The Better Mathematician

Autism Acceptance Month Day 4

Yesterday, I said Ben Franklin was THE poster child and personification of Autism. That was a slight fib. Ben Franklin is one of two. Who's the other one?

Born in 1546, Danish nobleman Tycho Brahe was twenty when he lost part of his nose in a sword fight with a classmate over who was the better mathematician. Was anyone able to read that and keep a straight face? ANYONE?
Taking advantage of his royal connections, he built large naked-eye observatories that worked much like giant protractors, and over a period of three decades he used them to measure planetary positions to within 1 minute of arc-which is less than the thickness of a fingernail held at arm's length. (Bennett & Shostak, 2017.)
Tycho (what he preferred to be called) was an eccentric genius who challenged the ways of thinking of several other astronomers (probably all autistic themselves!) and his findings are still considered to be some great hallmarks of science today.