School Programs

Renaissance, Tycho, Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler, a time of great ideas and great issues. But how could they spread their thoughts and ideas? Books were expensive, unusual and awkward. Transport as well. Letter correspondence was the quickest and most effective way. Some letters and ideas have been preserved and we look closely at what they say.

In Epistolarum Astronomicarum, 1596, Tycho Brahe published the first part of his extensive correspondence. The book is printed at Uraniborg, on paper manufactured on Ven. We read parts of the book, discuss science language, letter correspondence, the art of book printing and paper manufacturing.

Hands-on workshop: Pupils produce their own paper of cotton
Deeper immersion: Latin, the poem and the ideals

In 1572 Tycho Brahe discovered a new star. According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle the Earth was in the center of the universe and the Earth circled the planets and stars along crystal spheres. These celestial spheres were considered to be eternally unchanging. Through observations, Tycho managed to prove that the “new star” occurred precisely in the same location in the heavenly realm. But how did he really do it? Tycho designed and developed several instruments for the various observations. Some were based on earlier astronomer’s ideas, while the triangular sextant, as well as their scales and scopes were his own inventions.

Hands-on workshop: Measurements and their own observations. The students try to measure with Jacob’s Staff and sextant, using degrees and angular distance. Together we also test to operate two of Tycho’s own measuring instruments; the triangular sextant and steel quadrant.

Tycho Brahe argued that every plant and mineral had been given special properties through God allowing the stars to give them power. Alchemy, Tycho wrote, was therefore an “earthly astronomy” and only the astronomical expert could understand how one would deal with alchemy, just as only those who studied alchemy could understand astronomy. For Tycho astronomy, astrology and alchemy were three different parts of one and the same science; the science of how the Earth and heaven are interrelated. At the Castle Uraniborg are the inscriptions “When I look up, I see at the same time down” and “When I look down, I see at the same time up” – heaven and earth were each other’s mirror image.

The castle was surrounded by a large garden with different medicinal plants and the basement laboratory was where Tycho mysteriously worked with their experiments. After his death his recipe collection was handed over to King Christian IV and quickly became very popular.

Hands-on workshop: Pupils are divided into two groups, patients and doctors and together they find and collect the medicinal plants that can cure diseases.

Deeper immersion: Through the role play, the students obtain an understanding of both the perception of the body and the relationship to disease and medicine during the Renaissance. Students get insight into how ideas about the body and its healing changed over time.

Why not bring the students to visit the Museum during the evening? If we’re lucky, it will even be a starry night and we can look up at the same sky as Tycho once studied. A late-night visit to the underground observatory provides an intriguing glimpse into an astronomer's night work.

Spend the night at Ven’s Camping, Ven’s hostel or the hotel Touristgården. Accommodation is booked separately.