162;

TBDOO,

8:305-7.

'LET

ME NOT SEEM TO HAVE LIVED IN VAIN"

268

"I

would not have thought

Sept. 9,

269

\G00JKGW,vo\.

that

it is

so sweet": Kepler to Mastlin,

14, letter 175/Rosen, 281.

"with confidence": Brahe to Kepler, Aug. 28, 1600,

JKGW vol.

14,

letter 173.

270

"little

professorship": Kepler to Mastlin, Sept. 9, 1600, ibid., letter

175.

270-71

one

last

attempt to

bluff:

Kepler to Brahe, Oct. 17, 1600,

ibid., let-

ter 177.

271

"God

272

"Here

let

me

be

bound with Tycho": JKGW, 14:203.

in Prague": Kepler to Mastlin,

Dec. 16, 1600,

ibid., letter

180.

272

"pray for you": Mastlin to Kepler, Oct. 9, 1600,

275

"branded

in infamy":

ibid., letter

Brahe to Rollenhagen, Sept. 26, 1600,

178.

TBDOO

8:372/Rosen, 307.

275

"destroying his person": Ibid., 371/307.

278

"still

good-natured": Kepler to Mastlin, Feb.

14, letter 183.

8,

1601,

JKGW,

vol.

Notes

278

381

"choicest" observations: Kepler to Magini, June

1,

1601,

ibid., let-

ter 190.

278

"If only

could copy": Kepler to Mastlin, Feb.

1601,

8,

ibid., letter

183.

279

"A fever gripped me": JKGW,

279

"Because of this

illness":

l:139/Rosen, 322.

Kepler to Mastlin, Feb.

8,

1601,

ibid., let-

ter 183.

279

"rebut even

more

clearly":

Brahe to Kepler, Aug. 28, 1600,

JKGW

l4:l48/Rosen, 299.

279

"Defense of Tycho against Ursus":

is

in Frisch,

1:236-76, and in

English translation in Jardine, 134-207.

280

"If in their geometrical conclusions":

From

Frisch,

1:240/

31, 1601,

JKGW

ibid.,

Jardine, 141-42.

280

Barbara wrote: Barbara Kepler to Kepler,

vol. 14, letter 188.

vives.

The

This

reason for

its

is

May

the only one of Barbara's letters that sur-

survival

is

that Kepler used the blank parts

of the page for astronomical drawings and mathematical calculations.

The code Barbara and Johannes Kepler used was

for Frisch, in the nineteenth century

deciphered,

by Otto Struve, director of the

Pulkovo Observatory in Russia.

280

"benefactor
letter

have more": Eriksen to Kepler, June 13, 1601,

ibid.,

191 Tycho assigned his student Johannes Eriksen to write this

.

letter to Kepler.

282

"so trivial an offense":

SeeThoren 1990, 469.

283

"Holding

his urine"

and other quotations about Tycho's death:

TBDOO,

10:3/Rosen, 312, 313. This account appears at the end of

Tycho's collection of observations without indication of who wrote

it.

The handwriting

"although he knew": Astronomia Nova,

285

"The

casket":

From

of observations;

19.

has been recognized as Kepler's.

284

Kepler's account

TBDOO,

JKGW, 3:89.

appended

to Tycho's collection

l4:233/Thoren 1990,469,470.

THE BEST OF TIMES

287

"a gathering

JKGW, vol.
288

288

of nations": Kepler to von Hohenburg, July 12, 1600,

14, letter 168; in

Schmidt, 232.

"simply run": Quoted in Caspar 1993, 173.

their marriage
life

was not happy: For Johannes and Barbara's married

and the documents that describe

it,

see ibid.,

288

"the heart nor the means": See ibid., 176.

289

"weak, annoying":

289

"There was

much

JKGW,

19:455.

biting": Ibid., 454.

175-76.

Notes

382

much

289

"not

290

"unpleasant" and "begrimed" work:

29 1

"to think

293

Astronomiae Pars Optica:

295

A Book Full:

296

"if a

love": Ibid.

of a

lot":

From

Nova

Kepleriana, 1:18-19.

Kepler's "Selbstcharakteristik"; in Schmidt,

212.
is

in JKGW, vol. 2.

Subtitle of De Stella Nova, ibid. vol.

,

pewter dish":

Ibid., 1:285.

296

"For what a business": Kepler to von Hohenburg, Dec. 10, 1604.

298

"I

301

"There was nothing

consider

a divine decree":

it

could

Astronomia Nova,

state":

From

JKGW, 3: 109.

"Selbstcharakteristik"; in

Schmidt, 211.

302
20.

"armed with

incredulity": Astronomia Nova,

JKGW, 3:141.

ASTRONOMIA NOVA

For a

clear,

nontechnical discussion of Astronomia Nova, see Gingerich 1973, 294-97.

For a detailed, chapter-by-chapter discussion, see Stevenson 1987.

306

"If you are wearied": Astronomia Nova,

307

"After divine goodness": Ibid., 178.

309

"The Sun

310

"If

will melt": Ibid., 240.

one would place

JKGW,

JKGW, 3: 1 56.

a stone": Kepler to Fabricius, Oct. 11, 1605,

15:358.

Astronomia Nova, 243.

31

"see his eyes":

317

wrote to his friend David Fabricius: Kepler to Fabricius, July 1603,

JKGW 14:410.

21

we have

317

"Heretofore

318

"I

318

"There was nothing": From "Selbstcharakteristik";

319

"no longer stand together": Caspar 1993, 135.

was almost driven

not": Astronomia Nova, 310/Stephenson, 103.

to madness": Astronomia Nova, 310.
in

Schmidt, 211.

THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE CREAKS AROUND

JKGW, vol.

321

"not be swayed": Preface to Astronomia Nova,

323

Galileo's book: Sidereus Nuncius,

324

"I

325

they viewed Jupiter: Kepler published a report about this study of

thank you": Galileo

Jupiter's

to Kepler,

moons: Narratio de

was published
Aug.

3.

in 1610.

\G\QJKGW,

16:327.

Jovis Satellitibus (1611).

It

was soon

reprinted in Florence, where Galileo was living.

JKGW, vol.

325

"I offer

326

"pulled out Galileo's feathers": Mastlin to Kepler, Sept. 7-17, 1610,

you": Dioptrice,

JKGW, vol

16, letter 592.

4.

Notes

The

326

Strena:

327

"wounded

letter

383

mJKGW, vol.

is

4.

to the depths": Kepler to Scultetus, April

Tobias Scultetus was a friend of Kepler's

who was

13,

1612.

a councillor at the

court of Emperor Matthias.

23-24.

"complete the astronomical

330

"It

330

no fewer than eleven candidates:

Letter to an

man, dated Oct. 23, 1613. JKGW,

vol. 17, letter

332
332

makes me

Nova

333ff

tables":

9:

heartsick": Glaubenbekenntnis, ibid., 12:27.

anonymous noble669.

Stereometria Doliorum Vinariorum: JKGW, vol. 9.

"a little

more honorable": Kepler

JKGW, vol

to

von Wackhenfels, winter 1618,

17, letter 783.

accused of witchcraft: Caspar 1993, 241-56, gives a detailed ac-

count of the witchcraft

Kepler's letters. Frisch

22.

JKGW,

328

is

trial,

based on the acts of the

the source for the

trial

trial

and

documents.

AN UNLIKELY HARMONY
337

"Since the Tables require peace":

339

"sacred frenzy":

340

"O you who by the

ter

34143

JKGW,

Harmonice Mundi,

The

light":

prayer

"She announced": Frisch, 8:549-50.

his library
letter to

end of book

5,

chap-

was

sealed: Kepler described the sealing

identified these as preparatory

"the novelty of

JKGW,
a

of his library in a

Paul Gulden, Feb. 7, 1626.

hundreds of sheets with calculations:

filled

who

346

7:290.

at the

See note for page 333.

344

34546

is

9 of Harmonice Mundi.

343

345

17:254.

ibid.,

my

work

It

was

Owen

Gingerich

for the Tables.

discoveries": Preface to the Rudolfine Tables,

10:42-43.

book by John Napier:

Mirifici

Logarithmorum Canonis

Descriptio,

1614.

347

"on a wagon": Kepler to Matthias Bernegger, Feb.

350

positions
Tables

23.

were

much more

and 1631 Mercury

8,

1627.

accurate: Accuracy of the Rudolfine

transit:

Gingerich 1973, 305.

MEASURING THE SHADOWS

352

to take a presentation copy: Kepler recalled his visit to the court in

a letter to Bartsch,

353

March 2 and July

355

Nov.

6,

1629.

Kepler was unhappy in Sagan: Kepler to Bernegger,

"It

22, 1629.

was meant": Bernegger

to Kepler,

March

22, 1630.

letters

dated

Notes

3 84

355

Somnium: InJKGW,

356

lapsed into delirium:

from

a letter

1:2.

The account of Kepler's death comes in part

from an unknown scholar named Fischer, in Regens-

burg, dated January 1631. Several letters about Kepler's death are
reprinted in Baumgardt, 194-97.

356

"Solely

on the

vol. 18, letter

357

"I

merit": Lansius to

1146.

measured": JKGW, 19:393.

anonymous,

Jan. 24,

\63l,JKGW,

Bibliography

Baumgardt, Carola. Johannes Kepler: Life and

New

Letters.

York: Philosophical

Library, 1951.

Brahe, Tycho. Astronomiae Lnstauratae Mechanica. Translated into English as Tycho

Brake's Description

of His Instruments and

Scientific

Stromgren, and Bengt Stromgren. Copenhagen:

Work by Hans Raeder,

I

Elis

Kommission Hos Ejnar

Munksgaard, 1946.
Caspar, Max. Kepler. Translated and edited by C. Doris Hellman. Original book, in

German, was published

in

Germany

in 1948; reissue,

with references by

Owen
New

Gingerich and bibliographical citations by Gingerich and Alain Segonds,

York: Dover Publications, 1993. Page citations are to the reissued edition.

Caspar,

Max, Walther von Dyck, Franz Hammer, and Volker

Bialas, eds.

Johannes

Kepler Gesammelte Werke. 22 vols. Munich: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft,

and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, 1937Christianson, John Robert.

"The

Celestial

Palace of

Tycho Brahe."

Scientific

American 204 (February 1961): 118-28.

.

Ph.D.
.

Cloister
diss.,

On

and

and

Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg.

Assistants,

1570-1601. Cambridge:

Observatory: Herrevad Abbey

University of Minnesota, 1964.

Brahe and His

Tycho's Island: Tycho

Cambridge University

Press,

2000.

Doebel, Giinter. Johannes Kepler: Er veranderte das Weltbild. Graz: Verlag Styria,
1983.
Dreyer, John Louis Emil. Tycho Brahe:
Sixteenth Century. Edinburgh:

York: Dover, 1963.

and Work in the

2nd edition. New

Picture of Scientific Life

Adam and Charles Black,

1890;

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Bibliography

Dani Opera Omnia. 15

Tychonis Brahe

ed.

Copenhagen: Libraria

vols.

Gyldendaliana, 1913-29.
Ferguson, Kitty. Measuring the Universe:

and

Space

Time.

New York:

Frisch, Christian, ed. Joannis Kepleri

Erlangen, 1858-1871. This

for

many

details

of Kepler's

Our Historic Quest to Chart the Horizons of

& Company,

Walker

1999.

Astronomi Opera Omnia. 8

the source for the witchcraft

is

vols. Frankfurt-

trial

documents, and

life.

Gassendi, Pierre. Tychonis Brahei Vita, Accessit Nicolai Copernici, Georgii Puerbachii
et

Joannis Regiomontani

Mannen

Vita.

Paris,

1654. Swedish translation, Tycho Brahe:

och Verket. Efter Gassendi oversatt

med kommentar av Wilhelm

Lund: C. W. K. Gleerup, 1951. The original

1951 edition,

to the

byway

Gerlach, Walter, and Martha

is

extremely

rare.

Norlind.

Page citations are

ofThoren's Lord of Uraniborg.

List.

Johannes Kepler, Dokumente zu Lebenszeit und

Lebenswerk. Munich: Ehrenwirth Verlag, 1971.

Gingerich,
History.

Owen. The Great

Copernicus Chase,

Cambridge: Cambridge University

and Other Adventures

Press,

"Johannes Kepler." In Dictionary of

Coulston
Gingerich,

Gillispie, 7:

289-312.

Owen, and James

New York:

in Astronomical

1992.

Scientific Biography,

ed.

Charles

Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973.

R. Voelkel. "Tycho Brahe's

Copemican Campaign."

Journal for the History of Astronomy 29 (February 1998).

Hausenblasova, Jaroslava, and Michal Sronek. Das Rudolfinische Prag. Prague:

Gallery, 1997.

Holton, Gerald. Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought: Kepler

Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University

Jardine, Nicholas. The Birth

Press,

ofHistory and Philosophy ofScience:

Tycho against Ursus" with Essays on

its

to Einstein. Rev. ed.

1988.
Kepler's "A Defense

of

Provenance and Significance. Includes a trans-

lation

of "A Defense of Tycho against Ursus." Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press,

1984.

Kepler, Johannes. Astronomia Nova. Translated into English as Johannes Kepler:

New

Astronomy by William H. Donahue. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press,
.

the

1992.

Harmonice Mundi. Translated into English

World by Eric

J.

Aiton, A.

M. Duncan, and J.

as Five

Johannes Kepler Selbstzeugnisse. Edited by Franz

German by
Cannstatt:

Esther

TK

Books ofthe Harmony of

V. Field. Philadelphia: 1993.

Hammer, with commentary by

Hammer;

translated into

Seek.

Stuttgart-Bad

F.

1971. Contains Kepler's "Selbstcharakteristik."

Mysterium Cosmographicum. 1596. Mysterium has been translated into

English as Secret of the Universe by A.
tions are to

1596

M. Duncan. New

edition, via Caspar, et

al,

York: 1981. Page cita-

1937-.

"Rudolphine Tables: Introduction." Translated by

Owen

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William Walderman. Quarterly Journal ofthe Royal Astronomical Society 13 (1972):

60-73.

Bibliography

Somnium. Translated

into English as Kepler's

Madison: University of Wisconsin

The Sleepwalkers:

Koestler, Arthur.
Universe.

New York:

387

Press,

Somnium by Edward Rosen.

1967.

History of Man's Changing Vision of the

Penguin/Arkana, 1959.

The

section about

Tycho Brahe and

Johannes Kepler, "The Watershed," has been printed separately under that

Kuhn, Thomas. The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy

of Western Thought. 1957. Reprint,

in the

New York: MJF Books, 1985.

A Musical History of Science. New

Levenson, Thomas. Measure for Measure:

Simon

& Schuster,

Methuen, Charlotte.

title.

Development

York:

1994.

Kepler's Tubingen, Brookfield

VT: Ashgate

Press,

1968.

Morris, Roderick Conway. "Palladio: Reinventing the Classical Past." International

Herald Tribune (on-line), June 23, 2001.

Nova

Kepleriana. This

a series

is

printed by the Bavarian

Pippard, Brian. Science:

of Kepler documents and research about Kepler

Academy of Sciences.

Physicist's View.

Unpublished paper.

Porter, Neil A. "Kepler." In Physicists in Conflict. Bristol,

Institute

England and Philadelphia:

of Physics Publishing, 1998.

Rosen, Edward. Three Imperial Mathematicians: Kepler Trapped between Tycho Brahe

and

Ursus.

New York:

Abaris Books, 1986.

Schmidt, Justus. Johann Kepler,

sein

Leben in Bildern und eigenen Berichten. Linz:

Rudolf Trauner Verlag, 1970. Contains extensive portions of

charakteristik" (1597)

Material that

and other personal

have used from

this

writings,

under the

Kepler's "Selbsttitle

"Heimat."

source has been translated into English with the

help of Karoline Krenn of the Universitat Salzburg.

Stephenson, Bruce. Kepler's Physical Astronomy.

.

The Music of the Heavens:

Kepler's

New York:

Springer- Verlag, 1987.

Harmonic Astronomy. Princeton,

N.J.:

Princeton University Press, 1994.

Thoren, Victor. The Lord of Uraniborg:

Cambridge University
.

"New Light on Tycho's

Biography of Tycho Brahe. Cambridge:

1990.

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Instruments." Journal for the History ofAstronomy 4

(1973): 25-45.
Voelkel, James R. Johannes Kepler

and the New Astronomy.

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Oxford

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"How Did

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226 (March 1972): 92-106.

First

Two

Laws?"

Scientific American

Art Credits

The images on

the pages noted have been provided by the following sources.

Archiv der Hauptstadt, Prague: endpapers (View of Prague).

Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek: iv and 73.

Rychnov nad Kneznou

Castle: iv

and 329.

Fredriksborgmuseet, Denmark: 26, 85, color plate (Portrait of Frederik

II),

and

color plate (Portrait of Christian IV).

Mary Lea Shane

Archives, Lick Observatory, University of California-Santa Cruz:

63 and 324.
Hessisches Landesmuseum, Kassel: 69.
Landesbildstelle Wiirttemberg, Stuttgart: 94, 127,

Per

Remberg and Johan Runeberg:

and 156.

109, 135, and color plate (floorplan of Hven).

Schiller-Nationalmuseum, Marbach: 154.

Gavno

Owen

Castle, Naestved,

Denmark: 173.

Gingerich: 185.

Reprinted from Victor Thoren, The Lord of Uraniborg, where

it

was

in turn reprinted

from a 1912 Danish book by Vilh Lorenzen: 217.

The Royal

Library,

Copenhagen: 257.

Yale Ferguson: 212, 267, 276, 284, color plate (Chapel of the Magi), and color plate

(Benatky Castle).
Pramonstratenserkloster in Strahov, Prague: 343, color plate (Great Globe), and color
plate (Portrait

ofTycho Brahe

New York Public Library

1598).

(Science, Industry,

and Business

Library): 354.

Art Credits

390

Sternwarte Kremsmiinster: color plate (Portrait of Johannes Kepler, 1610).

Henrik Wachtmeister: color

plate (Knutstorps

Borg

modern and

sixteenth century).

Astronomiae Instaumtae Mechanica, Wandesburgi, 1598: color plate (the great mural
quadrant), color plate (elevation drawing for Uraniborg), color plate (Uraniborg

garden plan), and color plate (Stjerneborg).

Museum

of the Russian Academy of Sciences,

St.

Petersburg: color plate (wedding

medallion portraits of Johannes and Barbara Kepler).

Kunsthistorisches

Museum, Wien:

color plate (portrait of Rudolf II).

Nationalgalerie, Prague: color plate (Prague riots).

Index

/ ^AzV index,

TB

is

usedfor Tycho Brake

and JKfor Johannes Kepler

Adelberg, 126-28

Astrological meteorological almanac,

Alchemical laboratory (TB), 107, 110,

132,

246

51-53,60,61

14,61,89,91,99

Astrology,

Alchemy, 32, 33, 41-42, 172, 202

TB, 28,

Alfonsine Tables, 27, 52, 65, 88, 282,

conjunctions

in,

124/131, 138
Angular distance, 359-60

nova

measuring, 34, 42, 49, 96

Approximating
line,

in,

295, 296

Rudolph and, 273, 290, 295, 329

Astronomers, 136, 186, 187, 301

Apollonius, 317

Astronomy,

ellipse,

317, 318,

297, 298,

298/ 299

320/

13-14, 15-22, 61, 64, 67,

1,

87, 99, 188

academy

for,

70

Archimedes, 313-14, 317

instruments for new, 139

Architectural theory, 70, 83-84, 100, 107,

models

rule,

315/316, 317, 318

vocabulary

Aristarchus of Samos, 66

see also

Aristotelian philosophy/cosmology, 21-22,

47^8,49, 186-87
Aristotle, 15, 22, 64, 97,

301

of,

16-20, 361-62

Brahe, Tycho, astronomy;

Copernican astronomy/system;
Kepler, Johannes, astronomy;

186-87, 295

Armillaries, 120-21, 132, 133-34,

135,

of,

new, 301,307, 318-19

108
Area

273

28

JK, 1,2, 182-83,290

350
Alidade,

Apsidal

31, 54, 62, 98-99, 182, 267,

137/ 138, 144-45, 146

133/

Observations (TB)

Azimuth measurement, 123, 130

Azimuth quadrants, 144^5

Index

392
Baade, Walter, 55
Bar, Nicolaus

Brahe, Steen, 8, 34, 38, 44, 74, 88,

Reimers (Ursus),

5,

147-48,

170, 171, 172, 206-7, 219, 227, 241,

256, 262, 265, 282

Brahe, Tycho, 2, 3, 24-38,

book

by,

221-22, 223, 251, 263

abduction,

by,

banned, 275, 278

astrology, 28, 31, 54, 62,

campaign

to destroy, 223,

229-30,

248
228

263

10

98-99, 182,

267, 273

90, 115, 118-20, 129-32, 140-52,

164, 171-72, 214-15, 218-19, 235,

JK writing

against,

279

275-76, 280, 292, 297

Prague, 235

attitude toward Copernicus,

plagiarism, 148-49, 180, 222, 229, 255,

279

threat of, 258,

149, 170, 171,

259

books:

Barvitius, Johannes, 221, 228, 243, 244,

245, 246, 286

Benatky Castle,

gift copies,

brothers,

245-46, 247,

303

266-67

campaign

to restore

in,

17274

32-33, 39-40, 41-43, 46, 54,

castle-observatory,

84-88, 85/ 100,

105-25

76

Bohemia, 274, 298, 323, 327

Protestant revolution

change

341, 344, 347,

in

temperament, 147, 164

children, 57, 87, 88, 90, 106, 108-9,

150-51, 162, 175,210,233,235

352
Brahe, Axel, 8, 204, 266
Brahe, Beate

Bille, 7, 8, 9, 10,

children: deaths, 87,

30, 38,

44

Brahe, Elisabeth, 272, 277-78, 280-81,

88

children: future of, 138, 149-52,

202

children: marriage for daughter(s),

175-80,280-81

290
Brahe, Georg, 151, 163, 290, 330

children: moving, 204, 228,

Brahe, Inger Oxe, 8, 9-10, 25, 30, 44, 72

common-law marriage

Brahe, Jorgen (uncle ofTB), 8-9, 10,

25, 30,

39-40

Brahe, Magdalene, 60, 88, 90, 175-79,

200,210,235,281,291
10,30,32

37-38

Brahe, Sophie, 58, 150, 172-74, 173/

176, 178,281

1,

68,74,76,87-88,90, 106, 107,

108-9,

Brahe, Knud, 213

Brahe, Otte, 7, 8-9,

229

to Kirsten

Jorgensdatter, 43-45, 46, 57, 58-60,

Brahe, Jorgen (brother of TB), 278

of,

position,

76, 153

40-41, 42, 60, 70, 74, 88

Bille family, 9, 39, 40, 43,

honor and

214-20

career,

remodeling, 246-48, 253

Bille, Steen,

Ursus (Bar), 223,

to destroy

care for family,

to,

220-21, 228, 234

229-30, 255, 279

257, 259, 260-65, 268, 269, 302,

moving instruments

180,218-19,278

10,24-25,38

campaign

3, 4, 33,

252, 255, 273, 275, 276, 278, 284

death

63

birth, childhood, 7-8, 9, 10, 11

books, 97-98, 100-101, 146-47, 148,

proceedings against, 275

at,

8, 9,

46-56, 57-58, 60, 61, 62, 67-68, 87,

232-33, 255,

JK's letter praising, 231,

JK

73/91-92,

astronomy, 14-15, 17, 20, 27-29, 37,

imperial mathematician, 222,

left

14,

109,155,159, 196,303,355

book

TB

200, 202

10,

1 1

1,

162, 208, 209, 210,

217,233
death and funeral, 282-85, 290, 344
decision to stay in Denmark, 76
disappointment

in his science,

170-72,

214,235
education,

false nose, 2,

1-14, 24-29, 30-31, 34

31-32, 221-22

Index

financial situation, 38, 58, 68, 76, 105,

202,217-18,253,272
Great Conjunction of
heirs of, 346,

twin brother, 7, 38, 43

university lectures, 60-62, 67, 68, 98,

140-41

563, 184

349

worldview, 21, 23

Hven, 77-90

writings by, 52

immortality, 282, 284, 303,

320

see also

206-7, 227-28,

6, 129, 162,

Brahe family, 7-10, 25, 30, 39, 43, 74, 76,

269-72, 276, 278-79, 281-82

responsibility for unfinished

work

200, 330
of,

286, 303

JK
left

322

290-91

conflict with,

reputation

178-80

of,

Copenhagen, 209-1

library, 2,

70, 110, 129, 132, 203, 277,

move

Calendars, 61,65, 161-62

JK, 1,2, 182-83,332

330
into exile,

213-14, 215-16, 217,

218,220,228-30

Calvin, John, 71

Calvinism/Calvinists, 71, 103, 159-60,

moving instruments

to Benatky,

266-67

330, 336

Canonry, 33, 40, 100, 105, 164

name, 14-15

Cassini,

163-64

personal characteristics,
physical appearance,

Gian Domenico, 141

Catholicism/Catholics,

65, 71, 95, 160,

8,

181,274,356

72

plans to emigrate, 69-71, 72, 73-76,

forced conversions

225, 227, 248,

to,

268, 344, 353-54

180

225-26

tension with Lutherans,

portrait, 132, 21

posthumous works, 293-94

Celestial equator,

and problem of Mars, 297, 298, 299

problems, 169-80, 200-204, 207-12
publishing manuscripts, 53-55, 58-59,

116,117,117/119,

119/120, 132
Celestial events

influence on

life

on Earth, 98-99, 183,

273

60
relationships,

162-68

Celestial sphere, 15,

275

reputation, 209, 21 1-12, 233,

in

and TB's marriage, 45

JK

scientific heir to,

150-51, 163,

(son), 3, 4,

219,244,245,251,266

231-33, 241-42, 249-51, 252-65,

JK

Observations (TB)

Brahe.Tycho

inheritance, 38, 58

and JK,

393

Rudolfine Tables frontispiece, 348,

350

16,

17/ 120, 130,

184
positions of circles on, 132
rotation of, 48, 141

and scholarly community, 70,

scholarly future of,

14

277

scholarly work, 69, 75,

Chapel of the Magi, 100, 105, 174-75,

178,

76

200

Christian, Prince (King Christian IVj,

seeking royal patronage, 214, 216, 218,

88-89, 151, 174-75, 178,200,

219,228,230,233-34,246
self-image, 135-38,218

201-2,352,353

statue of, 212,

status,

system

4-5, 179, 180, 213, 274-75

of,

plagiarized

180,222,229,279
tomb, 284/

Christian (king), 209,

TB

212/
by

Bar,

148-49,

appeal

marriage,
Christian

area of,

243

214-15, 216-18

234

III,

Circles, 17,

to,

King,

8,

1,

12-13, 45, 105

18,21,37,316,318

313-14

Index

394
Comet(s), 47, 49, 53, 121,326

TB

156-57,262

141,

Compasses, pair

Dancey, Charles de, 53, 62, 70, 75, 76, 87,

Conjunction(s), 27-28
Jupiter

Moon

106

and Saturn, 184, 185/ 294-95

and Mars, 78

Copenhagen, 39, 52, 53, 60, 78, 207-8,

to,

58-60, 203, 204

religious conflict,

71-72
16, 52, 62,

65,66,67-68,98, 140, 141,241,

from Ptolemaic, 279-80

eccentric planetary orbits,

JK

237

acceptance

planetary

of,

movement

planetary orbits
rejection of,

33, 52, 180,

leaving, 217,

in,

government, 151, 218

law codes, 44-45

wars, 29,

Descartes, Rene,

205

Distance, inverse

of,

rule,

Diurnal parallax, 141, 143, 146, 149, 170

192-93, 239

axis

of rotation,

center, 16, 17,

206, 222, 256, 260, 261,

280,308,321,324,326

16,

like planet,

controversy

Copernican revolution, 212, 303

19, 240, 307,

307-8, 320

18/21,27,51,65
regarding movement of, 65

decaying nature

27-28, 65, 66

of,

21, 22

influence of planetary

movements on,

183

Prutenic Tables
5, 15,

14

310,311
behaves

Copernicus,

Earth

Sun-centered, 27, 62-64, 301

see also

310, 31 1/

308, 316

194-95

in,

170

tables,

71-72

30

support

Copernican

214

Dybvad, Jorgen, 98, 99,

57

and Scripture, 196

for,

243

221

position in, 213,

Distance

and, 158-59, 222, 256, 261, 321, 332

literal

20/21,40

Denmark, 8-9,

religious conflict,

Ptolemaic, 140-47

correctness of, 196

difference

Deferent(s), 20,

courtship and marriage customs, 176-77

Copernican astronomy/system,

259,310,348
compromise with

Dante, 22

TB
TB

275

TB move

124/ 131

148, 149, 170

34-35

of,

Cube, 192, 194,240

Cylinder, 123,

TB'sbookon, 146-47,

326-27

Crystallography,

and, 90, 91, 92, 95-99, 100-101,

33, 34, 48, 61,

63/

moving, 63, 65, 66, 67

259-60, 301-2, 363-67

64-68, 140, 143, 144, 158, 186, 189,

orbit, 187, 189,

255,297,307,321,348

"planet-moving force," 324

TB

heir to,

163

rotation of,

Earth orbit, 301-2

mathematical theories

of,

195

planetary distances, 232

Cosmology, 65, 66
Aristotelian, 21, 22,

47-48

1,

225, 274, 344,

262

Cross staff/radius, 28, 29/ 34, 35, 47, 100,

125

Eccentric/eccentricity,

center of, 305-7,

20-21,

20/320/

298/

305/

Mars, 298, 299

see also

Eclipse of

353
Craig, John,

68/

unmoving, 62, 141, 158

Eccentric orbit(s), 297, 298,

Cosmos, 37, 157, 187,238

Counter-Reformation,

48

stability of, 62,

Planetary eccentricities

Moon, 31,52-53, 58

Eclipses, 269,

lunar, 90,
solar,

292

172,235

269, 275

Index

118-19, 120, 120/ 121/ 130, 132

Ecliptic,

Einhorn, Lutherus, 334, 335, 336, 341

316-17, 319-20, 320/

Ellipse,

Gassendi, Pierre, 43, 35 1

Gemperle, Tobias, 132

Geometry,

13, 15, 37, 188,

Mars, 316-20

and musical harmony, 237

Ephemerides, 333, 350-51, 355, 356

Globe, 37-38,

Ephemeris, 14

Gnesio-Lutherans, 208, 209

20/

Epicycle, 20,

192-93, 317

and geometric harmony, 318

318

Elliptical orbit,

395

21, 37, 64, 302, 309,

318

129-31, 132, 203, 21

10,

God, 62, 158, 196, 303, 317, 318-19

creation of universe, 5, 51

Equant, 21, 64, 67, 141, 298, 299, 302

designing universe, 338, 339

Euclid, 15

geometric logic

Eye(s), function of,

292

logic

reasoning
Fabricius, David,

Ferdinand

II,

317

Archduke, 225, 226-27,

Fiefs, 8, 10, 39,

offered

Graz, Styria,

337

355
1,

181-83

JKin, 193, 195, 196, 197, 199, 204-5,

235, 236, 280

151

toTB, 73-76, 78, 83,

86, 105,

JK

201,202, 217

Book

Frederick,

King (Frederick

Fair,

260

in,

Protestants expelled from, 226,

Flemlose, Peter Jacobsen, 100

Frankfurt

267-70

required to leave,

Kepler family

113
transfer of,

192-93

187, 188, 191, 241,

of,

Gravity, 310,

268, 344, 347, 352-53

of,

and harmony of creation, 237-38

religious situation in,

70, 352
II), 9,

threat to
13, 30,

39-40, 42, 52-53, 77-78, 132, 148,

JK

in,

274

225-27

248-49

Great Conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn,

184,

185/187, 189-90

152, 163

TB

finding experts

for,

68-69, 70, 72,

86

TB

Hainzel, Paul, 35-37, 38

relations with,

99-100, 162, 174,

214
TB's report on comet
death

of,

marriage,
offered

and

to,

98-99

Half-sextant,

42

Hapsburg

family, 181,

Harmonic

law, 339,

Harmonic

ratios, 84,

45-46

Harmonic

theory,

fiefs

to

TB, 73-76, 79, 82

71-72

religious conflict,

support for scientific research, 105

Freewill, 61-62, 89, 99,
Christian,

273

323

340/

151

support for TB's work, 201, 202

Friis,

Hagecius, Thaddeus, 170, 171, 219, 228

85

238-41, 300

Harmony, 37, 159, 188, 227, 300, 317,

320, 337-41
Heavenly movement, 15-16, 17, 37, 67,

280
Ptolemy's model

of,

21

Heliocentric longitudes, 306-7, 318

204

Frobenius, Georg Ludwig, 165-68, 169,

Hemmingsen,

Niels, 13, 61, 62, 71, 72,

Herrevad Abbey, 40-42, 46, 49, 53, 55,

170

57,58,60,69, 114, 115, 125, 172

Galileo, 5, 61, 62, 70, 141,

236, 300,

Hoffmann, Johann

63

discovery of planets,

17,209

Hexagon, 189, 190

Hipparchus, 15,56,61, 163,348

324/

clash with pope,

telescope,

205-6, 215,

323-26

Friedrich, 1-2, 3, 4,

250,261,263,264,271,275,290,
321

89

Index

396
Holy Roman Emperor,

4, 95,

Holy Roman Empire, 70, 71,

250

58-60, 68, 74, 76, 87-88, 90, 106,

95, 219,

265, 273, 344

Horizon, 52, 116-17, 118/ 119, 119/

Horoscopes, 14, 61

status,

byTB,28, 88-89, 101

201,210,218,219,279,284,319
Brahe children could not

inherit,

268,280-81,287,294,337

202-3

bad health and depression, 288-89, 296,

174

322, 327

129-32, 253, 266

at,

new

charter

for,

map

of,

294-95
moons of, 323-24, 326
Kepler, Barbara Miiller, 197-99, 224, 260,

center point, 77-78, 82

at,

189,240

conjunction with Saturn, 27, 184, 185/

50

TBleft, 204, 211

instruments

150,277

Jupiter, 88,

byJK, 155,225,265,290,353
Hven, 76, 77-90, 100, 105-15, 146, 165,

Christian

235, 245, 253-54

and death of TB, 290

120, 130

changes,

107, 108-9, 110, 111, 150,204,208,

210, 217, 222, 228-29, 230, 233,

113-14

death

of,

328-29

inheritance, 248,

280

271,272
married JK, 204-5
leftGraz, 270,

8 If

peasants, 78-79, 80, 81-83, 86, 89-90,

99, 113-14, 162, 202, 208-9, 211,

Kepler, Christoph, 94-95, 333, 334, 335,

341-42, 343, 354-55

217
visitors to, 112,

138

Kepler, Heinrich (brother of JK), 94,

225

Kepler, Heinrich (father of JK), 93, 95,

Inertia,

302, 311,326

101-2, 225

224-25

Instruments, 69, 115-16

Kepler, Heinrich (son of JK),

Instruments (TB), 28, 34-37, 42, 121-25,

Kepler, Johannes, 1-6, 7, 14, 33, 46, 55, 56,

129-33, 134, 138-39, 140, 143, 147,

171,

at

174,201,241,244,253,290,

allowed to return to Graz, 226-27

Benatky, 246

astronomy, 17, 20, 156-59, 183-97,

observatory,

responsibility for,

209

more

book

precise

and powerful, 144

moving

to Benatky,

moving

to

moving

to Prague,

26667

Copenhagen, 204

for,

Uraniborg,

276-77, 278

337,339-41,355-56
andTB, 6, 71, 100, 163,206-7,
227-28, 229-30, 231-33, 235-36,
276, 278-79

209, 21

on TB, 278

1 1

Integral calculus, 313,

332

career,

311/
square law of light, 292-93

Inverse square law, 310,

Inverse

TB, 222-24

241-42, 249-51, 252-65, 269-72,

291

at Stjerneborg,

by, sent to

books, 192-96, 205-6, 227, 291-93,

309, 318-19, 321, 322, 325, 332-33,

moving, 210, 228

payment

227, 236-42, 279-82, 290-303,

304-20, 331-33, 337-41, 345-51

286

metal, 58

at

279-80

298, 330

Copenhagen

JK

84, 144, 156, 171, 200, 212,

agreement with Tengnagel, 321

327-33, 352-55, 356

children, 225, 236, 287, 296, 297, 322,

327, 330, 335-36, 337, 344, 345,

347, 354-55

Jesensky, Jan, 263, 264, 344,

352

Jorgensdatter, Kirsten, 43-45, 46, 57,

children: deaths, 236, 327, 336, 337,

345, 355

Index

contractual arrangement with

TB,

260-65,269-71,280
death

of,

Knieper, Hans, 132

Knutstorp, 38, 44, 58-60, 74, 75, 76, 77,

356-57

211,217

and death of TB, 282-85

mathematician,

district

397

1,

Knutstorps Borg

(castle), 7, 10,

29-30, 43,

86

182-83, 194,

226, 264, 265

early

life,

91-95, 101-2, 126-27

Lange, Erik, 147, 148, 172-74, 202, 229,

education, 102-4, 126, 128-29, 153-56

198-99, 271-72,

financial situation,

280, 288, 352-53

and

Galileo,

274,281
Laubenwolf, George, 86, 108
Liddell,

324-26

Light,

imperial mathematician, 286, 287,

Duncan, 279

310

inverse square law of,

289-90, 291, 295, 321, 323, 328,

Light rays, 269, 292

329, 344

Linz,

letter praising

Ursus, 231, 232-33, 255,

263
library,

292-93

328-29, 330, 332, 335, 336, 342, 356

religious conflict in, 344,

347

Logarithms, 346

Longomontanus, 162-63, 179, 203, 208,

344

marriage arrangements, 197-99

209, 223, 228, 230, 235, 254,

marriage to B. Miiller, 204-5, 224-25,

261,262,350

288, 289
marriage to

and JK contract, 261

S.

Reuttinger, 330-31, 333,

and mother's witchcraft

trial,

341-43

personal characteristics, 104, 155, 259,

301

provincial mathematician,

and problem of Mars, 298, 299

theory,

work on Mars

observations,

eclipses, 90,

258

256-58

172,235

Lunar theory (TB), 235, 258

328

questions asked by, 186, 187, 193,

302-3, 308

Luther, Martin, 12, 13, 14, 61, 103, 227,

230
Lutheranism/Lutherans, 11-12, 13-14, 33,

required to leave Graz,

267-70

responsibility for completion of unfin-

status,

TB, 276

work on lunar
Lunar

329/

problem of Mars, 298-300

ished

left

moving instruments, 266

335-36, 342, 344, 355

portrait,

257/

work of TB, 286, 303

287-88, 321-22, 327-28, 336

71,95, 102, 129,248,328,344

action against,

226

division in, 160, 108, 109

tension with Catholics,

225-26

teaching in Graz, 181-83

threat to, in Graz,

248-49

Magdeburg, 229, 230, 253, 266, 267

Magnetic hypothesis, 318

worldview, 21, 23
Kepler, Katharina, 5, 93-94, 102, 154

accused of witchcraft,

5,

33336,

341-43,355
334, 335, 342, 354-55

212,304-6

Kepler, Susanna Reuttinger, 331, 333, 335,

354/

Kepler family, 92, 93, 265, 271, 296, 347

294-96

Moon, 78

distance from Earth, 140

oppositions, 143, 144-45, 172, 179,

Kepler, Sebald, 92, 95, 195

Kepler's Star,

Mars, 27, 88, 240, 259, 279

conjunction with

Kepler, Margarethe (later Binder), 94, 333,

336, 342, 344, 354-55,

Magnetism, 311

orbit,

148-49, 187, 189, 299-300, 302,

316-20
orbit:

JK work

305-7

on, 294, 296-97, 300,

Index

398
Mars (continued)

179,
see also

Napier, John,

141-46, 170-71, 172,

parallax, 140,

180,212,214,219,305

harmonic

Mars observations; "Problem of

Mars"

ratios in, 84,

Sir Isaac, 5,

North

celestial pole,

North

Pole, 116, 117,

on, 255, 256-58,

theory, 3 1 9-20

119

141,294-96

book about, 54-55

parallax shift,

157/ 158, 183,

96

positions of, 121

199,225,227,231,

193, 195, 197,

232, 236, 238, 239, 240, 241, 254,

Observation, and theory, 308

258, 260, 278-79, 326

Observations (TB),

appeals to, 249, 270,

JK

115,

TB

345, 363-67

and mathematical

116, 130

Nova, 46-49, 51, 53, 55-56, 57, 66, 70,

259-60, 294, 299-300, 303, 304-7,

Mastlin, Michael, 156-57,

271,272

optics problem,

300, 307
astronomical tables based on, 282

269

comet, 90, 100-101

Mathematical harmonies, 337

64, 237,

5, 13,

302

Copernican revolution, 212

in

from Hven, 78, 88-89

of Copernicus, 64-65, 67
different

from physics, 186-87, 195

JK

Mathematical/geometric
observations and,

logic,

299-300

319-20
12, 13, 14, 22, 61,

65, 233

282, 304, 308, 339

records of, 116
see also

Mars observations

Odometer, 245

Mercury, 78, 89, 279, 351

Opposition, 18

187

Mars, 143, 144-45, 172, 179, 212,

Milky Way, 56

Moon,

241-42, 252, 255, 256,

JK took charge of, 282, 286, 290, 330

JK use of/work on, 249, 255, 256-58,

Matthias (emperor), 323, 327, 328, 329-30

Melanchthon, Philipp,

access to,

258, 260, 278-79, 282

JK, 156, 161, 186, 193,257,325

orbit, 141,

28-29, 33-34,

170-71, 179, 180, 193, 218-19, 232,

and JK's book, 206

Mathematics,

4, 5,

37, 58, 52, 96-97, 139, 144-46,

336

visited,

17, 51, 55, 62, 89, 269, 292,

304-6

310

269,291-93,325

conjunction with Mars, 78

Optics,

motion

Osiander, Andreas, 65, 321

of,

21,

orbit, 119, 120,

16

141,279

Oval,

316-17

parallax shift,

48

Ovid, 52,218

and

326

Oxe, Peder,

tides,

61,

Oxe

331
of,

family,

9-10, 13, 25, 39, 76

336, 355

Mural quadrant, 110, 123, 131-32, 134,

138,

9, 25, 32, 33, 35, 54, 70, 72,

213

Muller, Regina, 205, 270, 272, 287, 322,

death

64, 159, 188

Nicholas of Cusa, Cardinal, 158

JK surrendered
JK use of/work

293

in,

309

JKand, 258, 259-60, 291,316

to Tengnagel,

85

harmony

pattern, logic,

Newton,

Mars observations, 255, 256-58, 319-20

346

Nature

143-44,211

Palladio, Andrea, 70,

Parallax shift, 48,

84

49

Music, 84, 188, 236-37, 238, 337-38

comet, 96-97

Musical intervals, 337-38, 339

Mars, 140, 141-46, 170-71, 172, 179,

Musical

ratios, 85,

237, 337-38

180,212,214,219,305

Index

Parsberg,

Manderup, 31-32, 34

Peace of Augsburg,

Planetary positions, 27, 350

71,95,181,225

Pedersen, Rasmus, 164-65, 169, 170, 174

Planetary theory, 15, 260

Planets, 55, 159, 191

TB work on,

Pentagon, 189, 190

190-92,222

Perfect solids,

399

302

Perihelion, 297, 299,

Philippists, 14, 27, 37,

61-62, 154-55,

193-94, 232, 237, 239, 310, 312-13,

337, 339

Physical reasons/explanations, 5, 187, 195,

205,260,300,310,312,317
237

for eccentricities,
for,

search

Plato,

309

Pinhole images, 123, 269

192/222
related to planetary chord,

322

Plague, 247, 248, 251, 267,

Planck, Johannes, 332, 333, 344,

Pluto,

347

Planet-moving force

Polygons,

324

239, 300, 323, 339

TB

Planetary chord, 238,

239/ 240

Planetary eccentricities, 237, 239,

240/

Polyhedrons, 190-91, 194, 240, 338,

309-10

Prague, 2, 3, 46, 250-51, 264, 266, 267,

Planetary motion/movement, 15, 21, 22,

67,68/116, 119-20,
cause of, 64, 308-9
on Earth,

of,

for,

121, 194-95

of,

297-98, 316, 318, 319/320

309, 345-46

mathematical/geometrical, 312-16, 318

models demonstrating, 34
physical explanation of, 300, 308-9,

310,312,317-318
prediction

second law

of,
of,

63

315/316, 320

third law of, 241,

270, 323, 352

battles in,

TB

339-iO, 340/

Planetary orbits, 119-20, 141, 157, 158,

195,311-12,318,326,333,337
distances between, 189, 190, 191,

192-93,192/239
using Platonic solids, 222
Planetary periods, 193-94, 237-38, 239

327

228, 229, 230, 234, 235,

in,

243-48, 249, 275

83

31

harmonic theory, 238-39

laws

231,255
237-38

339

Planetary models, 34, 148-49,

explanations

on,

failures of,

241,255,339

in

190,338-39

Polyhedral theory, 192/ 193, 205, 207,

311-12,318

law

239-40

119-20

Pole Star, 241

Sun, 194, 195, 259-60, 300, 309-10,

first

297-98, 310, 312

159,236

Platonic/Pythagorean solids, 190-92, 191/

mathematics different from, 18687, 195

effects

339

18/21, 239, 240, 240/

variation in speed of,

280, 308-9, 317-18

Physics, 37, 64,

Earth,

movement, 18-19

retrograde

speeds, 313, 337,

spheres, 17, 18,

302

for,

323-26

from Sun, 66, 158, 159, 187,

distances

188,208,209

need

132

discovery of new,

JK

271, 272, 284, 286-90, 328-29

in,

Pratensis, Johannes, 53, 54, 57, 70, 71, 74,

76, 77, 162

death

of,

Precision,

87

TB standard of,

28, 35, 42,

115-16, 121, 122,203,319

"Problem of Mars," 297, 298-300, 316-17

Protestantism/Protestants, 181, 225, 246,

352,353,356
227

action against,

conflict with Catholics,

division in, 71,

225-26

103-4

expelled from Graz, 226,

revolution in Bohemia,

TB

adjustments

to,

274

344

58

Prutenic Tables, 27, 52, 62, 65, 88, 156,

350

Index

400
Ptolemaic astronomy, 15, 17, 20, 52, 62,

JKand,

64,65, 157,305,306
breakaway from, 255

Religious conflict, 71-72, 102

20/21,302

devices of,

in Graz, 181,

67-68, 158,301

Rigsraad, 9, 25, 152, 165, 167, 201, 202,

compromise with Copernican, 140-47

planetary

225-27, 248-49

Retrograde movement, 18-19, 19/

Ptolemaic model/system, 28, 63, 66,

difference

102, 103-4, 128-29, 268, 289,

330

from Copernican, 279-80

movement

in,

214
Roskilde Cathedral, 33, 100, 105, 164,

174-75, 178, 200

194-95, 309

Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus),

15, 17,

Rostock, 37, 32-34, 211,213, 214-15

21, 22, 27, 34, 61, 64, 66, 140, 144,

Rothmann, Christoph, 170, 180

149, 158, 186, 304, 307, 309, 337,

Rudolfine Tables, 282, 286, 291, 293, 294,

348

TB

331,332,333,336,337,345-47

heir to, 163

Rudolfine Tables, 348-51,

Earth-centered model, 27
eccentric planetary orbits,

349/ 352, 353,

356

237

frontispiece,

348-50, 349/ 350/

Rudolph, Emperor (Rudolph of

equant, 299

scheme of cosmos, 106

Hapsburg),

variation in speed of planets, 297,

298

1, 2, 5, 6,

"Puffy-cheeked" orbit, 318

abdication,

Pythagoreans, 84, 158, 159

astrology, 273, 290, 295,

death

Quadrans maximus

(great quadrant),

35-37, 36/
Quadrans mediocris
121, 122,

copy

of,

329

TB

37

St. Ibb's

Rantzau, Heinrich, 167, 215-16, 218, 234

8, 9,

dedicated book

1,

60, 160

Refraction, 144, 146, 160, 171-72,

218-19

Church, 79, 81, 132, 150, 204,

208, 209

175-80, 203, 281

Sascerides, Gellius,

291-92

Regensburg, 70, 336, 342, 352, 356, 357

Reinbold, Ursula, 333-34, 335, 341, 342,

343

to,

Catholicism, 274

Mural quadrant

Reformation,

290

support forTB, 243, 244-48, 251

138-39

135, 139

Petrus,

astrological advice to,

patronage forTB, 233-34, 235, 272,

revolving wood, 135,

Ramus,

287

and JK, 286, 289, 321,322

322-23

275

procedure for using, 121-22

steel,

327

mental collapse, 273-74, 275, 276, 277,

35-37, 36/

see also

of,

keep word, 247, 253, 261,

287, 322

JK

and gold, 58, 59/

329

329

interest in learning, 282,

azimuth, 144-45
brass

320

end of reign

orichalcicus azimuthalis,

Quadrant(s), 90, 125, 130, 131, 210

great,

of,

failure to

123/125, 131

70, 72, 206,

222, 228, 230, 245, 250, 267, 281

Saturn, 89, 90,

240

conjunctions with Jupiter, 27, 184, 185/

294-95
orbit,

189

Reinhold, Erasmus, 27, 65

Scavenius, Nicolaus, 13, 14

Religion

Schultz, Bartholomew, 28, 35, 112

TB, 60-61

Science, 5, 41, 49,

300-303, 320

Index
method, 188, 279-80

Scientific

Sextant, 42, 49,

171-72

Solar system, 188, 237-38,

339

dimensions
of,

304
310-11

rotation of,

and seasons, 61

Solar refraction table, 146,

model

role of,

50/58, 100, 135, 145, 146

275

Solar eclipse,

401

source of all change and motion, 159

"true," 251, 259,

241

of,

302

Sun-centered astronomy, 27, 62, 63, 66

195-96

Supernovae, 55-56, 296

Sophie, Queen, 42, 46, 72, 79, 89,

12,

Symmetry, 84, 100, 134, 135, 159, 300, 317

150, 152

South

celestial pole,

South

Pole, 116, 117,

116, 130

Telescope, 15, 17, 21, 48, 141, 290, 293,

323, 324

119

JK

Square, 189, 190

Star catalogs, 97, 203, 219,

234

121-22

catalog of,

Elisabeth Brahe's marriage to, 272, 281

66

conflict with

life,

do not determine human

61-62

Steenwinkel,

100, 107, 110,

138, 144-45, 149,

site,

162,203

212

Triangle, 189-90, 192,

Triangulation, 307,

225, 226, 264-65, 270,

274
158

193-94,232,237,239,310,
194, 195,

180,207,231,241,276,

correctness of,
of,

21, 116

plagiarized,

14849

229, 279

18

partial eclipse,

269

255
280

148^9,

planetary motion

Sun orbiting

143

189

279

justification of,

of,

parallax,

of,

JK and, 241,281

orbit, 141,

orbiting Earth,

13-14, 211

and Copernican system, 310

inventor

259-60, 300, 309-10, 311-12, 318

280,299,308,321,348
breaking code

312-13,337,339
force in, moving planets,
motion

77, 78, 87, 89,

(village),

Tychonic system, 62, 140-41, 142/ 143,

147, 170,

distance of planets from, 66, 158, 159,

187,

295

249, 270

Tuna

163

Sun, 17, 55,62,88,97, 187,292

center, 65,

316

Tubingen, 153, 154, 181, 182, 195-96,

instruments, 204, 209, 210, 211, 298

Styria, 2, 181,

124/ 125

313-14, 315/

Trigonometry, 15
Trigons,

bid for immortality, 140

of,

351

Transversal points, 28, 35,

Stjerneborg (Star Castle), 134-36, 135/

symbolism

254

Theology, 156, 159-60

Transits,

153-54, 154/155, 156

archaeological

works,

67

lack of, 66, 241

Stift,

TB

Thirty Years War, 34 1 347

132, 162, 178

Stellar parallax,

over

and Mars observations, 316, 317

status,

Hans von,

JK

290-91

on weather, 6

influence but

209, 220, 230, 234,

completed TB's work, 293-94

cataloging, 131

effect

3, 4,

agreement with JK, 321

17,55,97, 116, 158

distance of,

325

of,

251,262

Star positions, 116, 120, 131

Stars,

defense

Tengnagel, Franz,

in,

in,

171, 180, 222,

309-10

309-10

validation of, 258, 261

Index

402
Tychonides, 136, 149

Type

and University of Copenhagen, 207-8

supernova, 55-56, 296

Ulrich of Mecklenburg, Duke, 11,215

Uniform motion,

37

18, 21,

219

visitors to,

water system, 108,

10-1

1,

246

Ursus

Universe, 51,63, 67, 159

see Bar,

Nicolaus Reimers (Ursus)

center of, 158

design

84

of,

harmony

of,

Vedel, Anders Sorensen, 13, 25-26,

188

physical reasons in, 187

Venice, 42, 70, 84, 88

66

Venus, 47, 240, 279

structure of, 195

orbit, 140, 187,

Sun-centered, 195, 196

phases

size of,

26/

28,29,30, 106, 151

University of Copenhagen, 12-13, 25, 26,

40,49,71, 154, 163, 180

transit,

189

326

of,

351

Vicarious Model/Vicarious Hypothesis,

and Uraniborg, 208

307,316,318
26-27

University of Leipzig, 25,

Vikings, 45, 79, 80

University of Tubingen, 103, 157,227,

271,341,342-43

Von Hohenburg, Hans Georg Herwart,

226, 227, 236, 238, 240, 255

JKat, 129, 160-61, 162, 197

JK appeal to, 249

Von Wackenfels, Wackher,

and JK book, 196

323, 326-27

Uraniborg, 85/87, 91, 100, 114, 116,

130, 131, 132, 135, 144-45, 147,

Wallenstein, Albrecht, 353,

149, 162-63, 165, 174, 177,201,

Wandsburg

213,214,218,244,253,355
castle/observatory, 112,
closing, 203,

Weil der Stadt, 91, 92, 93, 94/ 95, 96,

12, 21

166

101, 154

Wensosil, Jens Jenson, 209, 210

destroyed/restored,

fountain,

at,

159

floor plan,

211-12

Wilhelm

108-13, 109/

and future of TB's children, 149-52

instrument shop,

of,

73, 145, 148, 162,

Worldview, 15-16,21-23,159
Ptolemaic, 63

253, 327-28

15-16, 121, 125, 129

at,

150

Wurttemberg, duke

of,

161, 196-97, 161,

271,341,342

163

permanent endowment, 201-2

Zenith, 117, 130

Sophie Brahe

Zodiac, 120,

at,

169-70

Wurttemberg, 95, 102, 129, 195, 249,

236-37,

Kirsten mistress of household

at,

Landgrave of Hesse, 69-70,

Wittenberg, 30-31, 65, 71, 230

garden, 112-13,211

harmony in design
338-39

IV,

69/72,

108,211

Logomontanus

and, 5

prediction of, 51-52, 61

contracts for service

of,

Weather

Moon

132

211

communication system,

design

356

216-17, 217/218,

219, 221, 228, 229, 230, 231, 234

140

auxiliary observatory, 134-36,

Castle,

172, 173

121/184,295

& Kepler

gave way t6 modern, Tycho

original dual Biography

is

both

a highly

and a masterful recreation of

how science advances. From Tycho s fabulous

Uraniborg

Observatory on an island off the Danish coast to the

court of the Holy

Roman

Emperor, Rudolph

the religious conflict of the Thirty Years'

rocked

all

II;

from

War

that

of Europe to Kepler's extraordinary leaps of

understanding, Ferguson recounts a fascinating interplay of science and religion, politics and personality.

Her insights

recolor the established characters of Tycho

and Kepler, and her book opens

a rich

window onto

our place in the universe.

first

became

cosmology

interested in mathematics, physics,

as a child

and

growing up in Texas. After grad-

uating from the Juilliard School and enjoying a career

as a professional

musician, she decided to devote her-

self to the writing

of science. She

Measuring the Universe, The Fire

Prisons

is

the author of

in the Equations,

of Light, and Stephen Hawking: Quest for a

Theory ofEverything.

Jacket design: Krystyna Skalski

Jacket art: Tycho Brahe surrounded by his instruments

and assistants

in his castle, Uraniborg, in

engraving, early seventeenth century.

Walker

Denmark. Colored

The Granger

& Company

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PRINTFO

IN

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Praise for Kitty Ferguson's

MEASURING THE UNIVERSE

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the universe as

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mankind

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to

measure

and answer universal questions."

Louis Post-Dispatch

St.

offers] lucid

accounts of the reasoning behind

important leaps of insight, but

"[Ferguson]

it's

the

little details

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is

as interested in

the quirky intellectual temperaments of astronomy's pioneers

as in their discoveries.

She manages

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Mercury News

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