Body of Tycho Brahe to be Exhumed!

1
A team of Danish and Czech experts have just been given permission to exhume the body of the famous astronomer-astrologer Tycho Brahe to resolve the mystery of his cause of death:

http://www.cphpost.dk/culture/culture/1 ... humed.html

I wonder if the legendary gold and silver nose is buried with him?

Mark
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly

2
the article wrote:Many researchers now believe he probably died of mercury poisoning ? either accidentally or deliberately by another?s hand.
This reminds me of something I read somewhere that when Newton's hair was researched they found traces of mercury. It was said that while he experimented a bit with alchemy he always used to taste a bit of his mixtures. Perhaps Tycho did the same.

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Mercury was also used medicinally though- I don't know much about forensics and poisons so I am wondering how they tell the difference, after 400 years, between traces due to medicinal use and those due to deliberate poisoning.

4
It has been an ongoing saga in Prague for number of years. The latest attempt to solve this mystery is based on a previous examination of some hair from Brahe?s moustache, which was made available for an examination to the University of Lund by the Czech National Museum in 1991. In 1996, when the study was completed: very extreme levels of Mercury were found in the sampled hair.

Recently, a new lead has emerged in the search for the killer after Peter Andersen, a Strasbourg German Studies expert, has studied all individuals who were in contact with the Prague court astronomer. He goes as far as to identify the killer: Erik Brahe, a Swedish count, a cousin of Brahe. He visited Brahe several hours before his death. But the plot thickens: apparently, the plot was hatched at the highest political level and the Danish King Christian IV was the mastermind. The motive? Love! Brahe had a long term affair with king?s mother and he (The King) was afraid that Tycho De Brahe could present a problem for him.

So, apparently the schedule of Tycho de Brahe?s last days was as follows:
October 13, 1601 ? Tycho de Brahe attends a banquet where he meets his destiny for the first time: a first attempt on his life fails probably due to a low dosage of a poison. However, it makes him sick and he is diagnosed, mistakenly, with a bladder ailment. Erik Brahe is also present at the banquet.
October 23, 1601 - Erik Brahe visits Tycho de Brahe.
October 24, 1601 -Tycho de Brahe dies roughly 13 hours after his cousin?s visit, which is exactly the time estimated for Mercury intake based on the above mentioned test of his facial hair.

As Andersen says: Erik Brahe was a sort of a double agent, working for several European governments at once. This way he was supporting his luxurious bon vivant lifestyle, while fulfilling various ?secret duties? for European nobility.

All obstacles for opening his grave at the Church of Our Lady in front of T?n were recently cleared, so let?s see how this story (14 December 1546 ? 24 October 1601) would develop further.

Paul Paral

6
Yes, I would definitely keep you informed. However, the results may not come soon. Two terms have been made available to the Danish research team lead by Jens Vellev: the first one in November 2010 and the next one in February 2011. Other points of view should be also mentioned to keep us in perspective:

1) ?Heavenly Intrigue ? a book by Joshua and Anne-Lee Gilder. They claim that none other but Kepler was actually the murderer: ?The book shows what a disturbed man Kepler actually was, and how much he was filled with self-hatred, with this longing for fame which people today might call pathological.?

2) Another theory is that Brahe administered low doses of Mercury to himself to treat his various diseases. Also, he used it regularly in his experiments as an alchemist. On the other hand: Igor Janovsky, of the Prague-based National Technical Museum, claims that there was really never any proof that there was any Mercury found in Brahe? facial hair. But he does not say how he knows that?..

3) The long held belief that Brahe died because his bladder burst during a dinner party and he was too polite to leave: it got wide spread only after Milan Kundera used it in his ?Immortality?(published in 1990).

4) A real stretch: Andersen is close to believe that DNA analysis could prove that Brahe could be actually the father of the Danish King Christian IV. Where is Shakespeare when we need him!

For interested astrologers (I cite from the Czech Radio One broadcast on Brahe from 2001): ?The major part of what we know of Tycho Brahe's library remains here in Prague, in the Klementinum. There are about 100 titles bound in fifty some volumes and these are a very precious source to see what kind of material Tycho Brahe was reading."

Paul

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This is very interesting indeed. Theory 2) was presented in Benson Bobrick's 'The Fated Sky'. Theory 4) sounds fascinating, would have been quite a rumour in those days.

As far as I know, Brahe was a stubborn man who made enemies by his difficult character and lost his nose in a duel, perhaps also his life by one..... If according to theory 1) Kepler would turn out to be his murderer, his motive could have been that he wanted to have the lists of observations of planet positions of Tycho Brahe.

We'll see in november and next year, thanks for this information Paul.

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The D Day is here: civil and religious authorities in the Czech Republic have set the date for the planned exhumation of Tycho Brahe remains from his tomb in Tyn Church in Prague. A team of Czech and Danish scientists would open the tomb on Monday, November 15. They will have five days to examine his remains. According to Czech archeologist Zdenek Dragoun: "The zinc coffin with the remains will be taken out and transferred to laboratories of the National Museum in Horni Pocernice.? The team of Danish scientists (including archaeologist Jens Vellev, from the Faculty of Humanities at Aarhus University) and Czech archaeologists will be joined by other experts, including representatives of the National Museum, the Czech Academy of Sciences, chemical specialists and medical doctors. DNA tests, CT scanning and radiation tests will be some of the many methods used to examine the remains.

So, let?s hope that the mystery of his death will be finally solved. The use of DNA methods should be very interesting in order to prove, or disprove Brahe?s link to Danish royal family, as proposed by Strasbourg-based professor Peter Andersen (however, that would probably require some additional tombs opening in Denmark). The remains will be studied until Thursday, November 18 and on Friday, November 19 they will be returned to their place in Tyn Church. A mass will be held on the occasion. No exact date is set for publishing results of these findings, yet.

Paul Paral

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The time schedule is as follows:

Monday, Nov 15, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. CET at the Tyn Church - 50?5'16.013"N, 14?25'22.029"E:
- The tomb opening
- Exploration of the tomb with a camera.
- Brahe?s Casket removal and transportation to laboratories. At the same time, remains of his wife would be exhumed and analyzed (she died in 1604).
- All textiles and all objects in the tomb would be analyzed.
- A brief press conference at the Tyn Church would be held after the exhumation.

Tuesday-Thursday (Nov 16-Nov18)
The laboratory analysis.

Friday, November 19, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.
A solemn mass will be celebrated by Prague Archbishop Exc. Mons. Dominik Duka OP, with Bohemian and Danish choirs participating. At the end of this ceremony: the remains of Brahe and his wife would be returned to the tomb and the tomb would be closed during this ceremony. The expected end of public access to the Tyn Church is at 5:00 p.m.. So, I would assume that the ceremony would end around 4:30 p.m. CET.

As far as results of the analysis are concerned: both teams of researches (Czech and Danish) maintain that the public should find out the results of findings within 4-6 months.

I will try to be there ?.
Paul Paral