In 1584, while living in the household of Michel de Castelnau, the French Ambassador to the court of Queen Elizabeth of England, Giordano Bruno completed three books of cosmological dialogues: The Ash Wednesday Supper; On Cause, Principle and Unity; and the current volume, On the Infinite, the Universe and the Worlds. Drawing on the work of Lucretius, Nicholas da Cusa, Nicholas Copernicus and others, Bruno developed the theory of an infinitely extensive universe, filled with stars like our sun and planets like our own.Giordano Bruno's heretical ideas and forceful personality led to a turbulent life in which he travelled to most of the great academic and cultural centers of Europe, culminating in his trial and execution by the Roman Inquisition in 1600.Recently, this work and Giordano Bruno were referenced in the new series of Cosmos.

What happened before the primordial fire of the Big Bang: a theory about the ultimate origin of the universe. In the beginning was the Big Bang: an unimaginably hot fire almost fourteen billion years ago in which the first elements were forged. The physical theory of the hot nascent universe—the Big Bang—was one of the most consequential developments in twentieth-century science. And yet it leaves many questions unanswered: Why is the universe so big? Why is it so old? What is the origin of structure in the cosmos? In An Infinity of Worlds, physicist Will Kinney explains a more recent theory that may hold the answers to these questions and even explain the ultimate origins of the universe: cosmic inflation, before the primordial fire of the Big Bang. Kinney argues that cosmic inflation is a transformational idea in cosmology, changing our picture of the basic structure of the cosmos and raising unavoidable questions about what we mean by a scientific theory. He explains that inflation is a remarkable unification of inner space and outer space, in which the physics of the very large (the cosmos) meets the physics of the very small (elementary particles and fields), closing in a full circle at the first moment of time. With quantum uncertainty its fundamental feature, this new picture of cosmic origins introduces the possibility that the origin of the universe was of a quantum nature. Kinney considers the consequences of eternal cosmic inflation. Can we come to terms with the possibility that our entire observable universe is one of infinitely many, forever hidden from our view?

'Science has never had an advocate quite like David Deutsch ... A computational physicist on a par with his touchstones Alan Turing and Richard Feynman, and a philosopher in the line of his greatest hero, Karl Popper. His arguments are so clear that to read him is to experience the thrill of the highest level of discourse available on this planet and to understand it' Peter Forbes, Independent In our search for truth, how far have we advanced? This uniquely human quest for good explanations has driven amazing improvements in everything from scientific understanding and technology to politics, moral values and human welfare. But will progress end, either in catastrophe or completion - or will it continue infinitely? In this profound and seminal book, David Deutsch explores the furthest reaches of our current understanding, taking in the Infinity Hotel, supernovae and the nature of optimism, to instill in all of us a wonder at what we have achieved - and the fact that this is only the beginning of humanity's infinite possibility. 'This is Deutsch at his most ambitious, seeking to understand the implications of our scientific explanations of the world ... I enthusiastically recommend this rich, wide-ranging and elegantly written exposition of the unique insights of one of our most original intellectuals' Michael Berry, Times Higher Education Supplement 'Bold ... profound ... provocative and persuasive' Economist 'David Deutsch may well go down in history as one of the great scientists of our age' Scotsman

From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe by Alexandre Koyré is a profound exploration of the transition in scientific thought from the Middle Ages to the modern era. The book offers a detailed analysis of the philosophical and intellectual shifts that led to the conception of an infinite universe.

For a thousand years, infinity has proven to be a difficult and illuminating challenge for mathematicians and theologians. It certainly is the strangest idea that humans have ever thought. Where did it come from and what is it telling us about our Universe? Can there actually be infinities? Is matter infinitely divisible into ever-smaller pieces? But infinity is also the place where things happen that don't. All manner of strange paradoxes and fantasies characterize an infinite universe. If our Universe is infinite then an infinite number of exact copies of you are, at this very moment, reading an identical sentence on an identical planet somewhere else in the Universe. Now Infinity is the darling of cutting edge research, the measuring stick used by physicists, cosmologists, and mathematicians to determine the accuracy of their theories. From the paradox of Zeno’s arrow to string theory, Cambridge professor John Barrow takes us on a grand tour of this most elusive of ideas and describes with clarifying subtlety how this subject has shaped, and continues to shape, our very sense of the world in which we live. The Infinite Book is a thoroughly entertaining and completely accessible account of the biggest subject of them all–infinity.

This book is for anyone who wants a fresh approach to modern physics. Are you tired of amusing anecdotes about scientists' personal lives and eureka moments? Bored of chronological narratives of scientific progress through the ages? No longer wowed by ideas like string theory? Interested in first principles thinking and what it can do for you? This book is for you. This book is designed to take you step by step through the fundamental principles that underlie the physics of space, time, and matter. It is a how-to guide for building up our universe from first principles. By posing questions and answering them with illustrations and examples, the book shows how we can demonstrate what we know about the universe with simple concepts and thought experiments. With this book, you too can apply first principles to build up your own model of the universe and how it works, one you can take with you, and apply it to other areas of your life such as your job, business, even your relationships. There are no complicated mathematics in this book and I have minimized the amount of jargon. Thus, it is suitable anyone of any educational background from high school on. The book aims to be straightforward about how we get from simple ideas to complex physical theories. So, if you are interested in a new way of looking at the universe and are not afraid to unlearn some of what you have learned, take a look inside.