Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher, astronomer, and former Dominican monk, was burned at the stake for heresy, on February 17, 1600 by the Roman Inquisition in Rome's Campo de' Fiori.
He was convicted of holding unorthodox views such as the infinity of the universe, the Copernican heliocentric model, and theological heresies like denying the divinity of Christ. Bruno refused to recant his beliefs. In 1889, a statue was erected in his honor at the site of his death, marking him as a martyr for scientific and intellectual freedom. Others believe that his charges were primarily rooted in his radical theological views and occult, magical philosophies.
