Tycho Brahe's work on the island of Hven was only carried out from 1576-1597. During that time, he managed to educate a great number of budding astronomers from all over Europe. These gradually drifted home and accelerated astronomy research during the rest of the renaissance.

Tycho Brahe was a collector of facts in most scientific disciplines. He was aware that he would probably not live long enough to evaluate the mountains of data he gathered. But he considered, as his legacy to future researchers and thinkers, that his accurate and detailed observations and measurements would give them a firm foundation upon which to build.

Tycho preferred to call himself an Engineer. He weighed and measured things. Recently, British researchers tested his figures against modern planet and star charts and found that his computations were far more precise than he had hitherto been given credit for.

Tycho was what we today would probably call a workaholic -- a real astronomy geek!   Although there were certain features which precluded him from being a typical bore. One of these was his passion for pyrotechnics.

Whenever he had a chance, he'd sit down and manufacture rockets and fireworks which he'd let off with gusto as soon as the opportunity to celebrate something presented itself, which apparently happened quite often...

Today, one of the four garden plots round the castle has been restored with contemporary plants and is the only RENAISSANCEGARDEN of its kind in the world. It is protected by the "Treaty of Venice"

In the northern corner of the grounds stands a statue of Tycho Brahe. Round the base can be found yet another of his sayings:
"Worldly might and riches perish. Only mighty art lives on."

Tycho and Sophie Brahe
Johannes Kepler
National Geographic Magazine May 1974		 In 1598, Johannes Kepler became Tycho's assistant in Prague. They both got on well together, even though little was accomplished in the way of research during Tycho's last years in exile. When Tycho died of quicksilver poisoning in 1601, Kepler took over his entire papers and calculations.

Using these meticulously compiled tables, he was able to work up a theory on the true nature of the planets' orbits. With few modifications, "Kepler's Law of the Planets" is still in use today.
Sophie Brahe, Tycho's smart little sister,
made her own career as horticulturalist, historian and astrologer. Like Tycho, she became a legend in her own lifetime.
She died in 1643 -- 87 years old.

Quotes Tycho: "I may have been born into the reknown noble family of Bille-Brahe, but that which one oneself hasn't made happen is nothing to brag about."

One of the first people Tycho fell out with, when he arrived on Hven, was the priest, because he forbade him from performing exorcisms at christenings!

Tycho felt that, "children are not born evil, evil sets in when they get older." Typically, Tycho wasn't punished for his "crime" against the church's dogma, but the priest was, for not protesting vigourously enough against Tycho's order.
Quote from Tycho about his aristocratic brethren in Skåne:
"They're a bunch of drunks and thugs with whom no learned person could ever mix "
The Danish aristocracy and the Medical Association didn't like Tycho Brahe. Thus, under the auspices of the King's Physician, a small club was formed with the sole aim of bringing Tycho into disrepute, ( the so called "KAMARILLA")  Much of Tycho's bad reputation was founded here. He was a heretic, a satanist, he ate children, tortured farmers and used people in medical experiments etc..  There was no end to how evil the man was. Much of this imaginative slander still lives on today..
That Hven's population didn't take to Tycho was almost inevitable. What would you think of having to give up your days for 8 years of uninterrupted building and labouring? Of being forced to do what your feudal overlord commanded? The islanders began deserting the island. Hard up for labourers, Tycho was forced, after consulting the King, to pass a law forbidding the islanders to leave Hven without the King's or Tycho's express permission. This "stroke of genius" was less than popular!
In general though, Tycho Brahe as a tyrant was probably somewhat more lenient
than the normal run-of-the-mill Danish noblemen who otherwise ruled Skåne

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