74 Account of the Founding of a * 



works of Ptolemy to be translated from Arabian into Greek, 

 and Alphonso, King of Castile, introduced the construction of 

 new astronomical tables. But it was in the sixteenth century, 

 that a new era for astronomy, as a science of observation, was 

 opened up, under the auspices of the Landgrave of Hesse, Wil- 

 liam IV., who enriched the science by a long series of observa- 

 tions ; and also procured the protection of Frederick II. of Den- 

 mark to Tycho Brache, the greatest astronomer of his time. 

 The King of Denmark gave the island of Hveen, in the Sound, 

 to this astronomer, for the purpose of there establishing the 

 first observatory of modern times, to which he gave the name of 

 Uranienbourg, all the cost and expense of which was defrayed 

 by the prince. The instruments necessary for this establish- 

 ment were constructed in a workshop appropriated to the pur- 

 pose, in which the first German tradesmen worked under the 

 eye of Tycho. He began his observations there in 1577, with 

 twenty-eight different instruments, and, with the help of many 

 assistants, continued them till 1597. This invaluable treasure 

 of observations became, in the hands of his scholar and friend 

 Kepler, the instrument by which were effected the grand disco- 

 veries concerning the true forms of the planetary orbits, and 

 concerning the laws of the movements of these planets in their 

 orbits, — discoveries which have immortalized the name of Kep- 

 ler, and which soon after gave birth, the offspring of Newton's 

 genius, to the whole of physical astronomy. After the death o 

 King Frederick, the Emperor Rudolph became the patron o 

 Tycho, and Invited him to Prague, where he was associated witl 

 Kepler. 



The extraordinary progress which astronomy made in the 

 17th century, principally by the discovery of the telescope, is 

 well known ; for by it, new means were acquired for revealing 

 to the inhabitants of the earth the wonders of the heavens. 

 Many observatories were then constructed, under the patronage 

 of enlightened princes, at Copenhagen, Paris, Greenwich, &c. ; 

 and in the following century, others arose at Manheim, Paler- 

 mo, Stockholm, and in other places. It would here occupy too 

 much space to relate all that has been done by princes, during 

 this period, for the advancement of astronomy. None can be 

 ignorant how much we are indebted for our knowledge of the 



