How could I miss Giordano Bruno?

In 2010, I was in Rome with Jacky, following a night tour. There was a brief mention of a martyr Giordano Bruno when we passed by a certain square.

Today I watched the first episode of Cosmos and there a good five minutes dedicated to Giordano Bruno.

I have a quirk, I like to take photos with memorial statutes of great people I respect. Perhaps it's an acknowledgement of their works or perhaps, it just fills an emotional need to be closer to people with ideals (creepy). All this while my traveling companions laughed at the idiocy of wanting to take photos with a of a guy who died hundred of years ago.

In my European stint, I've managed to take photos with Faraday, Curie, Newton, Copernicus and Darwin.

I deeply regret missing Bruno, when I was right there.

He found a book that questioned the edge of the Universe, which goes roughly like this (I'm just paraphrasing):

If you fired an arrow at the edge of the universe, you either end up hitting a wall or it goes on forever. If you hit a wall, it stands to reason that you might climb this wall and fire yet another arrow into infinity. The Universe must be infinite.

Hmm, don't totally agree with this thought experiment, but it was amazing that during his age where the Inquisition was active, Bruno believed in Panthesism where the grace of the Universe is identical to a God itself.

He was burnt on the stake in 1600 for heresy. According to Cosmos, he refused to change his belief despite getting tortured repeatedly by the church.

Respect.

If I ever get to visit Rome again, I won't miss Bruno again.