In Prague people still say: 'I do not want to die like Tycho Brahe.' This means: 'I have to go to the lavatory.' In this way the memory of the greatest astronomer of early modern Europe is daily refreshed. How the Danish nobleman Brahe or, rather, Tycho - his fame was so great in his time that, like Dante and Galileo, he is known in ours by his first name - came to expire of a burst bladder in Prague is explained, along with much else, by John Robert Christianson. The centre of gravity of Tycho's Island is Danish social history: in irresistible detail, Christianson interprets Tycho's behaviour in the context of the customs and expectations of the Danish high aristocracy.

LRB 2 November 2000 | PDF Download