Tycho de Brahe: Astronomiae Instauratae Mechanica

Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) went down in history as an astronomer primarily because of his incredibly comprehensive and precise observations of the heavens, which he carried out without the aid of any lenses — i.e., without a telescope — and which later enabled Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) to discover his groundbreaking findings on planetary motion. With his methodology of repeated and increasingly accurate measurement and reverification, which he was only able to realize with a whole bunch of assistants, he also had a decisive influence on the scientific ideal that is still valid today. None of this would have been possible without the instruments he developed. He recorded his designs in an elaborately illustrated catalog with detailed descriptions: Tycho de Brahe: Astronomiae Instauratae Mechanica. With its accurate and artistically colored, full-page woodcuts and copperplate engravings, it is without question one of the most remarkable scientific books of the Renaissance. The Saxon State Library preserves a copy of the brilliant first edition, which was printed in Wandsbek in 1598 on Brahe's own printing press.