Tycho Brahe

(Newser) - Tycho Brahe was an unusual man. The Danish astronomer from the late 1500s who laid the foundation for modern astronomy was extremely wealthy, had a pet moose, and according to a new analysis of his hair and bones, was also—literally—full of gold, reports the University of South Denmark...

(Newser) - Danish scientists seeking to solve a 400-year-old mystery have exhumed one of the country's most celebrated astronomers for the second time. Tycho Brahe—who cataloged more than 1,000 new stars and whose observations laid the foundations for modern astronomy—died in 1601, and some suspect he was murdered, the...

(Newser) - Seminal Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe died in 1601 of mercury poisoning, a demise that funeral orators called "unexpected" and modern scholars are calling murder, Der Spiegel reports. As they plan to exhume Brahe's body, one specialist says he has uncovered the killer's diary: "It contains the details of...