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Tycho and Kepler: The Unlikely Partnership That Forever Changed Our Understanding of the Heavens
On his deathbed in 1601, the Danish nobleman and greatest naked-eye astronomer, Tycho Brahe, begged his young colleague, Johannes Kepler, "Let me not seem to have lived in vain." For more than thirty years-- mostly in his native Denmark and then in Prague under the patronage of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II-- Tycho had meticulously observed the movements of the planets and the positions of the stars. From these observations he developed his Tychonic system of the universe-- a highly original, if incorrect, scheme that attempted to reconcile the ancient belief that the Earth stood still with Nicolaus Copernicus's revolutionary rearrangement of the solar system some fifty years earlier. Tycho knew that Kepler, the brilliant young mathematician he had engaged to interpret his findings, believed in Copernicus's arrangement, in which all the planets circled the Sun; and he was afraid his system-- the product of a lifetime of effort to explain how the universe worked-- would be abandoned. In point of fact, it was. From his study of Tycho's observations came Kepler's stunning three Laws of Planetary Motion-- ever since the cornerstone of cosmology and our understanding of the heavens. Yet, as Kitty Ferguson reveals, neither of these giant figures would have his reputation today without the other. The story of how their lives and talents were fatefully intertwined is one of the more memorable sagas in the long history of science. Set in a singularly turbulent and colorful era in European history, at the turning point when medieval gave way to modern, Tycho & Kepler is both a highly original dual biography 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 II; from the religious conflict of the Thirty Years' War that rocked all 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.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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About the author
Kitty Ferguson
23 books29 followersKitty Ferguson, a former professional musician with a life long interest in science, is an independent scholar and lecturer who lives in Cambridge, England, and South Carolina.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
February 20, 2025
Come riporta il titolo del libro è descritta la vita di Tycho Brahe e Johannes Kepler. Due astronomi che ai loro tempi nel campo del cielo stellato e della matematica ebbero una certa familiarità: entrando nelle loro vite sono descritte le battaglie con la religione, i cattolici; i protestanti, i calvinisti e la scienza stessa.
Quanto al nobile danese Tycho Brahe nella prima parte ci sono molte informazioni come la sua infanzia, la storia della sua vita, delle sue scelte da astrologo e astronomo. Mentre di Giovanni Keplero inevitabilmente è ricordato per il breve libro fantascientifico "Somnium", e quanto la biografia sono stati riportati un quanto d’informazioni di origine accademica.
Si tratta di un volume che trae il lettore a ricordare le Supernova de tipo II e coloro che le scoprirono negli ultimi quattro secoli. Interessante per i lettori che amano osservare stelle e costellazioni.
L’autrice Kitty Ferguson nel scrivere il libro fu abile rendendolo grato al rinnovamento della tradizione: da questo punto di vista dell'autrice sarebbe stato facile vedere la relazione simbiotica fra Tycho e Keplero come una questione di sorte. Ma nessuno avrebbe potuto prevedere i rapporti difficili nati fra matematica e scienza. Come nemmeno la collaborazione tribolata in quei due anni di conoscenza tra due grandi scienziati.
[...] In questo libro Ferguson ha un buon compromesso tra biografia e scienza, per esempio: benché Tycho fu pretesa di tragedia, viene descritto come l’uomo del Rinascimento che dimostrò l'importanza dei limiti del confine sociale al quale attingeva il sedicesimo secolo, diventando poi l'uomo che ha infranto la convenzione e ha trasformato l’enorme ricchezza ereditaria sua verso una promozione della conoscenza umana. D’altro canto Keplero è descritto come una persona che godette di un'enorme libertà intellettuale e religiosa per tutta la vita, ed era sempre in grado di dire e scrivere ciò che voleva far stampare.
L’autrice è consapevole di descrivere due persone totalmente differenti: mentre il nobile Brahe si massaggiò le spalle insieme ai re, Keplero era il figlio di un genitore alcolizzato, apparteneva a una classe media inferiore ed è stato perseguitato a vita per la propria libertà di credenza religiosa, etc.
Tuttavia insieme alla nascita della scienza moderna le storie di Brahe e Keplero mostrano la nascita dei problemi e dei vizi della scienza: sfiducia; squalifica tra scienziati; plagio; drammi per ottenere finanziamenti e problemi sul rendere le cose pubbliche. Le vite di questi due scienziati non potevano essere più diverse: cosa che ha dimostrato che la scienza non è posseduta da nessuno. In base alle circostanze Ferguson interpreta a l’astronomo e astrologo Tycho come una persona cattiva o pazza, d’altro canto c’era Keplero che stava scrivendo cose contro il nemico intellettuale danese. L’autrice rimanendo imparziale fra i due s’interpone come un giudice di pace: al fine che funzionasse quella travagliata collaborazione dei due scienziati, senza che si trattasse di plagio ha attribuito a Tycho il movente di avere riconosciuto in Keplero la sua eredità.
Quanto al nobile danese Tycho Brahe nella prima parte ci sono molte informazioni come la sua infanzia, la storia della sua vita, delle sue scelte da astrologo e astronomo. Mentre di Giovanni Keplero inevitabilmente è ricordato per il breve libro fantascientifico "Somnium", e quanto la biografia sono stati riportati un quanto d’informazioni di origine accademica.
Si tratta di un volume che trae il lettore a ricordare le Supernova de tipo II e coloro che le scoprirono negli ultimi quattro secoli. Interessante per i lettori che amano osservare stelle e costellazioni.
L’autrice Kitty Ferguson nel scrivere il libro fu abile rendendolo grato al rinnovamento della tradizione: da questo punto di vista dell'autrice sarebbe stato facile vedere la relazione simbiotica fra Tycho e Keplero come una questione di sorte. Ma nessuno avrebbe potuto prevedere i rapporti difficili nati fra matematica e scienza. Come nemmeno la collaborazione tribolata in quei due anni di conoscenza tra due grandi scienziati.
[...] In questo libro Ferguson ha un buon compromesso tra biografia e scienza, per esempio: benché Tycho fu pretesa di tragedia, viene descritto come l’uomo del Rinascimento che dimostrò l'importanza dei limiti del confine sociale al quale attingeva il sedicesimo secolo, diventando poi l'uomo che ha infranto la convenzione e ha trasformato l’enorme ricchezza ereditaria sua verso una promozione della conoscenza umana. D’altro canto Keplero è descritto come una persona che godette di un'enorme libertà intellettuale e religiosa per tutta la vita, ed era sempre in grado di dire e scrivere ciò che voleva far stampare.
L’autrice è consapevole di descrivere due persone totalmente differenti: mentre il nobile Brahe si massaggiò le spalle insieme ai re, Keplero era il figlio di un genitore alcolizzato, apparteneva a una classe media inferiore ed è stato perseguitato a vita per la propria libertà di credenza religiosa, etc.
Tuttavia insieme alla nascita della scienza moderna le storie di Brahe e Keplero mostrano la nascita dei problemi e dei vizi della scienza: sfiducia; squalifica tra scienziati; plagio; drammi per ottenere finanziamenti e problemi sul rendere le cose pubbliche. Le vite di questi due scienziati non potevano essere più diverse: cosa che ha dimostrato che la scienza non è posseduta da nessuno. In base alle circostanze Ferguson interpreta a l’astronomo e astrologo Tycho come una persona cattiva o pazza, d’altro canto c’era Keplero che stava scrivendo cose contro il nemico intellettuale danese. L’autrice rimanendo imparziale fra i due s’interpone come un giudice di pace: al fine che funzionasse quella travagliata collaborazione dei due scienziati, senza che si trattasse di plagio ha attribuito a Tycho il movente di avere riconosciuto in Keplero la sua eredità.
August 21, 2018
A dual biography to remind me how much I love observing stars and constellations. Tycho and Kepler were astronomers that I was reasonably familiar with, but to get into their lives and the history around them was quite fascinating. The battles between religion/science, Catholics/Protestants/Calvinists, and then science itself.
I'm forever reminded how easily it is to forget different descriptions of astronomy such as opposition, retrograde, perihelion, and aphelion. I need to make flashcards and see what I can do to rectify this situation.
What I especially identify with is that both Tycho and Kepler discovered type I supernovas. There have been four in recent centuries: 1006, 1572 (Tycho's), 1604 (Kepler's), and 1987. The first three being before telescopes indicates to me that any future super novae might first be detected by other means than just eyesight, which means I'm SOL in spotting my own.
One thing, to my mind this book did not get into, and perhaps it is a bigger rabbit hole and math than the author intended is Kepler's laws of planetary motion. Another item to study.
Finally, Kepler is given credit by some to having written the first science fiction story SOMNIUM. another item to seek out.
Either way, this dual biography is well worth your time.
I'm forever reminded how easily it is to forget different descriptions of astronomy such as opposition, retrograde, perihelion, and aphelion. I need to make flashcards and see what I can do to rectify this situation.
What I especially identify with is that both Tycho and Kepler discovered type I supernovas. There have been four in recent centuries: 1006, 1572 (Tycho's), 1604 (Kepler's), and 1987. The first three being before telescopes indicates to me that any future super novae might first be detected by other means than just eyesight, which means I'm SOL in spotting my own.
One thing, to my mind this book did not get into, and perhaps it is a bigger rabbit hole and math than the author intended is Kepler's laws of planetary motion. Another item to study.
Finally, Kepler is given credit by some to having written the first science fiction story SOMNIUM. another item to seek out.
Either way, this dual biography is well worth your time.
August 2, 2013
This book should have been called The Story of Tycho Brahe (featuring Kepler). Kepler plays kind of a bit part in this story. Of course, I can't really argue much with that choice, as Tycho's life was far more interesting, even if Kepler's was in many ways more tragic. The addition of Kepler's story though seemed like an interruption or an addition that didn't quite fit the tone of the rest of the book. The first 3/4ths of the book dealt with Tycho's life, with glimpses of Kepler, and mainly focusing on biography rather than the specifics of the science (although it did get into this to some extent). The final 1/4th of the book focused more on Kepler, but the biography to science ratio was reversed. It discussed Kepler's work much more than his life, and after Tycho's death, Tycho was completely erased from the story, which was a bit odd. Overall, I think this was a decently constructed biography of Tycho Brahe with a miniature overview of Kepler's life and work appended to it. Definitely worth checking out for anyone interested in the history of astronomy.
December 13, 2013
This is a good book. I enjoyed the early parts about Tycho Brahe's life more than the later parts about Kepler, but that's mainly because I've already read two biographies, two novels, and a metric ton of academic articles about Kepler, while much of the information about Tycho, in particular the story of his early life and choices, was novel to me.
Seeing their biographies placed side by side, two things really struck me: (1) it's really surprising how relatively little we know about Tycho Brahe's early life compared to what we know about Kepler's, especially given Tycho's far more privileged background and at least comparable humanist orientation and ego. You get the impression Ferguson is casting around for details about Brahe that might give us insight into his personality and motivations, while picking and choosing among the enormous amount of Kepler lore. And (2) though it's too easy to see their symbiotic relationship as a matter of fate, Tycho really did take a surprising amount of crap, with remarkable patience, from Kepler during their two years of acquaintance. True, Kepler was writing against Tycho's intellectual enemy Ursus (whom Ferguson casts as the villain as the piece, possibly unfairly, since a lot of scholars dispute the claim that Ursus plagiarized Tycho) and was therefore useful. But still... it's hard to totally shun the romantic idea that Tycho saw his legacy written in Kepler, and did what he had to do to make sure the relationship worked.
Throughout, Ferguson makes a good trade off between biography and science and focuses in on the interesting bits of the latter, though she never gets around to explaining Kepler's physical theory of the ellipse (the planets have solid non-rotating magnetic cores that are alternatively attracted and repelled by the sun's monopole). Though I'm not 100% sure, I think she also misstates Kepler's theory of why the virtue motrix (solar moving force) diminishes in inverse linear rather than inverse square proportion from the sun (because it is thrown off the rotating sun on a circle, and the force dissipates as the circumference increases relative to the radius, linearly) and she leaves off the quite cool way Kepler ends up using his his near-miss on the inverse square law to "prove" the 3/2 rule. But this is deep-in-the-weeds stuff. More generally, Ferguson does a very good job explaining various technical concepts in astronomy, some of which I didn't previously understand, and illuminating just how novel and ingenious were Tycho's instruments.
A final semi-complaint I have is that Ferguson adopts the standard view of Kepler as a tragic figure and fills the last chapters with special pleading about what an unrecognized genius he was and is. But this always strikes me as a strange take on a man who rode a then relatively unorthodox astronomical theory (physical Copernicanism) to the best and most sought-after patronage position in Europe at the age of 29 and has been a household name ever since. Kepler enjoyed enormous intellectual and religious freedom throughout his life; in comparison to a figure like Galileo who was highly intellectually constrained by the social and religious institutions in which he worked, Kepler always was able to say and write more or less what he wanted and get it printed. True, his heterodoxy left him unchurched and extremely dependent on his patrons who consequently didn't have to pay him much, and his death at 58 less than a year before his successful prediction of a Mercury transit (and less than a decade before he could have read Gassendi and Descartes) seems arbitrary and sad. But, then, Decartes' death also seems arbitrary and sad. It was a difficult, if surely exciting, time to be alive.
Tycho, of course, also has some genuine claim to tragedy. Forced from his homeland by run of the mill feudal politics and ending up what was a pioneering life (the nobleman as scholar) as informal court astrologer to the eccentric Emperor Rudoloph, Tycho demonstrated both the importance and the limits of social boundary pushing in the sixteenth century. He also seems to have recognized during his final days that he would not be able to shape the future course of science as he had surely hoped with his system of the world. But in the early, fascinating chapters of her book, Ferguson shows us young Tycho as a Renaissance Man choosing and living the life of the mind in a Denmark that was both humanist and feudal. It's almost impossible not to admire the man who bucked convention and turned his enormous hereditary wealth and privilege toward the furthering of human knowledge, even if the relatively limited biographical (and more importantly autobiographical) details of Tycho's life make him somewhat more of an enigma than his Copernican colleague.
Seeing their biographies placed side by side, two things really struck me: (1) it's really surprising how relatively little we know about Tycho Brahe's early life compared to what we know about Kepler's, especially given Tycho's far more privileged background and at least comparable humanist orientation and ego. You get the impression Ferguson is casting around for details about Brahe that might give us insight into his personality and motivations, while picking and choosing among the enormous amount of Kepler lore. And (2) though it's too easy to see their symbiotic relationship as a matter of fate, Tycho really did take a surprising amount of crap, with remarkable patience, from Kepler during their two years of acquaintance. True, Kepler was writing against Tycho's intellectual enemy Ursus (whom Ferguson casts as the villain as the piece, possibly unfairly, since a lot of scholars dispute the claim that Ursus plagiarized Tycho) and was therefore useful. But still... it's hard to totally shun the romantic idea that Tycho saw his legacy written in Kepler, and did what he had to do to make sure the relationship worked.
Throughout, Ferguson makes a good trade off between biography and science and focuses in on the interesting bits of the latter, though she never gets around to explaining Kepler's physical theory of the ellipse (the planets have solid non-rotating magnetic cores that are alternatively attracted and repelled by the sun's monopole). Though I'm not 100% sure, I think she also misstates Kepler's theory of why the virtue motrix (solar moving force) diminishes in inverse linear rather than inverse square proportion from the sun (because it is thrown off the rotating sun on a circle, and the force dissipates as the circumference increases relative to the radius, linearly) and she leaves off the quite cool way Kepler ends up using his his near-miss on the inverse square law to "prove" the 3/2 rule. But this is deep-in-the-weeds stuff. More generally, Ferguson does a very good job explaining various technical concepts in astronomy, some of which I didn't previously understand, and illuminating just how novel and ingenious were Tycho's instruments.
A final semi-complaint I have is that Ferguson adopts the standard view of Kepler as a tragic figure and fills the last chapters with special pleading about what an unrecognized genius he was and is. But this always strikes me as a strange take on a man who rode a then relatively unorthodox astronomical theory (physical Copernicanism) to the best and most sought-after patronage position in Europe at the age of 29 and has been a household name ever since. Kepler enjoyed enormous intellectual and religious freedom throughout his life; in comparison to a figure like Galileo who was highly intellectually constrained by the social and religious institutions in which he worked, Kepler always was able to say and write more or less what he wanted and get it printed. True, his heterodoxy left him unchurched and extremely dependent on his patrons who consequently didn't have to pay him much, and his death at 58 less than a year before his successful prediction of a Mercury transit (and less than a decade before he could have read Gassendi and Descartes) seems arbitrary and sad. But, then, Decartes' death also seems arbitrary and sad. It was a difficult, if surely exciting, time to be alive.
Tycho, of course, also has some genuine claim to tragedy. Forced from his homeland by run of the mill feudal politics and ending up what was a pioneering life (the nobleman as scholar) as informal court astrologer to the eccentric Emperor Rudoloph, Tycho demonstrated both the importance and the limits of social boundary pushing in the sixteenth century. He also seems to have recognized during his final days that he would not be able to shape the future course of science as he had surely hoped with his system of the world. But in the early, fascinating chapters of her book, Ferguson shows us young Tycho as a Renaissance Man choosing and living the life of the mind in a Denmark that was both humanist and feudal. It's almost impossible not to admire the man who bucked convention and turned his enormous hereditary wealth and privilege toward the furthering of human knowledge, even if the relatively limited biographical (and more importantly autobiographical) details of Tycho's life make him somewhat more of an enigma than his Copernican colleague.
October 14, 2025
This book is an thorough, extensive biography of Tycho Brahe. It is a cursory biography of Johannes Kepler.
The story begins with Tycho's "kidnapping" as a 2-year-old by his aunt and uncle. Nothing was done to return Tycho to his original parents. Regardless of this early abduction (adoption?), Tyco is recognized as a noble person with the substantial benefit of wealth and family name reverence. His brothers and sisters are also lightly described. Then, his education is touched on.
Next, some of the historical, ancient theories--Aristotle and Ptolemy--are examined in a context which Tyco was using or applying these ideas.
Next detailed is Tycho's creation of instruments to more effectively and precisely measure the location of heavenly bodies. Also, we learn how Tyco lost the end of his nose in a duel.
We then see how Tyco explored career possibilities. He also fell in love with his future wife, Kirsten, a commoner.
Next explored is a supernova witnessed by Tycho. We also see further development of instrumentation (brass and gold quadrant) that Tycho ordered built. We also see Tycho begin lecturing at the University--a step down for Tyco in his position of nobility. We also see how Tyco was an astrologer as that was one of the important jobs for people educated in the area of astronomy.
Next, we see the introduction of Copernican ideas and how those affected Tycho's work. Next, Tycho's move and exploration of a position to base his work in astronomy is explored. he moves to Hven. This is detailed very specifically. We see how the island residents are rather upset at this new leader of the island. We also see Tycho's construction of his new residence on the island. Some of the residents of the island begin to move off as they resent being made to work for Tycho.
We see Tycho continue to work and observe a comet. We also see the construction and development of his residence (estate? mansion?) on Hven. We also see the development of Tycho's observations and further improvement in knowledge gained by his work.
We see Tycho's work with Mars. Also, interspersed intermittently with Tycho's story are details of Kepler's youth. We learn of Kepler's education.
Next, we learn of Tycho's bad relationship with one of his visitors, Baer. This man stole work that Tyco had done and published it as if Baer himself had done the work. Tycho spent much of the rest of his life trying to discredit this stolen work.
We also learn of Tycho's daughter marrying a man obsessed with alchemy and turning lead into gold. We see how that partner was selfish, self-consumed turning-lead-into-gold man that created a bad situation for Tycho's daughter.
We also see how Tycho neglected some of his responsibilities and incurred the wrath of officials for Tycho's negligence.
Next, we return to Kepler and his frustration with the position of astrologer. Kepler was frustrated that people put so much significance into the alignment of the heavenly bodies and how that somehow affected the state of things happening on earth. Kepler realized there was much less significance in the proposed connection and was frustrated that he had to create these predictions.
We do watch Kepler try to understand the orbits of the planets. He tried many techniques to explain why the orbits were at the radaii that they were. We see how Kepler tried to use the five regular polyhedra to explain the orbits of the planets.
Next, we see Tycho and family having to leave the Hven island residence because of governmental instability. Next, we see how Tycho had to create a new home and residence for himself.
in 1598, Tycho was able to publish another book.
Tycho is beginning to fail physically as time progresses. This is also when he begins to learn about Kepler. Unfortunately for Kepler, with Baer's theft of Tycho's work, Tycho is very reluctant to share any information that Tycho has formulated.
We do get to see Kepler in his search for work. We also see Kepler and his family develop. We see the Kepler family tragedy of losing children to death. We also see Kepler trying to explain the orbits of the planets in terms of polyhedra. We also see Kepler trying to explain the orbit of the planets in regard to music.
Tyco also had established a new residence in Barvitius. We watch as Tycho creates a new residence and observatory for himself and family.
We then see Kepler and Tycho connect and begin their collaboration. Although certainly collaboration is too strong a word. By this time, Tycho was so consumed with protecting his observations, Tycho allowed Kepler to work on very little that Kepler could have made significant contributions to. Also, Tycho treated Kepler as a petty servant. Beyond this, Tycho's paranoia was becoming extreme. Fortunately, Tycho was also working to secure a royal stipend for Kepler, and Tycho was able to do this.
We see Kepler and his staunch embrace of protestant religion as a struggle for his well-being during the religious wars of the time. Also, we learn of Kepler's poor health and how that negatively affected him throughout his life.
Throughout the book, we see how Tycho is skilled at handling the royal persons that Tycho must interact with to succeed. We also see the final move that Tycho and family must make to Prague and how that is completed successfully. Kepler and family also moved with Tycho because Kepler and family were living in Tycho's residence. As Tycho was failing, we see Tycho perish from illness.
Next, we see Kepler succeed and blossom with his research and life in general after Tycho's death. We see the theories and formulations Kepler devised and how revolutionary those were. We see Kepler publish another book. We also watch Kepler try to fully understand Mars' orbit. This led to Kepler's first two laws of planetary motion. Along with this, we watch Kepler's family grow. We also see Kepler trying to understand what force caused the planets to move. Next, we observe Kepler trying to rectify a circular and eventually proposed correct elliptical orbit of the planets.
Kepler tries to get his work published, but this was a very difficult process. Kepler was also trying to obtain the telescope creation of Galileo. Also, Kepler had to find new employment (eventually found in Linz) because of government instability. Also, Kepler's first wife died. Kepler had to find a new wife to raise his young children. Kepler was able to do this with much effort. Kepler and his new wife started a second family with several children.
Kepler as also able to finish and publish the most significant work that Tyco had hoped for. Also, Kepler was finishing another book for publishing and discovered the third law of planetary motion in May of 1618. Also, Kepler had to leave his job to defend his mother from accusations of witchcraft. With great effort, Kepler was able to present a defense of his mother. The strong defense was enough to allow his mother to be examined for guilt or innocence. The final evaluation revealed his mother was not a witch. Sadly, the trial weakened and exhausted his mother so much that she passed away shortly after being found not a witch.
We see Kepler doing further work and watch him discover logarithms and how that could be applied very effectively to his work.
Next, we see how the religious wars of the time continue to create trouble. Kepler is allowed to maintain his Protestant perspective because of his successful career. Finally, we see Kepler publish a book that is regarded as the first work of science fiction.
To conclude, this was an exhaustive biography of Tycho Brahe. The thoroughness is commendable, but it also demonstrates how difficult it is to create a compelling piece of work that is so detailed and specific. The much briefer overview of Kepler's life was also interesting. It was fascinating to see how much Kepler's respect/love of religion directed Kepler.
The story begins with Tycho's "kidnapping" as a 2-year-old by his aunt and uncle. Nothing was done to return Tycho to his original parents. Regardless of this early abduction (adoption?), Tyco is recognized as a noble person with the substantial benefit of wealth and family name reverence. His brothers and sisters are also lightly described. Then, his education is touched on.
Next, some of the historical, ancient theories--Aristotle and Ptolemy--are examined in a context which Tyco was using or applying these ideas.
Next detailed is Tycho's creation of instruments to more effectively and precisely measure the location of heavenly bodies. Also, we learn how Tyco lost the end of his nose in a duel.
We then see how Tyco explored career possibilities. He also fell in love with his future wife, Kirsten, a commoner.
Next explored is a supernova witnessed by Tycho. We also see further development of instrumentation (brass and gold quadrant) that Tycho ordered built. We also see Tycho begin lecturing at the University--a step down for Tyco in his position of nobility. We also see how Tyco was an astrologer as that was one of the important jobs for people educated in the area of astronomy.
Next, we see the introduction of Copernican ideas and how those affected Tycho's work. Next, Tycho's move and exploration of a position to base his work in astronomy is explored. he moves to Hven. This is detailed very specifically. We see how the island residents are rather upset at this new leader of the island. We also see Tycho's construction of his new residence on the island. Some of the residents of the island begin to move off as they resent being made to work for Tycho.
We see Tycho continue to work and observe a comet. We also see the construction and development of his residence (estate? mansion?) on Hven. We also see the development of Tycho's observations and further improvement in knowledge gained by his work.
We see Tycho's work with Mars. Also, interspersed intermittently with Tycho's story are details of Kepler's youth. We learn of Kepler's education.
Next, we learn of Tycho's bad relationship with one of his visitors, Baer. This man stole work that Tyco had done and published it as if Baer himself had done the work. Tycho spent much of the rest of his life trying to discredit this stolen work.
We also learn of Tycho's daughter marrying a man obsessed with alchemy and turning lead into gold. We see how that partner was selfish, self-consumed turning-lead-into-gold man that created a bad situation for Tycho's daughter.
We also see how Tycho neglected some of his responsibilities and incurred the wrath of officials for Tycho's negligence.
Next, we return to Kepler and his frustration with the position of astrologer. Kepler was frustrated that people put so much significance into the alignment of the heavenly bodies and how that somehow affected the state of things happening on earth. Kepler realized there was much less significance in the proposed connection and was frustrated that he had to create these predictions.
We do watch Kepler try to understand the orbits of the planets. He tried many techniques to explain why the orbits were at the radaii that they were. We see how Kepler tried to use the five regular polyhedra to explain the orbits of the planets.
Next, we see Tycho and family having to leave the Hven island residence because of governmental instability. Next, we see how Tycho had to create a new home and residence for himself.
in 1598, Tycho was able to publish another book.
Tycho is beginning to fail physically as time progresses. This is also when he begins to learn about Kepler. Unfortunately for Kepler, with Baer's theft of Tycho's work, Tycho is very reluctant to share any information that Tycho has formulated.
We do get to see Kepler in his search for work. We also see Kepler and his family develop. We see the Kepler family tragedy of losing children to death. We also see Kepler trying to explain the orbits of the planets in terms of polyhedra. We also see Kepler trying to explain the orbit of the planets in regard to music.
Tyco also had established a new residence in Barvitius. We watch as Tycho creates a new residence and observatory for himself and family.
We then see Kepler and Tycho connect and begin their collaboration. Although certainly collaboration is too strong a word. By this time, Tycho was so consumed with protecting his observations, Tycho allowed Kepler to work on very little that Kepler could have made significant contributions to. Also, Tycho treated Kepler as a petty servant. Beyond this, Tycho's paranoia was becoming extreme. Fortunately, Tycho was also working to secure a royal stipend for Kepler, and Tycho was able to do this.
We see Kepler and his staunch embrace of protestant religion as a struggle for his well-being during the religious wars of the time. Also, we learn of Kepler's poor health and how that negatively affected him throughout his life.
Throughout the book, we see how Tycho is skilled at handling the royal persons that Tycho must interact with to succeed. We also see the final move that Tycho and family must make to Prague and how that is completed successfully. Kepler and family also moved with Tycho because Kepler and family were living in Tycho's residence. As Tycho was failing, we see Tycho perish from illness.
Next, we see Kepler succeed and blossom with his research and life in general after Tycho's death. We see the theories and formulations Kepler devised and how revolutionary those were. We see Kepler publish another book. We also watch Kepler try to fully understand Mars' orbit. This led to Kepler's first two laws of planetary motion. Along with this, we watch Kepler's family grow. We also see Kepler trying to understand what force caused the planets to move. Next, we observe Kepler trying to rectify a circular and eventually proposed correct elliptical orbit of the planets.
Kepler tries to get his work published, but this was a very difficult process. Kepler was also trying to obtain the telescope creation of Galileo. Also, Kepler had to find new employment (eventually found in Linz) because of government instability. Also, Kepler's first wife died. Kepler had to find a new wife to raise his young children. Kepler was able to do this with much effort. Kepler and his new wife started a second family with several children.
Kepler as also able to finish and publish the most significant work that Tyco had hoped for. Also, Kepler was finishing another book for publishing and discovered the third law of planetary motion in May of 1618. Also, Kepler had to leave his job to defend his mother from accusations of witchcraft. With great effort, Kepler was able to present a defense of his mother. The strong defense was enough to allow his mother to be examined for guilt or innocence. The final evaluation revealed his mother was not a witch. Sadly, the trial weakened and exhausted his mother so much that she passed away shortly after being found not a witch.
We see Kepler doing further work and watch him discover logarithms and how that could be applied very effectively to his work.
Next, we see how the religious wars of the time continue to create trouble. Kepler is allowed to maintain his Protestant perspective because of his successful career. Finally, we see Kepler publish a book that is regarded as the first work of science fiction.
To conclude, this was an exhaustive biography of Tycho Brahe. The thoroughness is commendable, but it also demonstrates how difficult it is to create a compelling piece of work that is so detailed and specific. The much briefer overview of Kepler's life was also interesting. It was fascinating to see how much Kepler's respect/love of religion directed Kepler.
April 26, 2020
Es una historia detallada, cronológica y exhaustiva sobre la historia de estos dos personajes, con especial foco en los accidentes que les llevaron a colaborar y que, en último término, dieron lugar a las leyes de Kepler. Si bien, parece que la autora pone más foco en Tycho que en Kepler (aunque sólo sea en volumen de páginas).
Un buen libro, en definitiva, sin exclamaciones. Bien escrito, bien documentado, no especialmente revelador, pero tampoco demasiado denso.
Un buen libro, en definitiva, sin exclamaciones. Bien escrito, bien documentado, no especialmente revelador, pero tampoco demasiado denso.
August 20, 2016
For anyone with an interest in the development of astronomy from Ptolemy and Copernicus to Brahe, Kepler and Galileo, needs this book in their life. Kitty Ferguson expertly navigates the outrageously complex lives of some of the most influential minds in science and explains evolving theories that shaped how we see the universe.
What a wonderful book.
What a wonderful book.
December 14, 2013
With the mathematical and astronomical parts explained very well, the biographical parts feel tedious. Even worse your expetations from the title of the dramatized partnership won't be fullfiled since the book spends only little time with the actual partnership of the two famous astronomers.
January 5, 2025
No creo haber entendido mucho el libro, probablemente porque estoy lejos de los matemáticos y la historia de la astronomía. Como informa el título se describe la vida de Tycho Brahe y la de Johannes Kepler. Dos astrónomos que en su tiempo en el campo del cielo estrellado y las matemáticas tenían una cierta familiaridad: largo del texto al entrar en sus vidas son descritas las batallas con la religión; los católicos; los protestantes, los calvinistas y luego la ciencia misma.
En la primera parte cuanto al noble del castillo de Knutstorp Tycho Brahe hay mucha información como la de su infancia, la historia de su vida, sus elecciones como astrólogo y astrónomo. Mientras el alemán Johannes Kepler inevitablemente es recordado por el breve libro de ciencia ficción "Somnium", pero desde el contexto de la biografía hay pocas cosas y fue reportado un cuanto de información de origen académico.
Es un volumen que atrae al lector a recordar las Supernova de tipo II, y aquellos que las descubrieron en los últimos cuatro siglos. Interesante para lectores capaz de observar estrellas y constelaciones. Al tener conocimiento aprendido en otros lugares el libro se deja leer con placer, pero el mismo volumen al tratar temas científicos no se debe considerar de divulgación.
La autora Kitty Ferguson fue hábil al escribir el libro agradeciéndo la renovación de la tradición: desde este punto de vista, aunque si hubiera sido fácil ver la relación simbiótica entre Tycho y Kepler como una cuestión del destino, nadie podría haber previsto las difíciles relaciones nacidas entre matemática y ciencia. Como tampoco la colaboración problemática en dos años de conocimiento entre estos dos grandes científicos.
Ferguson tiene un buen compromiso entre la biografía y la ciencia, por ejemplo: aunque si Tycho fue pretexto de tragedia lo describe como el hombre del Renacimiento que demostró la importancia de los límites social del Siglo XVI, convirtiéndose en el hombre que rompió la convención y transformó su enorme riqueza hereditaria hacia la promoción del conocimiento humano. Por otro lado, Kepler se describe como una persona que disfrutó de una enorme libertad intelectual y religiosa durante toda su vida, y siempre fue capaz de decir y escribir lo que quería imprimir.
La autora es consciente de describir dos personas totalmente diferentes: mientras el noble Brahe se masajeaba las espaldas con los reyes, Kepler era hijo de un padre alcohólico, pertenecía a una clase media baja y fue perseguido por toda la vida por su libertad de creencia religiosa, etc. Sin embargo junto al nacimiento de la ciencia moderna las historias de Brahe y Kepler muestran el nacimiento de los problemas y los vicios de la ciencia: desconfianza; descalificación entre científicos; plagio; tragedias para obtener fondos y problemas para hacer cosas públicas.
La vida de estos dos científicos no podría haber sido más diferente, lo que demuestra que la ciencia no es propiedad de nadie. Bajo las circunstancias la autora interpreta al astrónomo y astrólogo Tycho como una persona mala o loca, por otro lado hay Kepler que estaba escribiendo cosas contra el enemigo intelectual. La autora permaneció imparcial entre los dos y se interpuso como la aguja de la balanza: con el fin que funcionó la problemática colaboración de los dos científicos, sin que fuera plagio atribuyó a Tycho el motivo de haber reconocido en Kepler su legado.
En la primera parte cuanto al noble del castillo de Knutstorp Tycho Brahe hay mucha información como la de su infancia, la historia de su vida, sus elecciones como astrólogo y astrónomo. Mientras el alemán Johannes Kepler inevitablemente es recordado por el breve libro de ciencia ficción "Somnium", pero desde el contexto de la biografía hay pocas cosas y fue reportado un cuanto de información de origen académico.
Es un volumen que atrae al lector a recordar las Supernova de tipo II, y aquellos que las descubrieron en los últimos cuatro siglos. Interesante para lectores capaz de observar estrellas y constelaciones. Al tener conocimiento aprendido en otros lugares el libro se deja leer con placer, pero el mismo volumen al tratar temas científicos no se debe considerar de divulgación.
La autora Kitty Ferguson fue hábil al escribir el libro agradeciéndo la renovación de la tradición: desde este punto de vista, aunque si hubiera sido fácil ver la relación simbiótica entre Tycho y Kepler como una cuestión del destino, nadie podría haber previsto las difíciles relaciones nacidas entre matemática y ciencia. Como tampoco la colaboración problemática en dos años de conocimiento entre estos dos grandes científicos.
Ferguson tiene un buen compromiso entre la biografía y la ciencia, por ejemplo: aunque si Tycho fue pretexto de tragedia lo describe como el hombre del Renacimiento que demostró la importancia de los límites social del Siglo XVI, convirtiéndose en el hombre que rompió la convención y transformó su enorme riqueza hereditaria hacia la promoción del conocimiento humano. Por otro lado, Kepler se describe como una persona que disfrutó de una enorme libertad intelectual y religiosa durante toda su vida, y siempre fue capaz de decir y escribir lo que quería imprimir.
La autora es consciente de describir dos personas totalmente diferentes: mientras el noble Brahe se masajeaba las espaldas con los reyes, Kepler era hijo de un padre alcohólico, pertenecía a una clase media baja y fue perseguido por toda la vida por su libertad de creencia religiosa, etc. Sin embargo junto al nacimiento de la ciencia moderna las historias de Brahe y Kepler muestran el nacimiento de los problemas y los vicios de la ciencia: desconfianza; descalificación entre científicos; plagio; tragedias para obtener fondos y problemas para hacer cosas públicas.
La vida de estos dos científicos no podría haber sido más diferente, lo que demuestra que la ciencia no es propiedad de nadie. Bajo las circunstancias la autora interpreta al astrónomo y astrólogo Tycho como una persona mala o loca, por otro lado hay Kepler que estaba escribiendo cosas contra el enemigo intelectual. La autora permaneció imparcial entre los dos y se interpuso como la aguja de la balanza: con el fin que funcionó la problemática colaboración de los dos científicos, sin que fuera plagio atribuyó a Tycho el motivo de haber reconocido en Kepler su legado.
November 29, 2012
Tycho Brahe and Johann Kepler, together with Copernicus and Galileo, founded modern astronomy. An unusual partnership--Danish nobleman and poor scholar, yet both obsessed with the heavens. That was the time when casting horoscopes was a still a major duty of astronomers and when alchemy (a sideline of Tycho, an obsession of his kinsman Erik Lange) drew just as much attention. By the late 1500s a great change had begun: Copernicus had proposed his heliocentric theory, and before church dogma entered the fray, it was viewed seriously, even if not generally accepted. But the telescope, which after 1609 drew the public to the wonders of the sky, had not yet appeared.
Kitty Ferguson has written a delightful and eminently readable book around these two very different personalities. Meant for the general reader, it describes in an easy and concise style the science and history of an era very different from ours. That was when nobility was all-powerful, when the king of Denmark could take an island of freeholders and make it Tycho's personal domain, leaving its residents no voice in the matter. Religious intolerance was widespread--indeed, events were moving towards the 30 years' war, Europe's most destructive religious fight, mirrored by the civil war in Britain. Kepler was forced out of Graz, among all other employees of Protestant colleges in town, after the ruling archduke decreed they must leave the city by nightfall, that same day. It was also an era when Kepler's mother was arrested for witchcraft, when most of his numerous children died in childhood, and when Tycho's marriage was regarded as a second-rate "slegfred" union because his chosen wife was not from the nobility.
And yet, there was also science. The Ptolemaic system, by which sun, moon, planets and stars all revolved around the Earth, was still the accepted foundation of astronomy. It was a cumbersome model, where effects now known to arise from the motion of Earth were represented by epicycles, secondary orbits traced by planets on top of their primary ones. Further corrections were still needed, so centers of planetary orbits were displaced, and astronomers assumed ad-hoc that their orbital progress was constant, not as seen from that center but as viewed from some different "equant" point. Even with the inaccurate observations of the time, this still left discrepancies. All models assumed circular orbits, including the sun-centered model of Copernicus, which also suffered from discrepancies.
From his teenage years Tycho was fascinated by astronomy. While his peers pursued rank and power in the service of the king, he himself resolved to devote his life and energy to more accurate observations of the stars, perhaps good enough to provide a real test. In that early era it was often hard to predict what was feasible and what was not. In 1572 a new, very bright star appeared, not too far from the northern pole star (it is still known as "Tycho's supernova" and its remnants were recently studied by the orbiting Chandra X-ray telescope). Was it closer than the Moon--or was it more distant, in a region where Aristotle proclaimed no changes ever occurred? The rotation of the Earth shifts an observer several thousands of kilometers in a single observing night, yet Tycho's accurate observations failed to detect any corresponding shift of the new star relative to its neighbors. He concluded it was more distant than the moon, and also found the same held for a comet. Trivial conclusions to us, but novel ones at his time.
Tycho later tried to use the same method to estimate the distance to Mars, which he knew was the closest outer planet. Unaware that because of the great distance, any shift was too small for the unaided eye to discern, he kept seeking its value, at long last convincing himself he had actually found it. He was also the first to evaluate the shift of the positions of stars near the horizon, caused by light refraction in the atmosphere. However, Tycho's preoccupation with astronomy also made him neglect his political position. It eroded so much that he felt it wiser to exile himself to Prague--a comfortable exile, to be sure, an honored scholar among the nobility.
Unlike Tycho, Kepler grew up in near poverty, with a father who was mostly absent and who ended abandoning his family altogether. Younger than Tycho by 25 years, he displayed early in life a sharp mind, and was helped to a good education by Germany's Lutheran institutions. He ended up teaching in one of them in Graz, Austria.
Where Tycho was a supreme experimenter and socially adept, Kepler was deeply religious, inclined to mysticism and speculation, but also skilled in the mathematics of his day. That skill was helped by his enormous tenacity, grabbing hold of problems like a bulldog and not letting go. In our age of space exploration, Tycho may well have become a leader of glamorous space missions with NASA, politically powerful and generously funded. Kepler might have been the talented theorist laboring in relative obscurity, sifting the data returned by those missions and extracting their nuggets of discovery. Though the two might not have admitted it, the work of each would have been essential to the success of the other.
Something like that certainly happened in their actual encounter, in what Ferguson dubbed (title of chapter 17) "a dysfunctional collaboration." Each had what the other lacked. Tycho knew that his accurate observations held the key to understanding how the planets moved--especially Mars--but he also realized that Kepler was the only one around him sharp enough to solve the puzzle. Yet he had misgivings: Kepler was a relative latecomer, less trusted than Tycho's longtime assistants Longomontanus and Tengnagel. Furthermore, Kepler believed in the Copernican model, while Tycho had devised his own "Tychonic" system, in which the planets orbited the Sun, but the Sun orbited Earth. Tycho felt quite possessive over that idea and bitterly defended his claim to it. Yet when he painfully died in 1601, he was well aware that Kepler would probably use his data to promote the Copernican view. "Let me not have died in vain" he pleaded on his deathbed.
History is full of ironies. Kepler indeed used Tycho's data to support Copernicus, but by doing so, he ensured Tycho's immortality. Had the two failed to meet and collaborate, the precision of Tycho's observations--supreme in his days--would have soon been surpassed by telescopic instruments. Someone else would then have used telescopes to decode the motions of the planets, and Tycho's work would have become a forgotten footnote.
This is a great story, told with skill and verve. Kathy Ferguson is not the first to do so, and those seeking finer details (e.g. of Kepler's math) may want to look elsewhere, but her book is set at just the right level--not too technical for lay readers, not too shallow for science-savvy ones, not too long nor too brief. Like Goldilock's porridge, it is just right, and the interplay of religion and politics, academic battles and a gallery of unusual characters, all these have their places too. As do occasional tidbits: who would have suspected that the names of Rosencranz and Guildenstern, the doomed courtiers in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" (and in Tom Stoppard's play) were patterned after those of two of Tycho's kinsmen?
Kitty Ferguson has written a delightful and eminently readable book around these two very different personalities. Meant for the general reader, it describes in an easy and concise style the science and history of an era very different from ours. That was when nobility was all-powerful, when the king of Denmark could take an island of freeholders and make it Tycho's personal domain, leaving its residents no voice in the matter. Religious intolerance was widespread--indeed, events were moving towards the 30 years' war, Europe's most destructive religious fight, mirrored by the civil war in Britain. Kepler was forced out of Graz, among all other employees of Protestant colleges in town, after the ruling archduke decreed they must leave the city by nightfall, that same day. It was also an era when Kepler's mother was arrested for witchcraft, when most of his numerous children died in childhood, and when Tycho's marriage was regarded as a second-rate "slegfred" union because his chosen wife was not from the nobility.
And yet, there was also science. The Ptolemaic system, by which sun, moon, planets and stars all revolved around the Earth, was still the accepted foundation of astronomy. It was a cumbersome model, where effects now known to arise from the motion of Earth were represented by epicycles, secondary orbits traced by planets on top of their primary ones. Further corrections were still needed, so centers of planetary orbits were displaced, and astronomers assumed ad-hoc that their orbital progress was constant, not as seen from that center but as viewed from some different "equant" point. Even with the inaccurate observations of the time, this still left discrepancies. All models assumed circular orbits, including the sun-centered model of Copernicus, which also suffered from discrepancies.
From his teenage years Tycho was fascinated by astronomy. While his peers pursued rank and power in the service of the king, he himself resolved to devote his life and energy to more accurate observations of the stars, perhaps good enough to provide a real test. In that early era it was often hard to predict what was feasible and what was not. In 1572 a new, very bright star appeared, not too far from the northern pole star (it is still known as "Tycho's supernova" and its remnants were recently studied by the orbiting Chandra X-ray telescope). Was it closer than the Moon--or was it more distant, in a region where Aristotle proclaimed no changes ever occurred? The rotation of the Earth shifts an observer several thousands of kilometers in a single observing night, yet Tycho's accurate observations failed to detect any corresponding shift of the new star relative to its neighbors. He concluded it was more distant than the moon, and also found the same held for a comet. Trivial conclusions to us, but novel ones at his time.
Tycho later tried to use the same method to estimate the distance to Mars, which he knew was the closest outer planet. Unaware that because of the great distance, any shift was too small for the unaided eye to discern, he kept seeking its value, at long last convincing himself he had actually found it. He was also the first to evaluate the shift of the positions of stars near the horizon, caused by light refraction in the atmosphere. However, Tycho's preoccupation with astronomy also made him neglect his political position. It eroded so much that he felt it wiser to exile himself to Prague--a comfortable exile, to be sure, an honored scholar among the nobility.
Unlike Tycho, Kepler grew up in near poverty, with a father who was mostly absent and who ended abandoning his family altogether. Younger than Tycho by 25 years, he displayed early in life a sharp mind, and was helped to a good education by Germany's Lutheran institutions. He ended up teaching in one of them in Graz, Austria.
Where Tycho was a supreme experimenter and socially adept, Kepler was deeply religious, inclined to mysticism and speculation, but also skilled in the mathematics of his day. That skill was helped by his enormous tenacity, grabbing hold of problems like a bulldog and not letting go. In our age of space exploration, Tycho may well have become a leader of glamorous space missions with NASA, politically powerful and generously funded. Kepler might have been the talented theorist laboring in relative obscurity, sifting the data returned by those missions and extracting their nuggets of discovery. Though the two might not have admitted it, the work of each would have been essential to the success of the other.
Something like that certainly happened in their actual encounter, in what Ferguson dubbed (title of chapter 17) "a dysfunctional collaboration." Each had what the other lacked. Tycho knew that his accurate observations held the key to understanding how the planets moved--especially Mars--but he also realized that Kepler was the only one around him sharp enough to solve the puzzle. Yet he had misgivings: Kepler was a relative latecomer, less trusted than Tycho's longtime assistants Longomontanus and Tengnagel. Furthermore, Kepler believed in the Copernican model, while Tycho had devised his own "Tychonic" system, in which the planets orbited the Sun, but the Sun orbited Earth. Tycho felt quite possessive over that idea and bitterly defended his claim to it. Yet when he painfully died in 1601, he was well aware that Kepler would probably use his data to promote the Copernican view. "Let me not have died in vain" he pleaded on his deathbed.
History is full of ironies. Kepler indeed used Tycho's data to support Copernicus, but by doing so, he ensured Tycho's immortality. Had the two failed to meet and collaborate, the precision of Tycho's observations--supreme in his days--would have soon been surpassed by telescopic instruments. Someone else would then have used telescopes to decode the motions of the planets, and Tycho's work would have become a forgotten footnote.
This is a great story, told with skill and verve. Kathy Ferguson is not the first to do so, and those seeking finer details (e.g. of Kepler's math) may want to look elsewhere, but her book is set at just the right level--not too technical for lay readers, not too shallow for science-savvy ones, not too long nor too brief. Like Goldilock's porridge, it is just right, and the interplay of religion and politics, academic battles and a gallery of unusual characters, all these have their places too. As do occasional tidbits: who would have suspected that the names of Rosencranz and Guildenstern, the doomed courtiers in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" (and in Tom Stoppard's play) were patterned after those of two of Tycho's kinsmen?
May 28, 2018
Intento mantener mis lecturas de leisure bastante separadas de mis lecturas profesionales, por lo que en general no leo libros sobre astronomía o física. Por lo demás los que he intentado leer han sido un latazo.
Más allá de lo que la cultura general nos dice que hay que saber de Brahe (a saber, el último gran astrónomo que no usó telescopios, produciendo las observaciones más precisas en su época) y Kepler (el descubridor de las leyes de movimiento planetario, y para los ubernerds, el autor del primer relato sci-fi) este libro ilumina muchos razones de por qué ambos fueron increíblemente revolucionarios.
Tycho Brahe basó su carrera en hacer la observación astronómica lo más precisa posible, y en generar explicaciones para la dinámica celeste a partir de éstas y no de argumentaciones filosóficas, contraviniendo siglos de escolástica basada en el pensamiento aristotélico.
Johannes Kepler por su parte dio un salto fundamental al intentar explicar las causas físicas de los movimientos planetarios más que conformarse con su simple descripción. Su modo de trabajar usando la matemática para explicar las observaciones de Tycho, formulando modelos que pudiesen generalizar estas observaciones conforman básicamente el mismo patrón de lo que consideramos como ciencia hoy.
A pesar de que sus vidas no pudieron ser más distintas - Brahe, aristócrata que se codeaba con reyes; Kepler, más de bien de clase media baja, padre alcohólico, perseguido toda su vida por sus creencias religiosas, siete hijos muertos -, sus historias muestran justamente que la ciencia no es propiedad de nadie, sino de aquellos con el fuego suficiente para llevar el pensamiento hasta el límite.
Finalmente, junto con el nacimiento de la ciencia moderna, las historias de Brahe y Kepler muestran el nacimiento de los problemas y vicios de la ciencia: las desconfianzas y descalificaciones entre científicos, los plagios, los dramas para conseguir financiamiento, los problemas para publicar, la importancia del networking, etc.
La humanidad les estará por siempre agradecida a estos dos titanes.
Skybound, my mind
Earthbound, my body rest
-del epitafio escrito por el mismo Kepler
Más allá de lo que la cultura general nos dice que hay que saber de Brahe (a saber, el último gran astrónomo que no usó telescopios, produciendo las observaciones más precisas en su época) y Kepler (el descubridor de las leyes de movimiento planetario, y para los ubernerds, el autor del primer relato sci-fi) este libro ilumina muchos razones de por qué ambos fueron increíblemente revolucionarios.
Tycho Brahe basó su carrera en hacer la observación astronómica lo más precisa posible, y en generar explicaciones para la dinámica celeste a partir de éstas y no de argumentaciones filosóficas, contraviniendo siglos de escolástica basada en el pensamiento aristotélico.
Johannes Kepler por su parte dio un salto fundamental al intentar explicar las causas físicas de los movimientos planetarios más que conformarse con su simple descripción. Su modo de trabajar usando la matemática para explicar las observaciones de Tycho, formulando modelos que pudiesen generalizar estas observaciones conforman básicamente el mismo patrón de lo que consideramos como ciencia hoy.
A pesar de que sus vidas no pudieron ser más distintas - Brahe, aristócrata que se codeaba con reyes; Kepler, más de bien de clase media baja, padre alcohólico, perseguido toda su vida por sus creencias religiosas, siete hijos muertos -, sus historias muestran justamente que la ciencia no es propiedad de nadie, sino de aquellos con el fuego suficiente para llevar el pensamiento hasta el límite.
Finalmente, junto con el nacimiento de la ciencia moderna, las historias de Brahe y Kepler muestran el nacimiento de los problemas y vicios de la ciencia: las desconfianzas y descalificaciones entre científicos, los plagios, los dramas para conseguir financiamiento, los problemas para publicar, la importancia del networking, etc.
La humanidad les estará por siempre agradecida a estos dos titanes.
Skybound, my mind
Earthbound, my body rest
-del epitafio escrito por el mismo Kepler
February 25, 2017
As some of the other reviewers said, this book is mainly about Tycho Brahe, with Kepler playing a more supporting role. That's fine by me since Tycho is one of the most fascinating historical characters I can think of. The book was a real page turner. Ferguson is a great writer! I really recommend this book for anyone wanting a highly readable biography. Of tycho and Kepler. It is less strong in terms of history of science. But great portraits of two fascinating historical characters.
June 14, 2024
Most of it was really interesting but some parts dragged on. I liked the drawings and images to help see what they were talking about. I love learning about what science used to be and how we got to know what we know now. I want to learn more about Kepler's mom's witch trials. I read this just after I did a witchy trip to Salem, MA.
December 25, 2025
I was very curious about more of the specifics of Kepler’s work and how he developed his ideas. Fergusen accomplished just that, nimbly describing the difficulties he faced and the solutions he triumphantly obtained.
In addition, this was a wonderfully written biography of two great characters of the history of science.
In addition, this was a wonderfully written biography of two great characters of the history of science.
October 22, 2018
The author is a science writer with a true gift for storytelling. I enjoyed reading about the very different lives of these very different people in a very different age - the astronomy part was really secondary.
November 22, 2020
Very interesting book. I had little knowledge of Tycho Brahe and certainly knew nothing of the essential interactions Brahe and Kepler had which allowed Kepler to formulate his famous laws. Very well written and structured beautifully. Highly recommend.
September 11, 2025
A brilliant artistically written narrative of the two men's incredible achievements and personal stories. Mrs Ferguson is the teacher we all wish we had. I wish that book was another 1000 pages long so I could still be reading it!
July 9, 2024
Really interesting read. I was particularly impressed at the level of research in the witch trial of Kepler's mother.
March 8, 2017
As some of the other reviewers said, this book is mainly about Tycho Brahe, with Kepler playing a more supporting role. That's fine by me since Tycho is one of the most fascinating historical characters I can think of. The book was a real page turner. Ferguson is a great writer! I really recommend this book for anyone wanting a highly readable biography. Of tycho and Kepler. It is less strong in terms of history of science. But great portraits of two fascinating historical characters.
August 23, 2013
E' la biografia di due grandi figure storiche, Tycho Brahe e Johannes Keplero, vissute a cavallo tra il '500 e il '600. Due personaggi tanto distanti e diversi che hanno saputo coniugare le loro ricerche ed hanno in questo modo cambiato il volto dell'astronomia.
Brahe nasce in una ricca famiglia aristocratica danese, ma destino vuole che venga educato allo studio delle scienze. Lotterà tutta la vita tra la sua condizione di uomo di cultura e la sua nobiltà. Un nobile non poteva abbassarsi a semplice studioso. Brahe mostra subito una forte inclinazione per l'osservazione del cielo e sfrutta la sua nobile nascita per farsi costruire strumenti di altissima precisione.
Trent'anni dopo nasce Keplero, figlio di una coppia povera e difficile ( la madre verrà accusata di stregoneria) e il suo incontro con Brahe cambierà la sua vita. Tra i due non scorre buon sangue, ma sanno di avere l'uno bisogno dell'altro... Alla morte di Brahe, Keplero riuscirà ad avere accesso a tutti i dati raccolti in una lunga vita e a formulare le famose leggi che hanno preso il suo nome. E' la prima volta che il cielo viene spiegato tramite i fenomeni della fisica e non come un prodotto voluto da Dio.
Keplero pubblicherà i suoi risultati e decide di dare il primo nome dell'opera proprio a Tycho Brahe, senza i cui dati non sarebbe giunto a nulla.
Un libro ben scritto in cui viene riportato con dovizia di particolari il contesto storico in cui hanno vissuto i due astronomi. Un'europa lacerata dalla scissione tra il Luteranesimo e il Cristianesimo. Un'Europa in grande fermento culturale... qualche anno dopo Isaac Newton avrebbe formulato le sue leggi sulla gravitazione e Galileo Galilei sarebbe stato accusato di eresia per avere posto il Sole al centro del Sistema Solare.
Curiosità... il titolo del libro... Thyco Brahe era un nobile facironoso e non si lasciava mettere i piedi in testa. Durante una lite con un suo contemporaneo perde parte del naso e per compensarne l'assenza, progetta e si costruisce una protesi di metallo che porterà tutta la vita.
Altra curiosità... Le supernove sono esplosioni estremamente violente di stelle tali da essere visibili ad occhio nudo. Quelle viste e documentate in secoli di osservazione del cielo si contano sulla punta delle dita di una mano. Una di queste è stata vista e studiata da Brahe nel 1572 e un'altra da keplero nel 1604. Se non è destino questo...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 29, 2016
A well-written history of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler's role in the Scientific Revolution. I found this a while ago, but only recently picked it up because the class I was student teaching in was going over the Scientific Revolution.
This book covers both the history of Tycho and Kepler (separately and together) and the ideas they came up with. I'm not an expert in astronomy or the history of the Scientific Revolution in particular or late Renaissance Europe generally, but I feel like the book did a good job of accurately and comprehensibly detailing all of those things and how they worked together.
It is always interesting to look back at the development of ideas that are taught as givens in school today and see how they came about and how marvelous it is that they did in the absence of other factors, like how Kepler figured out the elliptical orbits of the planets with out the concept of inertia or calculus.
This book covers both the history of Tycho and Kepler (separately and together) and the ideas they came up with. I'm not an expert in astronomy or the history of the Scientific Revolution in particular or late Renaissance Europe generally, but I feel like the book did a good job of accurately and comprehensibly detailing all of those things and how they worked together.
It is always interesting to look back at the development of ideas that are taught as givens in school today and see how they came about and how marvelous it is that they did in the absence of other factors, like how Kepler figured out the elliptical orbits of the planets with out the concept of inertia or calculus.
February 2, 2012
This combined biography gives much more detail on Brahe than Kepler. It may be that Brahe's life is better documented than Keplers, nevertheless it was disappointing. These men laid the foundations of not only modern astronomy, but were close to the discovery of gravity and inertia. They were two of the "giants" upon whose shoulders Newton said he stood upon.
As a personal reaction to their lives, I was somewhat amused to note how much an issue money was to them. Brahe's instruments and assistants and the buildings to house them all cost money. Kepler was always trying to get people to pay the money they owed him. Indeed, he was traveling to try to shake loose money that was due him when he died. Money -- or, rather, resources -- makes what we want to do possible. (Sigh.)
Highly readable, especially the descriptions of the more technical aspects of their work.
As a personal reaction to their lives, I was somewhat amused to note how much an issue money was to them. Brahe's instruments and assistants and the buildings to house them all cost money. Kepler was always trying to get people to pay the money they owed him. Indeed, he was traveling to try to shake loose money that was due him when he died. Money -- or, rather, resources -- makes what we want to do possible. (Sigh.)
Highly readable, especially the descriptions of the more technical aspects of their work.
August 9, 2011
Ferguson does a really outstanding job of explaining astrological concepts that are rooted in science that is now known to be faulty while at the same time breathing life into two great scientific minds. I really enjoyed this book - although I did find the lack of bibliography and footnoting irksome. With her lively writing style and her habit of providing motivation for her subjects without providing an evidentiary frame one is left with the feeling that there is a bit too much fiction in this history.
All in all, a good read, and I am adding Kitty Ferguson to my "should read" list and would encourage anyone who is interested in intellectual and scientific history to do the same.
All in all, a good read, and I am adding Kitty Ferguson to my "should read" list and would encourage anyone who is interested in intellectual and scientific history to do the same.
May 1, 2012
Tycho and Kepler is a detailed biography of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, covering both their personal lives and their scientific careers. It’s arranged in chronological order, smoothly transitioning between the two scientists. I liked this format a lot because it made it so easy to see how their lives related to one another. There was actually quite a lot of personal drama, although it was mostly presented an impersonal manner – enough so that I really want to read some historical fiction now to get a “first-person” perspective on this fascinating time period!
Read more here...
Read more here...
March 9, 2016
An amazing, page-turning traditional account of the Odd Couple. "With lyricism that might be expected of a professional musician" Ferguson opens with Tycho's birth and a brief biographical sketch of that bombastic figure, and ends at Kepler's death. Between those mortal book ends, the author brilliantly weaves together the life stories of two astronomers with delicacy history demands. The appendices are very helpful and clearly written. All illustrations are described in detail and their context illuminated. Plus I found my favorite name in history - Wackher von Wackenfels (a friend of Kepler's during the latter's time in Prague).
October 16, 2016
This is a thoroughly enjoyable book. It offers biographies of Brahe and Kepler, lucid descriptions of their ideas and a real sense of what living in the sixteenth century was like. Consider the facts that these two great scientist were both astrologers and that Kepler had to defend his mother from witchcraft charges. Ferguson writes lucidly without, at least for my purposes, over simplifying the scientific issues. I had never thought about the period between Copernicus and Galileo, when the mathematics of the former's model were accepted by natural philosophers, but the physical reality of that model was still in doubt. This book brought that moment in the history of science to life for me.
August 13, 2014
(read in Swedish)
Interesting enough, getting some bio on Brahe and Kepler. Not too much of a partnership however, and that's the "story's" climax, so to say. The takeaway is that Kepler worked out planetary movements based on Brahe's observations. The descriptions on the maths is somewhat lacking (probably to not scare away non-mathematicians) but it's not incredibly important for the story. Otherwise well written and seems well researched.
Interesting enough, getting some bio on Brahe and Kepler. Not too much of a partnership however, and that's the "story's" climax, so to say. The takeaway is that Kepler worked out planetary movements based on Brahe's observations. The descriptions on the maths is somewhat lacking (probably to not scare away non-mathematicians) but it's not incredibly important for the story. Otherwise well written and seems well researched.
November 14, 2019
Quick notes : great on Brahe's personal life (especially how he took interesting decisions to maintain a lifestyle deemed very unusual for a person of his status and background). In contrast, a little too technical on Kepler's side (which, of course, does not deter me as professional Astronomer, but also adds little to what I did not already know).
Her writing style is wonderful - keeping it interesting at each turn, without becoming either too flamboyant or too technical.
Her writing style is wonderful - keeping it interesting at each turn, without becoming either too flamboyant or too technical.
January 3, 2013
It was an interesting overlay of one biography over another. Ferguson does a great job describing the move from Platonic astronomy to Copernican. Galileo's evidence is presented included. Ferguson does a superior job in explaining the ideas and math of the epicycles in the platonic system, the thychonic system and Kepler's work in supporting Copernicus.
October 4, 2013
Ferguson is certainly one of the favorites of mine, her way of describing times long passed with readable and enjoyable vibe is quite extraordinary.
I did enjoyed her Hawking book bit more then this one but that does not mean it's less good. Reader can get himself into understanding of first steps towards observing of a sky and differences between such different lives of Kepler and Tycho.
I did enjoyed her Hawking book bit more then this one but that does not mean it's less good. Reader can get himself into understanding of first steps towards observing of a sky and differences between such different lives of Kepler and Tycho.
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