Researchers Uncover Hidden Elements in Mysterious Renaissance-Era Alchemy Lab

Discoveries at medieval alchemist Tycho Brahe’s former laboratory indicate he experimented with rare elements like tungsten, unknown in his time, while developing medicinal concoctions for diseases like the plague.

Medieval alchemists were notoriously secretive and didn’t share their knowledge with others. Danish astronomer and alchemist Tycho Brahe was no exception. Consequently, we don’t know precisely what he did in the alchemical laboratory located beneath his combined residence and observatory, Uraniborg, on the now-Swedish island of Ven.

Only a few of his alchemical recipes have survived and there are very few remnants of his laboratory. Uraniborg was demolished after he died in 1601, and the building materials were scattered for reuse. Only a few of his alchemical recipes have survived and there are very few remnants of his laboratory.