Blood & the Soul: Michael Servetus: Burned for Heresy-1553.
"bound to the stake with a copy of his book and manuscripts chained to his arm"
‘Bound to the stake by the iron chain, with a chaplet of straw and green twigs covered with sulphur on his head, with his long dark face, it is said that he looked like the Christ in whose name he was bound. Around his waist were tied a large bundle of manuscript and a thick octavo printed book. The torch was applied, and as the flames spread to the straw and sulphur and flashed in his eyes, there was a piercing cry that struck terror in the hearts of the bystanders…’Jesu, thou Son of the eternal God, have mercy upon me.’ 1
Michael Servetus, theologian, physician, cartographer, was the first western writer to describe the principle of pulmonary circulation. (He also wrote to John Calvin with insulting marginalia). Servetus believed 'that the universal spirit of the cosmos also pervades our vascular system', that an understanding of the movement of blood could unlock the meaning of the movement of the stars; that by understanding the breathing of man one could sense the breath of God. 2
Servetus' rejection of the Christian principle of the Trinity in his Christianismi Restitutio (after John Calvin presented 39 allegations against him during the trial) resulted in his burning as a heretic.
In 1903 a monument was erected to Servetus in Geneva. 3
References:
Bosmia, Anand, et al., 2013. “Michael Servetus (1511–1553): Physician and Heretic Who Described the Pulmonary Circulation.” International Journal of Cardiology 167 (2): 318–21. [Overview of the life of the physician and theologian Michael Servetus that discusses his analysis of pulmonary circulation. Writers have praised Servetus for his commitment to educating his colleagues about what he heralded as the truth, and criticized him for his perceived arrogance. Servetus made contributions to the fields of geography, astrology, theology, and medicine.]
Cattermole GN. “Michael Servetus: physician, Socinian, and victim.” J R Soc Med 1997; 90(11) :640–4.
Goldstone, Lawrence, and Nancy Goldstone. Out of the flames: the remarkable story of a fearless scholar, a fatal heresy, and one of the rarest books in the world. New York : Broadway Books, 2003.
Fulton, John F., and Madeline E. Stanton. Michael Servetus Humanist and Martyr, with a Bibliography of His Works and Census of Known Copies by Madeline E. Stanton. New York: H. Reichner, 1953.
Fishman AP, Richards DW. Circulation of the Blood-Men and Ideas. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964.
Osler W. Michael Servetus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1909.