Bacon, Roger

Bacon, Roger (about 1214-95), scientist, probably b. Ilchester, Somerset, England.

Many different stories are told of Roger Bacon's life. It seems clear that he attended Oxford University and later became a Franciscan monk.

He studied astronomy, mathematics, physics and chemistry, and, unlike many scholars of his time, he preferred experiment to argument.

Bacon invented a magnifying glass and made some important discoveries about light.

He knew about gunpowder and put forward ideas for a flying machine.

He wrote down his knowledge in a book called Opus Majus and sent this book to the Pope. But the priest in charge of the Franciscan order said Bacon's books should not be read and kept him imprisoned in his monastery for most of the last fifteen years of his life. Yet, at the age of seventy-six, Bacon sent the Pope instructions on how to avoid growing old.