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For other people named Roger Bacon, see Roger Bacon (disambiguation).

\"Doctor Mirabilis\" redirects here. For the 1964 historical novel by James Blish, see Doctor Mirabilis (novel).

Not to be confused with Francis Bacon.

\n\n

The Reverend Roger Bacon OFM
Statue of Bacon at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Born	c. 1219/20 Near Ilchester, Somerset, England
Died	c. 1292^[1]^[2] (aged about 72/73) Near Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
Nationality	English
Other names	Doctor Mirabilis
Alma mater	University of Oxford

Era	Medieval philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Scholasticism
Main interests	Theology Natural philosophy, Natural sciences, Chemistry, Biology, engineering, Mathematics, Astronomy
Notable ideas	Experimental science
\n

Roger Bacon OFM (/\u02c8be\u026ak\u0259n/;^[3] Latin: Rogerus or Rogerius Baconus, Baconis, also Frater Rogerus; c. 1219/20 \u2013 c. 1292), also known by the scholastic accolade Doctor Mirabilis, was an medieval English polymath, philosopher, scientist, theologian and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empiricism. Intertwining his Catholic faith with scientific thinking, Roger Bacon is considered one of the greatest polymaths of the medieval period. \n

In the early modern era, he was regarded as a wizard and particularly famed for the story of his mechanical or necromantic brazen head. He is credited as one of the earliest European advocates of the modern scientific method, along with his teacher Robert Grosseteste. Bacon applied the empirical method of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) to observations in texts attributed to Aristotle. Bacon discovered the importance of empirical testing when the results he obtained were different from those that would have been predicted by Aristotle.^[4]^[5]\n

His linguistic work has been heralded for its early exposition of a universal grammar, and 21st-century re-evaluations emphasise that Bacon was essentially a medieval thinker, with much of his \"experimental\" knowledge obtained from books in the scholastic tradition.^[6] He was, however, partially responsible for a revision of the medieval university curriculum, which saw the addition of optics to the traditional quadrivium.^[7]\n

Bacon's major work, the Opus Majus, was sent to Pope Clement IV in Rome in 1267 upon the pope's request. Although gunpowder was first invented and described in China, Bacon was the first in Europe to record its formula.\n

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