Photograph of an engraving of the astronomer, Tycho Brahe

Bromide print - Portrait of Tycho Brahe - from "Tycho Brahe Opera" Vol.IV (Uraniburgi, 1596)

This photograph of a portrait shows Tycho Brahe the famous Danish astronomer who helped establish modern astronomy. Taken from his own work published in 1596, it shows him in later life. He is best remembered for his naked-eye observations that formed the basis of the first new star catalogue since Antiquity. These precise measurements allowed fellow scientist, Johannes Kepler to accurately compute the orbits of the planets. Though Tycho did not believe the Earth moved around the Sun, his work provided support for the opposing view. Known as the heliocentric system, Nicholas Copernicus first proposed the concept in 1543. In contrast, Tycho thought that all the planets orbited the Sun, which along with the Moon went round a stationary Earth.