Infinity Bridge in Stockton-on-Tees, England

© Robert Smith/Alam

It's ∞ Day!

Gustave Flaubert wrote that 'an infinity of passion can be contained in one minute.' So, if you have boundless passion for contemplating the immeasurable, a full day should offer plenty of time. August 8 (8/8) is Infinity Day since the numeral 8 looks like a tilted ∞, the common symbol for infinity first popularized in 17th-century math books. But the concept of infinity itself represents an idea much older, inherent in the countless spiritual traditions that revere eternal gods or outline endless life cycles.

The bridge in today's image, which carries foot and bike traffic over the River Tees in North East England, wasn't designed with the infinite in mind. But denizens of Stockton-on-Tees thought the tilted figure eight created by the reflected swooping structure was reminiscent enough of the infinity symbol that city leaders applied the name Infinity Bridge upon the bridge's 2008 completion.