{"id":5965,"date":"2021-10-19T18:26:12","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T16:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1394522"},"modified":"2021-10-19T18:55:23","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T16:55:23","slug":"who-was-judi-denchs-astronomer-relative-tycho-brahe","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/who-was-judi-denchs-astronomer-relative-tycho-brahe\/","title":{"rendered":"Who was Judi Dench\u2019s astronomer relative Tycho Brahe?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Grace Henry\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 19 October 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

The BBC\u2019s Who Do You Think You Are?<\/a> returns for another episode this week, with actress Judi Dench looking into her family history.<\/p>\n

During the episode, Dame Judi discovers that she has a family connection to the play Hamlet, \u00a0in which she made her theatre debut in 1957 as Ophelia. She also learns that the son of her nine times great aunt, Tycho Brahe, was a famous astronomer, and her seven times great grandfather Steen Anderson Bille was unable to inherit his father\u2019s fortune as he was illegitimate. Despite this, Steen rose above the ranks and became a loyal soldier to the king at the time.<\/p>\n

So, just who was Tycho Brahe, and what did he do?<\/p>\n

And, how did Steen Anderson Bille establish such high military rankings despite his lack of status?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything you need to know.<\/p>\n

\""Judi\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Judi Dench<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Who was Tycho Brahe?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer, astrologer and alchemist, who was best known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical observations.<\/p>\n

Brahe was born in the then-Danish peninsula of Scania, which became part of Sweden the century afterwards. He is the son of Otto Brahe and Beate Bille \u2013 who was the sister of Judi Dench\u2019s nine times great grandfather.<\/p>\n

Described as \u201cthe first competent mind in modern astronomy to feel ardently the passion for exact empirical facts\u201d, most of Brahe\u2019s observations were more accurate than the best available observations at the time.<\/p>\n

As an heir to several of Denmark\u2019s principal noble families, he received a comprehensive education.<\/p>\n

He took an interest in astronomy and in the creation of more accurate instruments of measurement.<\/p>\n

As an astronomer, Brahe created the\u00a0Tychonic system, which\u00a0correctly saw the Moon\u00a0as orbiting\u00a0Earth, and the planets as orbiting the Sun, but erroneously considered the Sun to be orbiting the Earth.<\/p>\n

Who was Steen Anderson Bille?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Steen Andersen Bille was a Danish naval officer. He was born to an aristocrat named Anders Steensen Bille and his \u201cwife\u201d Katarina. At the time, Anders was forbidden from marrying Katarina, as she didn\u2019t come from a noble family. As a result, their children were illegitimate and Steen was unable to inherit his father\u2019s title.<\/p>\n

Despite this, he managed to establish high military rankings.<\/p>\n

To find out how Steen was able to do this when there was a \u201cglass ceiling\u201d in place for ordinary people, Dench visited the Coppenhagen Citadel, a city centre fortress, where she met with a man named Sebastien.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteen Anderson Bille was bright. He studied at the university and sought to make a fortune for himself in Italy, where he entered the service of the military, Grand Dukes of Tuscany. You could say he\u2019d been a Beefeater!\u201d he revealed.<\/p>\n

After some years, Steen returned to Denmark with a nice letter of recommendation, however there were still some boundaries in place as to how high he could rise up in the ranks.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until 1958, when a disastrous war with Sweden took place and key members in the military were wiped out, that there was an opportunity for ordinary soldiers like Steen to rise through the ranks.<\/p>\n

\u201cA year later, after the Danes repelled the Swedish attack, in 1659, the Danish King Frederick III seized the chance to end his dependence on the nobility once and for all, and Steen Anderson Bille was at the heart of this power grab,\u201d the Who Do You Think You Are? narrator<\/a>\u00a0revealed in the episode.<\/p>\n

Who Do You Think You Are? airs on Tuesdays at 9pm on BBC One. Find out what else to watch with our TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0or visit our dedicated\u00a0Documentaries<\/a>\u00a0hub.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n

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