Roger Bacon, a medieval English philosopher and scholar, is believed to have been born near Ilchester, Somerset. His family was apparently wealthy. Following his studies at Oxford under Robert Grosseteste and in Paris under Peter Peregrinis, Bacon acquired a reputation for his research in philosophy, magic and alchemy. Because of these interests, Bacon was dubbed "doctor mirabilis," which translates as wonderful teacher. Bacon joined the Franciscan order sometime around 1257, but soon thereafter returned to Oxford University to pursue research in experimental science. One of his projects was an attempt to compile an encyclopedia of universal knowledge based on his three major works, but this project eventually proved to be too much of an undertaking for one man even during his lifetime. Between 1265 and 1268, Bacon was in favor with Pope Clement IV. But Bacon later earned a reputation for his outspokenness and his quarrelsome nature, and for refusing to compromise his opinions. As a result, his ideas met rejection and censorship. From 1257 onwards, he pursued studies independently of the University.
Bacon was eventually placed in a virtual prison in 1277 in Paris by the Franciscan Order for having abused all classes of society, in particular the Franciscan and Dominican orders for their educational practices. Fourteen years later, in 1292, he was released, subsequently returning to Oxford, where he died on June 11, 1292.
Although some have claimed that Bacon was the discoverer of the magnifying glass and gunpowder, they are without basis. He was however the author of several noteworthy speculations on aerial flight, mechanical air and sea transport, submarine exploration, global circumnavigation, and the construction of microscopes and telescopes.
Bacon believed that all branches of knowledge, which for him included languages, mathematics, optics, alchemy, metaphysics, and moral philosophy, were subordinate to theology. He considered knowledge to be of two types: inner knowledge of mystical origin, and practical knowledge acquired by mathematical observation and experimentation. For Bacon, these two realms of knowledge constituted experience. Bacon also considered alchemy to be the most valuable of the sciences because of its practical value.
Although Bacon never concerned himself with mathematical tables (of interest to many of his contemporaries in mathematics) in anything but a superficial way, he held to the idea that mathematics should be based on mathematical proof and that mathematics alone provides absolute certainty. Nevertheless, his writings do not appear to contain a single proof; his preference for establishing veracity was to cite an authority such as Euclid. His writings on mathematics, philosophy, and logic were not widely appreciated in his time, their significance only becoming widely recognized some centuries later. Bacon's mathematics included astronomy and astrology, as well a geometrical theory of physical causation in optics. A believer that nothing in the world could be understood without the power of geometry, Bacon not surprisingly achieved some of his most fruitful research in the field of optics.
For Bacon, mathematics held potential applications to human, divine, ecclesiastical, and state affairs.
As a scientist, Bacon held that all speculation was pointless unless the facts had first been elucidated by experimentation. He demonstrated that the presence of air is necessary to bring about combustion. He experimented with lenses for improving vision. For these and other reasons, some historians regard Bacon as the first modern scientist.
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