And thanks to a study published in Heritage Science, we now know a little bit more about the secrets of one alchemist in particular. It turns out that Tycho Brahe, mostly known for his study of astronomy, had his own basement laboratory for mixing medicines—including some particular elements. It's believed those shards came from the basement alchemical laboratory. While there was plenty of the expected elements on the shards (four of which were glass and one of which was ceramic)—including nickel, copper, zin, tin, antimony, gold, mercury, and lead—there was one find that surprised the experts: tungsten. “Tungsten is very mysterious,” Kaare Lund Rasmussen, archaeometry expert at the University of Southern Denmark, said in a statement. “Tungsten had not even been described at that time, so what should we infer from its presence on a shard from Tycho Brahe's alchemy workshop?” Rasmussen said that while tungsten does occur naturally in certain minerals, and could have made its way into Brahe's laboratory that way, there's another plausible theory: Brahe had a secret substance to help create his medicines for Europe's elite. Not classified as an element until the 1780s, tungsten likely first popped up in German chemistry as ‘Wolfram,' and Brahe's medicine were known to have German influence. “Maybe Tycho Brahe had heard about this and thus knew of tungsten's existence,” Rasmussen speculated. “But this is not something we know or can say based on the analyses I have done. It is merely a possible theoretical explanation for why we find tungsten in the samples.” “Most intriguing are the elements found in higher concentrations than expected,” Rasmussen said, “indicating enrichment and providing insight into the substances used in Tycho Brahe's alchemical laboratory.” “It may seem strange that Tycho Brahe was involved in both astronomy and alchemy, but when one understands his worldview, it makes sense,” said Poul Grinder-Hansen, senior researcher and museum curator at the National Museum of Denmark, in a statement. In this thinking, gold was a common ingredient for medicines of the day, including ones Brahe took. Where tungsten fits into the mix, however, isn't clear. Tim Newcomb is a journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums, sneakers, gear, infrastructure, and more for a variety of publications, including Popular Mechanics. This Culture's Language Is Global, But Not Its DNA A Building Crew Found an Iron Age Chariot Wheel Experts Found an Ancient Tomb with a Fake Door