A new analysis of artifacts from Tycho Brahe’s alchemy workshop has uncovered a discovery so unexpected that it challenges the timeline of chemical history. Researchers examining glass and ceramic shards from Brahe’s underground laboratory found traces of an element that should not have appeared in any 16th century recipe: tungsten.
Tycho Brahe is best known for his astronomical observations, but he also operated a secretive medical laboratory beneath Uraniborg, his observatory fortress on the island of Ven. Like other alchemists of his era, he prepared medicines he called “secrets,” complex blends crafted for nobles and royalty. When archaeologists recovered fragments from the site in the 1980s, scientists later realized they offered a rare chance to study the material remains of Renaissance alchemy.
A team from the University of Southern Denmark and the National Museum of Denmark used mass spectrometry to analyze 31 trace elements across five shards. They found what they expected to find: copper, tin, zinc, antimony, lead, mercury, gold and other classic alchemical ingredients. But one element shocked them. Tungsten appeared in measurable quantities on a shard believed to have come from Brahe’s workshop.
Tungsten was not identified as an element until the 1780s, nearly two centuries after Brahe’s death. Its first known appearance in European chemistry was as the German substance called Wolfram. Brahe’s medical formulas were influenced by German practices, making this detail especially provocative.
“Tungsten is very mysterious,” said archaeometry expert Kaare Lund Rasmussen. “It had not been described at that time, so what should we infer from its presence on a shard from Tycho Brahe’s alchemy workshop?”
There are two explanations. Tungsten-bearing minerals could have drifted into the workspace naturally, since the element does occur in certain ores. But Rasmussen also notes that Brahe may have used a material that required tungsten without truly understanding its composition. In other words, he might have worked with a substance unknown to formal science but familiar to alchemical practice.
Brahe’s medicines were elaborate. His plague cure alone reportedly required as many as 60 ingredients, including opium, snake flesh, herbs, precious metals and oils. Alchemists believed that each metal corresponded to a planet and an organ in the human body. Gold represented the Sun and the heart, silver the Moon and the brain, copper Venus and the kidneys, iron Mars and the gallbladder. These associations shaped Renaissance medical thinking.
Where tungsten fits into that system remains a mystery. It has no known symbolic role, yet its presence suggests enrichment rather than contamination. Rasmussen says the elevated concentrations point to deliberate use, even if the purpose is lost to time.
The study also reminds us that Brahe saw astronomy and alchemy as a unified worldview. He believed celestial forces influenced earthly substances and the human body. Today, his celestial work is celebrated while his alchemy is often overlooked. These new findings show that the two sides of his career were more intertwined than many modern readers assume.
Whether tungsten was an accidental inclusion or part of a secret ingredient, it offers a rare glimpse into the hidden practices of one of history’s most influential scientific minds. Five centuries later, Brahe’s laboratory continues to keep at least one secret.
