Tycho Brahe, one of the greatest astronomers of all time, was a colorful character. In my recent article I tried to give a few highlights of his life - but didn't mention the pet elk, for example - including the strange story of his death. You can read about
Tycho Brahe here.
But I thought I would share with you some of the speculation - more lurid than substantiated - about his death. It certainly made my jaw drop as I plowed through it!
(1) Kepler poisoned Tycho to get his observational data.
(2) Tycho was a Protestant and the Catholic hierarchy in Prague had him poisoned because of his influence with the emperor.
(3) Tycho was a Dane and the Czech nobility had him poisoned because of his influence with emperor.
(4) Um. The Jesuits, the Inquisition and Tycho's rival Nicolai Reymers (Ursus) were involved. And there was a trap - King Frederick got poisoned too - so Tycho would go to Prague and get murdered. I couldn't quite work that one out.
But my favorite one was the "oedipal" one. King Christian II sent a contract killer to poison him because he thought Tycho had had an affair with his mother and therefore was his father.
