Roger Bacon

Lore & Background

Roger Bacon was born in Ilchester, Somerset, England, in the early 13th century, with his birth sometimes narrowed to 1210, 1213, 1214, 1215, or 1220. He studied at Oxford and became a Master there, lecturing on Aristotle. In 1237 or the following decade, he taught at the University of Paris, lecturing on Latin grammar, Aristotelian logic, arithmetic, geometry, and the mathematical aspects of astronomy and music. By 1256 or 1257, he became a Franciscan friar. After 1260, his activities were restricted by a statute prohibiting friars from publishing without prior approval. Through his acquaintance with Guy de Foulques, who became Pope Clement IV, Bacon secured patronage. In 1267 or 1268, he sent the Pope his major work, the Opus Majus, along with other works including an optical lens. Pope Clement died in 1268, and Bacon lost his protector. Some time within the next two years, he was apparently imprisoned or placed under house arrest, though modern scholarship finds the first reference to this imprisonment eighty years after his death and considers it less than credible. Sometime after 1278, he returned to the Franciscan House at Oxford, where he continued his studies. His last dateable writing, the Compendium Studii Theologiae, was completed in 1292, and he seems to have died shortly afterward.

Reader's Guide

Roger Bacon's significance lies in his early advocacy of empiricism and the scientific method, applying the empirical method of Ibn al-Haytham to observations in texts attributed to Aristotle. He discovered the importance of empirical testing when his results differed from those predicted by Aristotle. His linguistic work is noted for its early exposition of a universal grammar. He was partially responsible for revising the medieval university curriculum, adding optics to the traditional quadrivium. Although gunpowder was first invented in China, Bacon was the first in Europe to record its formula. In the early modern era, he was regarded as a wizard, particularly famed for the story of his mechanical or necromantic brazen head. 21st-century re-evaluations emphasize that Bacon was essentially a medieval thinker, with much of his experimental knowledge obtained from books in the scholastic tradition. His Opus Majus presented views on incorporating Aristotelian logic and science into theology, supporting Grosseteste's text-based approach. The Condemnations of 1277 banned certain philosophical doctrines, and Bacon's imprisonment, if it occurred, is now associated with his attraction to contemporary prophecies, sympathies with the radical poverty wing of the Franciscans, interest in astrological doctrines, or combative personality, rather than scientific novelties.

Did You Know?

• Roger Bacon was the first European to record the formula for gunpowder.
• He is credited as one of the earliest European advocates of the modern scientific method, along with his teacher Robert Grosseteste.
• Bacon's major work, the Opus Majus, was sent to Pope Clement IV in 1267 upon the pope's request.
• In the early modern era, he was regarded as a wizard and famed for the story of his mechanical or necromantic brazen head.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"De Secretis Operibus Artis et Naturae et de Nullitate Magise, Ch. 6, in a reference to Bacon's knowledge of gunpowder, as quoted by Thomas Thomson, The History of Chemistry (1830) Vol. 1, p. 36." — Roger Bacon "Mix together saltpetre, luru vopo vir con utriet [powdered charcoal], and sulphur, and you will make thunder and lightning, if you know the method of mixing them." — Roger Bacon "De Secretis Operibus Artis et Naturae et de Nullitate Magise, Ch. 11, in a reference to Bacon's knowledge of making gunpowder, as quoted by Thomas Thomson, The History of Chemistry (1830) Vol. 1, p. 36." — Roger Bacon "To ask the proper question is half of knowing." — Roger Bacon