he took observations pretty regularly from December 1576. On his birthday, the 14th December, he commenced a series of observations of the sun, which were steadily continued for more than twenty years.[1] Having now plenty of occupation, Tycho thought it best to decline an offer made to him the following year by the professors of the University, who on the 18th May 1577 unanimously paid him the compliment of electing him Rector of the University for the ensuing year, although it had not, since the Reformation, been customary to elect anybody to this post who was not a professor. Tycho replied on the 21st May, expressing his appreciation of the proffered honour and his regrets that the building operations and other business obliged him to decline the post offered him.[2]
Although the house was probably soon sufficiently advanced to enable Tycho to take up his residence in it, it does not appear to have been completed till the year 1580. Uraniborg was situated in the centre of a square enclosure, of which the corners pointed to the four points of the compass. The enclosure was formed by earthen walls, of which the sides were covered with stones, about 18 feet high, 16 feet thick at the base, and 248 feet from corner to corner.[3] At the middle of each wall was a semicircular bend, 73 feet in diameter, and each enclosing an arbour.[4] At the east
- ↑ "Die 14 qui mihi est natalis feci primam observationem Hvenæ ad Solem circa ipsum Solstitium hybernum et inveni alt. ☉ meridianam minimam quæ illic potest 10° 43′." Previous to this date there is only an observation of Mars on the 22nd October.
- ↑ Tycho's answer is printed in Danske Magazin, ii. p. 202, see also Rördam, Kjöbenhavns Universitets Historie, Copenhagen, 1872, vol. ii. p. 174.
- ↑ Here and in the following, English measures are always used. Tycho expresses all his measures in feet, of which one is 0.765 French foot=0.815 English foot, or in cubits of 16.1 English inches. See D'Arrest's paper on the ruins of Uraniborg in Astron. Nachrichten, No. 1718.
- ↑ On the figure on Braun's map (see above, p. 90 note) the four walls are perfectly straight, and the four arbours are in the middle of the flower-gardens. The semicircular bends were therefore later improvements.
