A Great Dane

I haven't posted for a week now because I have been away on holiday in Denmark, visiting my friend Kim, and while I was there, I had a chance to make a pilgrimage of sorts to the island of Hven. One of my many autistic obsessions is the history of science and Hven was once the location of a famous observatory and research institute, built by the Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe.

Tycho's greatest achievement was to make extremely detailed measurements of the movements of the planets. Although he placed the Earth at the centre of the universe, his high degree of accuracy later allowed his assistant, Johannes Kepler, to demontstrate that the planets travel in elliptical orbits around the Sun. This in turn led Sir Isaac Newton to discover his theory of universal gravitation and so modern science was born.

Tycho was also known for being physically impaired, having lost part of his nose in a duel. Sadly, this fact was glossed over by the museum, missing the opportunity to promote another disabled hero. It also prevented me from finding out whether his replacement nose was really made of gold, as has been claimed, or whether a cheaper substitute metal was used. Similarly, there was no discussion of his personal hygeine so I am also unable to tell you whether or not his smell was terrible. (Sorry - I couldn't resist it!)