Circa 1168 - 1253
Chancellor Of The University Of Oxford And Bishop Of Lincoln

Linking Science and Theology. Robert Grosseteste greatly influenced English scientific thinking by directing the interests of Franciscans there toward natural philosophy and mathematics. Grosseteste (which means "of the large head") wrote some of the first commentaries on Aristotle's physical-science works and composed his own treatises on astronomy, cosmology, comets, motion, sound, heat, light, optics, and the rainbow. He is known for promoting the search for rational and consistent explanations that incorporate natural and divine evidence, and he was also was one of the first scholastic thinkers to try to reconcile the Bible and Church Fathers with the Aristotelian works that were then available in Latin.

Education and Career. By 1190, Grosseteste, who had studied at the University of Oxford, was a member of the household of Bishop William de Vere in Hereford, then a center...