GIORDANO BRUNO
	Born near Naples in Italy, Giordano Bruno was a philosopher and scientist who once had been involved with the Church, but this didn't last long. Shunning the ways of the older philosophers such as Aristotle, he ran into problems with the teachings of the Catholic Church that would haunt him the rest of his days. Bruno fled Italy for England where he taught for awhile at Oxford University, but returned later to Europe, continuing to flee his enemies(The Inquistion).  He travelled extensively throughout Europe until 1592 when he was arrested for his beliefs by the Inquisition.  These consisted of beliefs in an infinite universe that was filled with an infinite numer of planets, many like the earth and of course he presumed these would be populated with intelligent life. Bruno's trial would last some seven years, but he refused to recant his beliefs and in an act that showed just how intolerant the Church was, Giordano Bruno, in 1600 was burned at the stake until dead.  What a staunch defender in the things he believed was right and what a black eye against a church who believed it a crime to think.  They would carry out this same attitude some time later against Galileo.
			BACK TO ASTRONOMERS