Image

Clegg writes about the medieval world and Bacon's investigations into optics and mathematics with a contemporary liveliness that keeps the story moving

(New Scientist)

Brian Clegg

Roger Bacon takes us back to thirteenth-century Europe, to the early years of the great universities, where 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 this unworldly man risked his life to establish the basis for true scientific knowledge.

Born around 1220, Bacon was passionately interested in the natural world and how things worked. Banned from writing on such dangerous topics by his Order, it was only when a new Pope proved sympathetic that he began compiling his encyclopaedia of knowledge, on everything from optics to alchemy - the synopsis took him a year and ran to 800,000 words, but he was never to complete the work itself. Sadly, the enlightened Pope died before he could read Bacon's remarkable work, 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 fraudulent, based on human ability to deceive, and we can recognise today that his books were the first flowering of the scientific knowledge that would transform our world. He advanced the understanding of optics, he demanded a new calendar that prefigured the Gregorian reform, 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 that would not be recognized for 400 years.

Image
Enter the name for this tabbed section: Buy a copy
Kobo
Apple UK

Apple US

Using these links earns us commission at no cost to you

Enter the name for this tabbed section: Reviews

Reviews

Roger Bacon was a polymath, prepared to think beyond the doctrine of the time, despite being constrained by the by the all pervading influence of religious dogma... The author’s talent for giving the reader an almost tangible feeling for the atmosphere of 13th Century Europe in general and of England in particular was marvellous – I found it fascinating - Professor Heinz Wolff, founder of the Brunel Institute for Bioengineering and presenter of science-based TV programmes from Great Experiments Which Changed the World to the Great Egg Race.

When science and Bacon occur in the same sentence, the Bacon meant is usually Francis ... Clegg's enthralling book launches Roger Bacon's re-revival. Ray Olson, American Library Association

In providing a readable short account of Bacon's life in the historical context of his time, Mr Clegg has performed a valuable service. The Sunday Telegraph

There is a strong case for Bacon to be given long-merited due... Clegg writes about the medieval world and Bacon's investigations into optics and mathematics with a contemporary liveliness that keeps the story moving. New Scientist

Brian Clegg uncovers the realities of life in a medieval university and friary... both a fascinating biography and a picture of the age. Education on the Internet

Enter the name for this tabbed section: Reviews

Links to purchase books earn us commission at no cost to you

To keep up to date via Facebook, click Follow Page to follow the Brian Clegg page:

Roger Bacon video

Click image to open
Stacks Image 47527
play1

Doctor Mirabilis: Roger Bacon’s Legend and Legacy

A talk by Brian on Roger Bacon at the Medieval Physics in Oxford Conference 2016
thex Created with Sketch.
See more of Brian's books
 Drop Images Here 

Stacks Image 94
Stacks Image 90
Stacks Image 47540_88
Stacks Image 47540_85
Stacks Image 47540_76
Stacks Image 47540_66
Stacks Image 47540_70
Stacks Image 47540_79
Stacks Image 47540_63
Stacks Image 47540_73
Stacks Image 47540_82
Stacks Image 47540_61
Stacks Image 47540_59
Stacks Image 57
Stacks Image 55
Stacks Image 53
Stacks Image 51
Stacks Image 3
Stacks Image 5
Stacks Image 7
Stacks Image 9
Stacks Image 11
Stacks Image 13
Stacks Image 15
Stacks Image 17
Stacks Image 19
Stacks Image 21
Stacks Image 23
Stacks Image 25
Stacks Image 27
Stacks Image 29
Stacks Image 31
Stacks Image 33
Stacks Image 35
Stacks Image 37
Stacks Image 39
Stacks Image 41
Stacks Image 43
Stacks Image 45
© Brian Clegg - Privacy Statement - Contact Brian

Subscribe to a free weekly email from Brian