Roger Bacon (c.1214-1292),English natural philosopher and alchemist. Bacon studied at Oxford and Paris,and joined the Franciscan Order as a monk. Like Galileo,Bacon's bold ideas attracted persecution,and he was imprisoned for 15 years. An early proponent of the experimental method,he predicted mechanical land,air and undersea transport,suggested humans could circumnavigate the earth,and mentioned gunpowder. Bacon foreshadowed Paracelsus when he claimed that alchemy was essential to medicine. This crayon engraving,published in London in 1813,was based on a print by the Flemish engraver Aegidius Sadeler II (1570-1629) |