Tycho Brahe. In the 16th Century, Tycho Brahe was the richest man in Denmark. He was a member of 2 royal Scandinavian families. Tycho Brahe was also Denmark’s most famous astronomer. Brahe built an observatory in his home, Knutstorp Castle, where he made several important astronomical discoveries. Perhaps his most important discovery was the supernova, a dying star. It is very rare that people get to observe the death of a star with the naked eye, but that happened in Brahe’s time. In 1572, Brahe observed a bright new star unexpectedly appearing in the night sky. It grew bright and gradually disappeared. Other scientists saw it as well but most of them thought that a comet in our solar system had exploded, but Brahe did some mathematical calculations and proved that it was a star located far beyond our solar system. Brahe correctly concluded that this was the explosion and death of a star. His discovery radically changed the way people thought about the universe. Since ancient times, people had accepted Aristotle’s theory that everything beyond the moon was fixed in its place, unchanging, and permanent. Brahe showed that stars are impermanent and that therefore, so are their planets. Aristotle was wrong and the Buddha was right about impermanence. There is nothing in the universe that is fixed, unchanging, and permanent.

Tycho Brahe’s Alcoholic Moose. While Tycho Brahe was a serious scientist, he lived a life of great luxury. One of Brahe’s luxuries was his pet, an 800-pound moose. The moose lived in Brahe’s castle. Brahe took the moose with him wherever he went. The moose trotted behind Brahe’s carriage like a faithful dog. The moose attended the elegant parties and banquets Tycho Brahe gave for his relatives and fellow scientists. The moose was also Brahe’s drinking buddy. Tycho Brahe and his moose were both heavy drinkers. The moose’s favorite beverage was Danish beer, which it consumed by the barrel. Brahe and his moose got drunk together along with Brahe’s friends, night after night. One night, at a banquet for Danish noblemen in Brahe’s castle, the moose climbed a flight of stairs while drunk, lost his balance, fell down the stairs and died as a result of the fall. I have heard that it is not unusual for people to die by falling down stairs while drunk, but how often do you suppose moose die that way? Probably not very often.