Saturday, April 27, 2013

Tycho

Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer who lived in the 16th century. He observed a supernova in 1592, and unlike most of his contemporaries, asserted that the star was further away than the moon. He coined the term 'Nova' to describe what we now call Supernovas. Tycho lost part of his nose during a duel over a mathematics formula, and often wore a false nose made of various metals, depending on the occasion. There are craters on the moon and on Mars that are named for him.

Tycho Celchu is a character in the Star Wars universe. He was a native of Alderaan, and he lost his entire family when the planet was destroyed by the Death Star. He was a member of the Imperial Navy at the time, but the destruction of his world spurred him to join the Rebel Alliance as a starfighter pilot. He later continued to serve as a pilot for the New Republic. He eventually became a General in the Galactic Alliance Defense Force.

There are characters named Tycho in the computer games Fallout and Marathon, and in the Warhammer 40,000 game.

Tycho is a Greek name that means "hitting the mark". I think the fact that it can be shortened to the modern nickname 'Ty', makes this name a little less archaic. In 2011, 13 boys in the United States were named Tycho.

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