The Death of Tycho de Brahe

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe

Tycho died on October 24, 1601, several days after straining his bladder during a banquet. It had been said that to leave the banquet before it concluded would be the height of bad manners, and so he remained. His bladder, stretched to its limit, exploded; however, this is regarded as impossible by most physicians. He died after eleven agonizing days. Other sources say that he ate so much food that his digestives tracts ruptured, causing death by internal bleeding.

Recent investigations have suggested that Tycho did not die from urinary problems but most likely from mercury poisoning: toxic levels of it have been found in his hair and hair-roots. Tycho may have poisoned himself unintentionally by imbibing some mercury-containing medicine. Some have even speculated that Tycho may have been murdered, possibly by Kepler[3] - though there is no evidence for this. Yet another theory is that he was treating his syphilis with mercury leading to an overdose.

Tycho Brahe's body is currently interred in a tomb in the Church of Our Lady in front of Týn near Old Town Square near the Astronomical Clock in Prague.