Roger Bacon: The First Scientist by Brian Clegg (PDF)

Description

Back in thirteenth-century Europe, in the early years of the great universities, learning was spiced with the danger of mob violence and a terrifyingly repressive religious censorship. Roger Bacon, a humble and devout English friar, seems an unlikely figure to challenge the orthodoxy of his day – yet he risked his life to establish the basis for true knowledge.Born c.1220, Bacon was passionately interested in the natural world and how things worked. Such dangerous topics were vetoed by his Order, and it was only when a new Pope proved sympathetic that he began compiling his encyclopaedia on everything from optics to alchemy – the synopsis took a year and ran to 800,000 words and he was never to complete the work itself. Sadly, the enlightened Pope died, and Bacon was tried as a magician and incarcerated for ten years. Legend transformed Bacon into a sorcerer, ‘Doctor Mirabilis’, yet he taught that all magic was based on fraud, and his books were the first flowering of the scientific thinking that would transform our world. He advanced the understanding of optics, made geographical breakthroughs later used by Columbus, predicted everything from horseless carriages to the telescope, and stressed the importance of mathematics to science, a significance ignored for 400 years. His biggest contribution was to insist that a study of the natural world by observation and exact measurement was the surest foundation for truth. Clegg uncovers the realities of life in a medieval university and friary, setting out the shadowy facts of Bacon’s life alongside his writings. The result is both a fascinating biography and a picture of the age.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Roger Bacon (c.1219/20 – c.1292) a medieval English philosopher and Franciscan friar who is credited as introducing the modern scientific method, experiment to validate theory. Bacon was a polymath, and in 1267 wrote his 900 page treaties Opus Majus containing mathematics, optics, alchemy, and astronomy, much of it done while in prison. Brian Clegg has done an huge amount of work to put this book together, and is well worth the read.

⭐First decent book on Roger Bacon that takes into account whatever contemporary scholarship is there. A bit too much of “fill in the missing puzzle piece” kind of writing – taking speculative guesses on how he felt etc. but it makes it a bit livelier on the other hand. All in all worth reading. Best out there at the moment.

⭐The author did an excellent job of presenting Roger Bacon’s biography. I felt a bit distracted by the in depth discussions on Roger Bacon’s theories and philosophies. However, I understand that to present a complete picture of the man his beliefs and theorems need to be explained to show how far advanced and other times still backwards his ideas were. The author has spent a great amount of time researching this first great scientist of the early modern era. The author’s effort is well appreciated. Good job.

⭐This is a great read for those interested in the history of science or the intersection of science and religion. While Clegg is right to state that portion of his thesis cannot be conclusively proven, he establishes clear criteria to argue for the possibility of his thesis. The book is well researched, easy to follow, and an overall pleasant read.

⭐great book

⭐This is an excellent quick read about about someone who deserves to be better known and is too often confused with the much less scientific Francis Bacon. Brian Clegg is always entertaining as well as informative. The only reason I didn’t give it five stars is because I’m not convinced that Roger Bacon was really the first scientist, although he pointed the way.

⭐Well worth the price, IMHO.Did not know anything about Roger Bacon before buying this book, now I have a way forward.

⭐I read this as a complete newbie to roger bacon and came away as informed as i wanted to be both about his life and his work/influence.

⭐El libro Aristote and the Arabic Tradition aún no me ha llegado. NO tengo ninguna noticia de él, a pesar de que me comunicaron que lo recibiría el día 30 de noviembre.

⭐

Keywords

Free Download Roger Bacon: The First Scientist in PDF format
Roger Bacon: The First Scientist PDF Free Download
Download Roger Bacon: The First Scientist 2013 PDF Free
Roger Bacon: The First Scientist 2013 PDF Free Download
Download Roger Bacon: The First Scientist PDF
Free Download Ebook Roger Bacon: The First Scientist