The quarrelsome Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe died on October 24 1601, after an enormous ingestion of alcohol that his bladder couldn’t eliminate. This produced a mortal infection. He will be remembered for his scientific achievements and for the many surreal anecdotes surrounding him. He can be considered the most eccentric astronomer in History, a man whose groundbreaking scientific discoveries are on a par with his outlandish lifestyle.
Tycho Brahe was born in 1546 to Danish nobles, but at age two he was taken away to be raised by his uncle Jörgen and his wife. Tycho’s parents didn’t seem to mind. When the teenaged Tycho witnessed a solar eclipse in 1560 he was deeply impressed.
Although he had moved to Leipzig to pursue a career in Law, he soon began to spend more time with mathematics and science professors. In 1565, when his uncle died, he returned to Copenhagen and inherited a large sum of money that he spent in his astronomical research.