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Tycho Brahe is considered one of the founders of modern astronomy. He began his studies in Astronomy in 1560 and in 1572, his observations of the supernova in Cassiopeia landed him respect in the field. Tycho was a proponent of observation and accuracy in observation and he became much sought after in Europe. In 1574, in order to keep him in Denmark, he was given the Island of Hven by King Frederick and commissioned to build an observatory there which was completed in 1576.
Tycho’s observations of the heavenly bodies were the most accurate of the pre-telescopic astronomers and his laws of planetary motion inadvertently helped to propagate the heliocentric theory of the solar system suggested by Copernicus. Tycho himself was not a supporter of Copernicus in his model of the solar system but he did concede that the model was mathematically superior to any that had come before. He set about to combine the mathematical superiority of Copernicus with a Earth-centered model.
Despite the persuasions of Kepler to accept a heliocentric model, Tycho refused on logical mathematically-based grounds until his death, however his geocentric model differed from others in that the orbit of the Sun around the Earth crossed over the orbit of Mars. In later years, observational analysis forced him to revise this model.
Although Tycho Brahe’s solar system was later discredited he is yet applauded for both his method and his invention of astronomical
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instruments, which revolutionized the study. Among his instrumentation was an array of quadrants used primarily to measure altitude, the great azimuth semicircle for measuring azimuths, the parallactic instrument for zenith distances, the armillary spheres for pinpointing coordinates, and the astronomical sextant to measure distances between stars. The genius of these instruments helped to further the scientific age throughout Europe.
