Historical Astronomers in Context

Tycho Brahe (December 14th, 1546 – October 24th, 1601)

Tycho Brahe was known as the last great “naked-eye” astronomer. He did all of his research without the aid of telescopes and was still able to be more precise than any of his predecessors. Much of his work revolved around studying the moon and other objects within our solar system. Along with improving on existing astronomical measurements, Brahe put forth a theory stating that the Sun and the Moon both revolved around the Earth while the rest of the planets orbited the sun. Much of his work was pasted on to his assistant, Johannes Kepler, who used Brahe’s measurements to prove many of his famous discoveries. More info here

Historical events during Brahe’s life

1. 1. October 1582: The Gregorian calendar is introduced by Pope Gregory XIII. This new calendar was introduced so that certain holidays (namely Easter) would always occur at the same time of year. Over time, this calendar would become the most commonly used calendar across the globe. More info here
   2. 1585: The English colony of Roanoke was established in the New World. Although the colony would eventually fail, being found abandoned in 1590, it represented the first British colony founded in America. This represented a new era of British expansion as many new colonies would come in the years following the Roanoke expedition. More info here

Another famous figure alive during this time

Ivan Vasilyevich (August 25th, 1530 – March 28th, 1584)

Ivan Vasilyevich- better known as Ivan the Terrible- was crowned the first Tsar of Russia in 1547. Under his reign, Russia would conquer numerous smaller nations and transform into a multicultural empire spanning two different continents. More info here

 

Reflection

After looking into this time period more, I realized just how much change was coming about in the late 1500s. Not only were the major western powers beginning to move into the Americas, but western Europe and Asia were changing as well. Alongside these massive political changes were large-scale changes in the arts and science as well. Brahe and Kepler were working in Denmark, Galileo was working in Italy, and a playwright in England named William Shakespeare was gaining traction with his writing prowess. Whenever I had studied these people and events before, they always seemed very isolated and dispersed. Now that I have realized that they all happened in the same 50 or so years, I have begun to realize how connected these events truly were.