Tycho Brahe's Prosthetic Noses

Origin
Tycho Brahe (14 December 1546 – 24 October 1601), born Tyge Ottesen Brahe, was a Danish nobleman known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations. He was born in Scania, then part of Denmark, now part of modern-day Sweden. Tycho was well known in his lifetime as an astronomer and alchemist and has been described more recently as "the first competent mind in modern astronomy to feel ardently the passion for exact empirical facts."

Nose
While studying at the University of Rostock in Germany, on 29 December 1566 Tycho lost part of his nose in a sword duel against fellow Danish nobleman (and his third cousin), Manderup Parsberg.  Tycho had earlier quarrelled with Parsbjerg over the legitimacy of a mathematical formula, at a wedding dance at professor Lucas Bachmeister's house on the 10th, and again on the 27th. Since neither had the resources to prove the other wrong, they ended up resolving the issue with a duel. Though the two later reconciled, the duel two days later (in the dark) resulted in Tycho losing the bridge of his nose. From this event Tycho became interested in medicine and alchemy. For the rest of his life, he was said to have worn a replacement made of silver and gold, using a paste or glue to keep it attached. Some people, such as Fredric Ihren and Cecil Adams, have suggested that the false nose also had copper. Ihren wrote that when Tycho's tomb was opened on June 24, 1901, green marks were found on his skull, suggesting copper. Cecil Adams also mentions a green coloring and that medical experts examined the remains. Some historians have speculated that he wore different prosthetics for different occasions, noting that a copper nose would have been more comfortable and less heavy than a precious metal one. Nonetheless, in November 2012, Danish and Czech researchers, after chemically analyzing "a small bone sample from the nose" from the body exhumed in 2010, reported the prosthetic was "made out of brass".

Elk
Tycho was said to own one percent of the entire wealth of Denmark at one point in the 1580s. Tycho often held large social gatherings in his castle. Pierre Gassendi wrote that Tycho also had a tame elk (moose) and that his mentor the Landgrave Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel (Hesse-Cassel) asked whether there was an animal faster than a deer. Tycho replied, writing that there was none, but he could send his tame elk. When Wilhelm replied he would accept one in exchange for a horse, Tycho replied with the sad news that the elk had just died on a visit to entertain a nobleman at Landskrona. Apparently during dinner the elk had drunk a lot of beer, fallen down the stairs, and died.