Francis Bacon: In a time where the scientific method has largely been abandoned, it is imperative that we remember the core ideals of this brilliant philosopher.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was a philosopher, author, courtier, statesman, and scientist. He was a very influential figure in the Scientific Revolution and rose to serve as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England.<br><br>Prior to the Enlightenment, knowledge was often gained through a combination of religious dogma, folk knowledge, and word of mouth. Bacon intended to rework the methods of scientific inquiry to allow for the direct observation of nature and implement a more systematic approach.<br><br>"The advancement of science is spontaneous in virtue of no instinct. Instead, it is very much like the induction which takes place in the case of certain animals which increase their vigor and instinct in proportion to the regularity of their feeding, however dull-witted they are by nature."<br><br>Bacon sought to design an inductive method that surveyed all facts of natural history before making any generalizations from them.<br><br>He took a great interest in knowledge acquisition and created a method to facilitate it: "We have only to follow and as it were hound nature in her wanderings, and you will be able when you like to lead and drive her afterwards to the same place again."<br><br>In "New Atlantis", Bacon designed an imaginary institution of "generous and enterprising" scientists, who were to carry out the Salomon's House motto: "The knowledge of Causes, and secret motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of Human Empire, to the effecting of all things possible."<br><br>He wrote: "Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. Nature to be commanded must be obeyed; and that which in contemplation is as the cause is in operation as the rule."<br><br>Bacon laid the foundation of modern science. He was among the first great writers of the English language, and one of the most influential thinkers of all time.