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On his deathbed in 1601, the greatest naked-eye astronomer, Tycho Brahe, told his young colleague, Johannes Kepler, "Let me not have lived in vain." For more than thirty years, Tycho had made meticulous observations of planetary movements and the positions of the stars, from which he developed his Tychonic system of the universe-a highly original, if incorrect, scheme that attempted to reconcile the ancient belief in an unmoving Earth with Copernicus's revolutionary re-arrangement of the solar system. Tycho knew that Kepler, the brilliant young mathematician he had engaged to interpret his findings, believed in Copernicus's formation, 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; and the story of how their lives and talents were fatefully intertwined is one of the most memorable sagas in the long history of science. Set in a 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, to 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 personalities of Tycho and Kepler, and her book opens a rich window onto our place in the universe.… (more)
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The first portion of the book is devoted to Brahe's rise as an astronomer in Denmark, and Ferguson shows nicely how his position as a member of the nobility both hindered and enabled his work as an astronomer, ultimately allowing him to construct the observatory and the instruments he needed to make the best observations available at the time but presenting initial obstacles and throughout his life a series of hurdles which, in the end, he failed to negotiate successfully.
Ferguson's explanations of the astronomical questions are excellent, and the reader gets a good sense of the development of the science, both as a technical art of perfecting instruments and observational techniques and as a means of conceptualizing the universe. This latter sense is the division between Brahe and Kepler, and it is this that makes the relationship between the two dificult to conceive of as a 'partnership'. The two men do not seem to have shared much of their world view, nor did they work together in any meaningful sense. In Ferguson's telling, Brahe brought Kepler into his observatory primarily to keep an eye on him, and to serve as an implement in a turf war with another astronomer. Kepler was never allowed access to the data he needed for his work until after Brahe's death, and even then he had to contend with the Dane's successors to work on the Mars problem which ultimately overthrew the geocentric view Brahe was wedded to.
This problem, however, is only a problem if one reads subtitles: the book itself is excellent, clearly written and well-paced for the intelligent non-astronomer. Students of European history will also find plenty to mull over, as the story is continually marked by the religious strife of the period.
Another part of the story which was surprisingly prominent was the detailed description of the astronomical concepts involved in both Tycho’s and Brahe’s work. There were a lot of informative figures used to help with these explanations, as well as an appendix of astronomy terms, but there were still some times when I felt a little lost. I think part of the problem was that I don’t have much background knowledge of astronomical terms and they were used infrequently enough that I didn’t really pick them up as I read. This meant a lot of flipping back and forth to the appendix and trying to figure out exactly what the author meant whenever they were used.
The scientific mindset of the time was explained much better, particularly the way Aristotle’s and Ptolemey’s work merged with Judeo-Christian beliefs to make it “obvious” the earth stood still while the planets orbited. It was enough that I’m sure if I lived in that time period, I would have been convinced! A very interesting point the author raised was they way in which scientists of the time approached astronomy. Due to their inability to prove any of their theories, in judging the validity of any system they could only consider its’ ability to make predictions and its’ elegance. They didn’t treat these systems as realistic models of the world, but as useful mathematical tools. This, by the way, is part of the reason there wasn’t instantly a negative reaction from the church when Copernicus published his model.
Brahe and Kepler changed all that and in doing so changed the way we do science. First Tycho insisted on accuracy in measurements to a degree unheard of in his day, to the extent that he had a 20 foot quadrant built for measuring stars’ altitudes, a process which required 40 men to move the quadrant! And then Kepler, in an even more radical departure from previous work, insisted that a system be physically realistic not just mathematically convenient. Fortunately, he had Tycho’s incredibly accurate measurements to work with, allowing him to distinguish between predictions made by the Copernican and Ptolemaic models of the solar system.
As you might have guessed, I loved the focus on what these two men did for science. I also felt like I learned a lot reading this, which was particularly exciting given my initial difficulties placing the story in a historical and geographical context. There may even be some tips on reading historical non-fiction later this week to help other readers new to historical non-fiction. Finally, it was just a very interesting story… so interesting that I will be following this review with a review of Heavenly Intrigue, a lighter read sharing some new evidence that Kepler may actually have murdered Tycho in order to access his measurements! In fact, I think I’m going to go read that now :)
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.
Read Jan 2006