Why did that partial eclipse, which was not at all spectacular as a sight, have such a decisive impact on the boy? The great revelation for him, Gassendi tells us, was the predictability of astronomical events – in total contrast, one might speculate, to the unpredictability of a child’s life among the temperamental Brahes. It is not much of a psychological explanation, but it is worth noting that Brahe’s interest in the stars took from the beginning a quite different, in fact almost opposite direction from both Copernicus’ and Kepler’s. It was not a speculative interest, but a passion for
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