Jorgen Brahe Why did Tycho grow up with his uncle, Jorgen, and not with his biological parents? According to sources, it was because Tycho's father Otte and his brother Jorgen had made some kind of deal. Jorgen and his wife were childless, so therefore Otte promised them that he would donate them a son, as soon as his wife had given birth to one. Then Tycho was born. He had a twin brother who died shortly after being birthed. After that, Tycho's parents didn't want to give away their only son, so they kept him. When Tycho was two years old, his uncle kidnapped him. As his brother had not yet fulfilled the promise (or maybe broken the promise), Jorgen decided it had gone too long and thus he took the son promised to him. However, this seems not to have caused any especially hard feelings between the brothers. Maybe Otte was just about to give Jorgen Tycho, or maybe he felt guilty that he hadn't honoured the promise from the beginning. Whatever it was, Tycho now grew up as the heir of Jorgen and his wife. Where did Tycho get his education? Tycho Brahe got some education in Latin when he was between six and twelve years old. After that he was sent to the university in Copenhagen to study philosophy and rhetoric. It was probably his uncle who convinced him to those studies in preparation to become a statesman. However, during the time when Tycho was studying in Copenhagen, a solar eclipse occurred. This made him very interested in astronomy. But his uncle didn't like that Tycho wanted to study astronomy as Jorgen thought it was not an appropriate thing to study for a nobleman. Therefore, Tycho continued his studies at the university but also studied astronomy on his spare time. After Copenhagen, he was sent to other universities in Leipzig, Wittenberg, Rostock and Basel. He probably liked his studies, but astronomy was more fun. Eventually, he devoted himself fully to astronomy on the island of Ven. On a side-note: The moose Some sources say that Tycho had a tame moose as a pet. Why he bothered having one, it does not tell, except for that he liked to show it for his guests on parties and such. Maybe Tycho liked unusual animals? Sadly, at a visit at a nobleman in Landskrona, he let the moose drink beer (maybe had he done this earlier, but this time it was fatal). The moose got drunk, fell down the stairs and died from the injuries. Tycho Brahe And his Family In the year of 1546 a little boy was born in Knutstorp. His parents, Otto Brahe and Beate Bille named him Tyge after his grandfather Tyge Brahe who was a well known landowner and a very rich man. When Tyge turned 15, he changed his name to Tycho instead, which is the latin version of the name Tyge. All though the family was very wealthy, Tycho in the early age of 2 years was raised by his uncle Jorgen Brahe. "Without my parents' knowledge, he took me when I was very young" Tycho writes later in his life. Even though he hadn't asked the parents for permission the parents didn't care, and Jorgen and his wife Inger Oxe became the new guardians of Tycho Brahe. At first they lived on Tosterup Castle in Tomelilla but after 4 years the uncle got a new "job" as the responsible of Vordingborg Castle on the south of Sjalland, so they moved there. Here Tycho started to study latin at the age of 6 years, and he became very well-read in an early age. So it's not so unexpected that he later became so interested in science and the knowledge of stars and the universe. But the thing that really made him become so interested in the universe was when he was studying at the University of Copenhagen. One night it said in the newspaper that it was going to be a solar eclipse that night and Tycho, fascinated as he was went out and saw the eclipse. He started to wonder how the papers could know when it was going to happen. And that was the "birth" of the meaning of Tycho Brahe's life. Tycho got a lot of kids with his lover; Kristine, Claus, Magdalene, Sophie, Elisabeth, Sidsel, Tyge and Jorgen. It was actually quite a big scandal about Tychos lover Kristine Jorgensdatter. She was the daughter of a priest and there for she wasn't good enough to marry Tycho. But he loved her so much that he decided to stay with her for the rest of his life anyway, and she stayed by his side, although she had to live with disgrace. She never got accepted by Tycho's family because of her background. And she had to live with shame when the people despised both her and Tycho just because Tycho didn't care about doing his society tasks and didn't care about the people that lived on Hven.