Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount Saint Alban, KC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist and author. He is known as the Father of Empiricism and famously died of pneumonia contracted while studying the effects of freezing on the preservation of meat. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Although his political career ended in disgrace, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific method and pioneer in the scientific revolution.

His works established and popularized deductive methodologies for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method or simply, the scientific method. His demand for a planned procedure of investigating all things natural marked a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, much of which still surrounds conceptions of proper methodology today. His dedication probably led to his death so bringing him into a rare historical group of scientists who were killed by their own experiments.

Bacon was knighted in 1603, created Baron Verulam in 1618, and Viscount St Alban in 1621; as he died without heirs both peerages became extinct upon his death.

List of published works

Many of Bacon's writings were only published after his death in 1626.

Essays (1597)

The Elements of the Common Law of England (1597)

A Declaration of the Practises & Treasons Attempted and Committed by Robert, late Earl of Essex and his Complices (1601)

Francis Bacon His Apology, in Certain Imputations Concerning the late Earl of Essex (1604) Certain Considerations Touching the Better Pacification and Edification of the Church of England (1604)

The Proficience and Advancement of Learning (1605)

Cogitata et Visa (Thoughts and Conclusions; 1607)

Redargutio Philosphiarum (The Refutation of Philosophies; 1608, published posthumously) Inquisitio Legitima de Motu (1608?, published 1653)

De sapientia veterum liber (1609)

Descriptio Globi Intellectus (1612)

Thema Coeli (1612, published 1653)

The Charge of Sir Francis Bacon, Knight, the King's Attorney-General, Touching Duels (1614) The Wisdom of the Ancients (1619)

De Principiis atque Originibus (1620, published 1653)

Novum Organum (1620)

The History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh (1622)

Historia Naturalis et Experimentalis (1623)[33]

Apophthegms, New and Old (1625)

The Translation of Certain Psalms (1625)

New Atlantis (1626)

De Augmentis Scientiarium (1623)

Sylva Sylvarum (1623, published 1627)

Scripta in naturali et universli philisophia (pub. 1653)

Baconiana, Or Certain Genuine Remains Of Sr. Francis Bacon (pub. 1679)