Tycho Brahe dabbled in alchemy. Broken glassware is revealing his recipes

Artifacts from nan ruins of a medieval laboratory are spilling a celebrated scientist’s secrets.

A chemic study of surgery glassware belonging to 16th period Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe revealed elevated levels of nine metals, researchers study July 25 successful Heritage Science. The uncovering offers tantalizing clues to his activity successful alchemy, a precursor to modern chemistry.

The astronomer is possibly champion known for making nan first observations of supernovas and being among nan first scientists to propose that Earth orbits nan sun (SN: 12/18/99). But he besides dabbled successful alchemy. Instead of trying to make golden from little valuable elements, he developed elixirs for illustration nan medicamenta tria — a trio of medicines that contained herbs and metals.

Brahe kept his recipes secret, though, says chemist Kaare Lund Rasmussen of nan University of Southern Denmark successful Odense. What’s known astir nan medicamenta tria is based connected secondhand accounts.

Rasmussen analyzed nan chemic creation of nan edges of 1 ceramic part and 4 solid shards excavated from Brahe’s laboratory connected nan Swedish land of Ven. The chemist detected precocious levels of mercury, copper, antimony and golden — 4 metals known to person been utilized successful the medicamenta tria.

These ceramic and solid shards, excavated from nan remains of Tycho Brahe’s alchemy lab, incorporate traces of 9 metals that he whitethorn person utilized successful his work.K.L. Rasmussen and P. Grinder-Hansen/Heritage Science 2024, Lund MuseumThese ceramic and solid shards, excavated from nan remains of Tycho Brahe’s alchemy lab, incorporate traces of 9 metals that he whitethorn person utilized successful his work.K.L. Rasmussen and P. Grinder-Hansen/Heritage Science 2024, Lund Museum

No 1 part contained each 4 elements. Some of those metals were recovered connected conscionable nan exterior aliases interior sides, while others coated some sides. The vessels could person picked up nan exterior metals from accidental splashes, aliases they whitethorn person been placed wrong a larger alloy containing those elements, opportunity Rasmussen and coauthor Poul Grinder-Hansen, a historiographer astatine nan National Museum of Denmark successful Copenhagen.

The remaining 5 metals — nickel, zinc, tin, lead and tungsten — aren’t listed successful immoderate of Brahe’s preserved recipes. Because each 5 of them were recovered connected nan ceramic shard, on pinch copper and mercury, he whitethorn person utilized nan ceramic alloy to cod waste, nan researchers propose. Tin, lead, nickel and zinc were commonly utilized successful nan Renaissance world, Rasmussen says. “The astir peculiar 1 was tungsten.”

Tungsten was first purposefully isolated successful 1783, astir 200 years aft Brahe’s death. The metal’s beingness connected nan shard could beryllium coincidental, Rasmussen says. Brahe whitethorn person separated tungsten from different worldly without realizing it.

But location is simply a mini chance that nan isolation was intentional. In nan first half of nan 16th century, German mineralogist Georgius Agricola reported that nan beingness of a definite constituent (later identified arsenic tungsten) made smelting tin ore difficult. Perhaps Brahe was investigating, Rasmussen speculates.

The study is “really intriguing,” says Laure Dussubieux, a chemist astatine nan Field Museum of Natural History successful Chicago. Research connected ceramic vessels is communal because they were often utilized arsenic cookware, she says. “Much little activity has been done to understand what benignant of inorganic things mightiness person been ‘cooking.’”