Giordano Bruno

In 1590, Giordano Bruno wrote a book proposing that 1) the earth is round, 2) it revolves around the sun, 3) the sun is just another star, 4) the universe is infinite and has no “center,” and 5) reality is made up of tiny particles you can’t see using the naked eye. For writing those words, he was the last man burned at the stake by the Roman Inquisition. After his death, there was simply too much evidence that he was right. The church ended their capital punishment, paving the way for Galileo to popularize these concepts (though under house arrest for many years). Bruno is, philosophically speaking, the patron saint of science and reason.