Sophia Brahe

Painting of astronomer and chemist Sophia Brahe.
Credit: Gavnø

Sophia or Sophie Brahe was born sometime in the 1550's in what is now southern Sweden (what was considered Denmark at the time). Sophia was the younger sister of the notable Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe with whom she conducted astronomical observations. This sister-brother science duo was an earlier version of the Herschel siblings. Sophia's critical observations later allowed Johannes Kepler to establish his laws of planetary motion. Most of her work was carried out at her brother's observatory on the island of Hveen. In 1576, the King of Denmark had granted Tycho the island so that Tycho could build his own observatory. Sophia's observations also enabled her brother to predict and observe the lunar eclipse of December 8, 1573.

In addition to being well-versed in the fields of astronomy and chemistry, Sophia had considerable knowledge of classical ancient mythology, history, and genealogy. One of her genealogies consisting of roughly 900 pages and a collection of letter books with genealogical correspondence and reflections have survived to this day.