h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Tycho de Brahe - A708536
Author: Portable Chaos - U171738

Just finished this, would like everyones feedback.

Also vist www.portablechaos.com

Hi Portable. You have the beginning of a great entry here, but there's not enough of it!
A couple of points, [] need to be replaced by (),
and I don't recall seeing his name with the 'de' affixed to it (usually just Tycho Brahe) - tell us more!

well done so far, there are a lot of things in there i didn't know.

having said that, although you mention that he was an astronomer, you fail to mention that he was the greatest pre-telescopic observaional astronomer in history.

When kepler took over as astronomer on the island, it was only the acuracy of tyco brahe's observations of mars which enabled him to work out the three laws of planetary motion which today bear his name.

please note, he was working with little more than a quadrant and other primitive instruments, which makes the acuracy of his obserations even more remarkable.

So remarkable... He observed the orbit of Mercury so well it made things for Kepler (who deserves mention in this entry) a little more difficult. Mercury is not moving on an ellipsoid orbit as all the others, but due to relativistic effects (!!!) in a very circular orbit. This difference is very faint, though. Kepler swept this under the rug for a while, because he knew that Brahe's measurements were very precise.

I have also never heard of the 'de' in his name. (You should include this explicitly as - I think - this is new for most of the readers.)

BTW: What about his time in Prague?

This entry is great, it reveals some aspects of Brahe's life that are normally not available in common Bios. The man was a Freak. I didn't know that. I have learned something today.

As far as the entry is concerned, I think that some more 'solvent' text should be included to increase the reading-flow. (Oh! And some dates birth and death for example, and when in his life he moved to the island and stuff like that to make the chronology clear)

--- Just minor things. Great entry,

HELL

I thought that to keep the article accessable to the general read I would leave out the more factual based points. I felt this would enable me to keep the flow. The points of his history that I chose to write about is essentially comic.

But dates and perhaps a little bit more detail of his achievements is a good idea.

I have to say I think you need the factual stuff to make the comic aspects more amazing-without the genuinely clever stuff he did, the rest of it *can* look like buffoonery.
But definitely worth a Guide entry.

I will inculde a the soonest oppourtuniy, but I'm of to Dublin for St Patricks Day, when I get back I then have to go to a Iron Madien gig.

Oh what a sad thing... It sounds like you were being forced to go to see the Iron Maiden concert.

Up the Irons!

HELL

Irony Maideny?

Maybe the title should be 'Tycho Brahe's crazy side' OR 'The bizarre side of Tycho Brahe's life'

I would also drop the 'de' from the title and maybe include it in the text only. Because that's the way he's known all over the world.

HELL

Have just recovered from what was the worlds craziest week. Now to work........soon

Hi.
Some people do not live ordinary lives.
I have heard people in Denmark (not very often, but anyway) use the term Tycho Brahes day about a day when everything goes wrong. (It is probably a very old term. Hardly used anymore). If I remember correctly he did some kind of research into and made a list of which days were doomed to be be bad days for him. Apparently it was a long list.

Good luck with the work.

Cissdur

With what you've written here, and some more mainstream facts about his life, you'll have an excellent, very interesting entry. The guy already sounds interesting, but some more about his achievements should be mentioned.

Brahe's urinary infection that led to his death came from having to attend a long state dinner. It was considered very rude for a guest to leave the table during the meal, and Brahe had consumed a great quantity of beer or wine (not sure which.) Sitting there for so long, needing to micturate (piss) somehow strained his bladder to the point that he acquired an infection.

There's a great episode of Cosmos about Tycho Brahe that's worth checking out, if you can find it.

What a lovely way to wile away a couple of minutes!!
Liked your writing style and am now looking to adopt a tame elk as they sound a bit more likeable than most drinking buddies.
Shame about the legs, but with the fantastic developments in medicine, I could always plonk my elk on a skateboard, if it happened again.
Cheers!!
Soo