Heavenly Intrigue : Johannes Kepler, Tycho Brahe, and the Murder <truncated>

Amazon.com ^ | may 18, 2004 | Joshua Gilder, Anne-Lee Gilder

[Virginia-American]

Johannes Kepler changed forever our understanding of the universe. Through his efforts to chart the orbits of the planets—elliptical, not circular—Kepler became one of the most important astronomers of all time. His contributions continued as he laid the groundwork for the discovery of gravitation, setting physics on the course of revelation it follows to this day.

Yet if it hadn't been for the now lesser known Tycho Brahe, the Royal Court Mathematician at Prague, the man for whom Kepler worked, Kepler would be a mere footnote in today's science books. Brahe was the foremost astronomer of his era and one of the first great systematic empirical thinkers and earliest founders of the modern scientific method. His forty years of planetary observations—an unparalleled treasure of empirical data—contained the key to Kepler's monumental revelation of elliptical orbit.

These observations, essential to Kepler's breakthrough, became available to Kepler only after Brahe's death. This groundbreaking history portrays the stormy collaboration of these two astronomers at the turn of the seventeenth century and their shattering discoveries that would mark the transition from medieval to modern science.

Yet that is only half the story. Based on recent forensic evidence (analyzed here for the first time) and original research into the medieval/renaissance history of alchemy, and buttressed by in-depth interviews with leading historians, scientists, and medical specialists, the authors have put together shocking and compelling evidence that Tycho Brahe did not die of natural causes, as has been believed for four hundred years, but was systematically poisoned—most likely by his former assistant, Johannes Kepler.

An epic of scientific discovery, HEAVENLY INTRIGUE is a tale of protean modern astronomy, personal ambition, the search for truth and beauty amid power politics, court intrigue, superstition, and the ever present quest to reach farther into the universe.

[Virginia-American]

This book was reviewed in the Washingon Times a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't find the review on-line, and didn't see any previous FR thread about it, so I linked to Amazon and posted one of the reviews there.

Haven't read it yet, I'll wait for the paperback.

[Virginia-American]

Ping!

PH, could you please ping the science list? Thanks

[The Scourge of Yazid]

Tycho Brahe's primary pickup line:

You know, I do own my own island babe. It even has its own observatory. What say we swing by there and have a nightcap?

[null and void]

Huh? How do you cause someone else to die of a ruptured bladder? Without anyone noticing...

[The Scourge of Yazid]

Werner Heisenberg:

Ve haf are vays. Ve are Germanns ufter all. Ze Germanns allways haf dere ways.

(Begins inept construction of atomic bomb.)

[Oztrich Boy]

Tycho Brahe had no nose

But he did have a drunken moose

Those two facts were not connected, if you were wondering

(They wern't connected, even if you weren't wondering)

[The Scourge of Yazid]

Dallas Cowboys fans:

(Chanting, in unison.)

MOOOOOOSE!!!

Just non seq it baby!

-good times, G.J.P. (Jr.)

[Kirkwood]

The poisoning angle has been around for ages. But Keplar? No way.

[JamesP]

This is a silly book. Did Watson murder Crick? Wait 200 years and some knucklehead will write a book to say he did.

[PatrickHenry]

Science list Ping! This is an elite subset of the Evolution list.
See the list's description in my freeper homepage. Then FReepmail me to be added or dropped.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

A provocative thesis. Koestler's "The Sleepwalkers" provides an outstanding portrait of Kepler, and an introduction to Tycho, Copernicus and Galileo. IMHO, he is a little unfair to Ptolemy, certainly one of the greatest scientist to ever live. (Ptolemy got in the way of progress only because his achievements were so great that it took 1500 years to improve upon them. Objectively Copernicus did not improve on Ptolemy, in fact he used Ptolemy's model as the basis for his own. Today we would recognize what Copernicus did as little more than a coordinate transformation. Koppernick's main achievement was inspiring Kepler.) Koestler is in love with Kepler and he makes Kepler an appealing character. Tycho, Copernicus, Galileo all enjoyed far more financial security and social privilege than Kepler. Could a desperate Kepler have seen Tycho's demise as the solution to his problems? (He admitted to usurping Tycho's data on his death.) It cannot be ruled out.

If you don't have time or patience to wade through Koestler, Bates, Mueller and White, "Fundamentals of Astrodynamics" provides a decent synopsis (I think in chapter 2 or 3.)

[Humbug]

Are they certain Brahe wasn't taking mercury voluntarily? I'm curious since currently i'm reading a biography on John Keats and in one of his letters he writes about taking mercury to help improve his health (in a footnote it says that mercury was prescribed in the 1800s for many diseases). So could Brahe have been taking mercury under the mistaken impression that it might actually be of some benefit to him?

[Doctor Stochastic]

Today we would recognize what Copernicus did as little more than a coordinate transformation.

Actually, it's a great deal more than just a coordinate transformation. In Coprenicus's version, one has the law that "things further from the center of revolution move more slowly" for moons, planets, galaxies, etc. There is no such law for Ptomemy's version.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[longshadow]

I can see this coming to the big screen soon, as an Cameron-directed "action-suspense" thriller, starring Al Pacino as the desperate ambition-filled Kepler, and the elderly, respected, but star-crossed Brahe is played by Peter O'Toole, while Demme Moore frolics from bed to bed in the Royal Courts of Europe, providing a "love interest" angle to the proceedings. Heavy use of CGI expected. Budget estimated at $200 million+...... Insiders say a sinking boat will play a prominent role in the plot.... Hillary Clinton expected to play a cameo role as herself, as the haughty, conniving, plotting, evil bitch of the Royal castle, as Tyco's data are inexplicably discovered in her reading room two days after the statute of limitations run out on bringing murder charges.

[PatrickHenry]

You missed the key scene where Kepler stuffs the data into his pants.

[longshadow]

You missed the key scene where Kepler stuffs the data into his pants.

Wow! How "bergleresque" of him....

;-)