Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St. Alban [1][a] KC, (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626),[2] was an English philosopher, statesman, and author. He has been described as one of the greatest thinkers ever whose ideas have changed the way people think.[2]
Francis Bacon | |
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 Francis Bacon | |
| Born | 22 January 1561 Strand, London, England |
| Died | 9 April 1626 |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia |
| Nationality | English |
| Alma mater | Cambridge University |
| Era | English Renaissance, The Scientific Revolution, The Enlightenment Era |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Renaissance Philosophy, Empiricism |
Influences
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Influenced
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Life
He was born in London, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, and the nephew of Queen Elizabeth's advisor, William Cecil.[2] He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. His first job was as a lawyer. He later became a Member of Parliament and in 1586 he took a leading part in having Mary Queen of Scots executed.[2] He became a friend of Robert Deveraux, the Earl of Essex, in 1591, and received many valuable gifts from him.[2] After Essex led a rebellion against the Queen, Bacon was one of the people who led the investigation which led to Essex's Execution in 1601.
Bacon was often in trouble for spending too much, and in 1601 he was arrested for debt.[2] When King James became king in 1603, Bacon's position improved. He was knighted in 1603. He was one of the people who argued for the joining of England and Scotland together as one country, which happened after his lifetime, in the 1700s. Bacon married Alice Barnham in 1606, and the next year he was made the Solicitor General.[2] He continued to be given better paying positions including Attorney General, Lord Keeper, and Lord Chancellor.
He was made Baron Verulam in 1618, and Viscount St Albans in 1621. Because he did not have children both titles ended when he died.
He used his positions to make more money for himself, and in 1621 the Parliament found that he was corrupt. He was fined £40,000 and removed from all his jobs. King James overturned the fine, but he was kept as a prisoner in the Tower of London for a while.[2]
Studies
He became best known as a leading thinker in new ways of looking at the world. His writings started and made famous a way of thinking about science. This way of thinking is now called the Baconian method. It is based on looking at the world by making experiments. After watching the results the scientist comes up with an idea to explain what has happened. This idea or hypothesis is then further tested by more experiments. This way of thinking about science is called inductive methodology. In Bacon's time these methods were linked with magic including hermeticism and alchemy. Alchemy was the study of fire, earth, water and air. Alchemists tried to make gold from lead.
Francis Bacon Media
A young Francis Bacon depicted in a National Portrait Gallery painting; the inscription around Bacon's head reads: Si tabula daretur digna animum mallem, Latin for "If one could but paint his mind".
The Italianate entry to York House, built around 1626 in Strand, the year of Bacon's death
Bacon's statue at Gray's Inn in London's South Square
Memorial to Bacon in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge
Bacon and members of Parliament on the day of his 1621 political fall
Engraving of Alice Barnham
Monument to Bacon at his burial place in St Michael's Church in St Albans
Sylva sylvarum, Bacon's history of ten centuries
Front page of a 1651 copy of Sylva sylvarum
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Notes
- ↑ There is some confusion over the spelling of "Viscount St. Alban" Some sources such as the Dictionary of National Biography (1885) and the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed., 1911) spell the title with "St. Albans" others such as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2007) spell it "St. Alban" ( Fowler 1885, p. 346; Chisholm 1911; Peltonen 2007).
Other websites
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Definitions from Wiktionary |
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Media from Commons |
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News stories from Wikinews |
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Quotations from Wikiquote |
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Source texts from Wikisource |
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Textbooks from Wikibooks |
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Learning resources from Wikiversity |
- Archival material relating to Francis Bacon listed at the UK National Archives
- Francis Bacon entry by Juergen Klein in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Works by Francis Bacon at Project Gutenberg
- The Francis Bacon Society Archived 2019-05-03 at the Wayback Machine
- Contains the New Organon, slightly modified for easier reading
- Francis Bacon of Verulam. Realistic Philosophy and its Age (1857) by Kuno Fischer and John Oxenford in English
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Thomas Egerton |
Lord High Chancellor 1617–1621 |
Succeeded by In Commission |
| Preceded by Henry Hobart |
Attorney General of England and Wales 1613–1617 |
Succeeded by Henry Yelverton |
| Parliament of England (to 1707) | ||
| Preceded by Miles Sandys |
Member of Parliament for Taunton 1586–1588 |
Succeeded by William Aubrey |
| Preceded by Arthur Atye |
Member of Parliament for Liverpool 1588–1594 |
Succeeded by Thomas Gerard |
| Preceded by William Fleetwood |
Member of Parliament for Middlesex 1594–1598 |
Succeeded by Sir John Peyton |
| Peerage of England | ||
| New title Title granted by
James I of England |
Baron Verulam 1618–1626 |
Extinct |
| New title Title granted by
James I of England |
Viscount St Alban 1621–1626 | |