GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE PROPORTIONAL EIGHT SPIKE COMPASS
GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE PROPORTIONAL EIGHT SPIKE COMPASS

Author(s): Valentina Zaffino
Subject(s): History, History of ideas, Renaissance Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, 16th Century
Published by: Scientia Socialis, UAB
Keywords: Renaissance; Compass; Bruno; Mordente; Divisibility; Antwerp; Trifigura;
Summary/Abstract: The proportional eight spike compass, invented by Fabrizio Mordente (1532–1608), is an instrument that much interested Giordano Bruno (1548–1600). It could measure the infinitesimal fractions of the angular degrees and calculate the proportions between lines, geometric shapes and solids, working on the proportionality and commensurability of angles and segments. This new precision in calculations confirmed Bruno’s thesis of the existence of the physical minimum as opposed to the Aristotelian thesis of the infinite divisibility. So far scholarship has mainly tackled the philosophical and historiographical aspects of this issue; we on the other hand will investigate the mathematical and geometric implications of Bruno’s claim.

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