Tycho Brahe dabbled in alchemy. Broken glassware is revealing his recipes

The shards contain nine metals that the medieval astronomer may have used to make elixirs

An oil painting of Tycho Brahe

Sixteenth century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe is perhaps best known for making the first observations of supernovas. But he also dabbled in alchemy, formulating secret recipes for elixirs.

Skokloster Castle

Artifacts from the ruins of a medieval laboratory are spilling a famous scientist’s secrets.

A chemical analysis of broken glassware belonging to 16th century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe revealed elevated levels of nine metals, researchers report July 25 in Heritage Science.