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{{Infobox Philosopher
| name = Francis Bacon
| region = Western philosophy
| era = [[English Renaissance]], [[The Scientific Revolution]], [[The Enlightenment Era]]
| color = #B0C4DE
| other_names =
| image = Francis_Bacon.jpg
| imagesize = 250px
| caption = Francis Bacon
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 22 January 1561
| birth_place = [[Strand, London]], England
| death_date = 9 April 1626
| death_place = [[Highgate]], [[Middlesex]], England
| death_cause = [[Pneumonia]]
| job = Lawyer, philosopher, scientist
| nationality = [[English people|English]]  
| school_tradition = [[Renaissance Philosophy]], [[Empiricism]]
|alma_mater   = [[Cambridge University]]
| influences = [[Presocratics]] ([[Democritus]], [[Empedocles]], [[Parmenides]]), [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], [[Cicero]], [[Niccolò Machiavelli]], [[Michel de Montaigne]], [[Vanoccio Biringuccio]], [[Bernard Palissy]], [[Bernardino Telesio]], [[William Gilbert (astronomer)|William Gilbert]], [[Roger Bacon]]
| influenced = [[Thomas Hobbes]], [[Isaac Newton]], [[John Locke]], [[Encyclopédistes]], [[Basil Montagu]], [[Thomas Jefferson]]
| signature = Francis Bacon Signature.svg
}}
'''Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St. Alban''' {{sfn|Peltonen|2007}}<ref name=title group=lower-alpha>There is some confusion over the spelling of "Viscount St. Alban" Some  sources such as the Dictionary of National Biography (1885) and the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed., 1911) spell the title with "St. Albans" others such as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2007) spell it "St. Alban" ({{harvnb|Fowler|1885|p=346}}; {{harvnb|Chisholm|1911}}; {{harvnb|Peltonen|2007}}).</ref> [[King's Council|KC]], (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626),<ref name="lum">{{cite web|url=http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/bacon/bio.php|title=Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)|last=Cousins|first=John W.|date=1910|work=Luminarium|accessdate=2009-10-28}}</ref> was an [[English people|English]] [[philosopher]], [[statesman]], and [[author]]. He has been described as one of the greatest thinkers ever whose ideas have changed the way people think.<ref name=lum/>
==Life==
He was born in London, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, and the nephew of Queen [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth's]] advisor, [[William Cecil]].<ref name=lum/> He was educated at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]. His first job was as a [[lawyer]]. He later became a Member of Parliament and in 1586 he took a leading part in having [[Mary (Queen of Scots)|Mary Queen of Scots]] executed.<ref name=lum/> He became a friend of Robert Deveraux, the Earl of Essex, in 1591, and received many valuable gifts from him.<ref name=lum/> After Essex led a [[rebellion]] against the Queen, Bacon was one of the people who led the investigation which led to Essex's Execution in 1601.

Bacon was often in trouble for spending too much, and in 1601 he was arrested for [[debt]].<ref name=lum/> When [[James I of England|King James]] became king in 1603, Bacon's position improved. He was knighted in 1603. He was one of the people who argued for the joining of England and Scotland together as one country, which happened after his lifetime, in the 1700s. Bacon married Alice Barnham in 1606, and the next year he was made the Solicitor General.<ref name=lum/> He continued to be given better paying positions including Attorney General, Lord Keeper, and [[Lord Chancellor]].

He was made '''Baron Verulam''' in 1618, and '''Viscount St Albans''' in 1621. Because he did not have children both titles ended when he died.

He used his positions to make more money for himself, and in 1621 the Parliament found that he was corrupt. He was fined £40,000 and removed from all his jobs. King James overturned the fine, but he was kept as a prisoner in the Tower of London for a while.<ref name=lum/>
==Studies==
He became best known as a leading thinker in new ways of looking at the world. His writings started and made famous a way of thinking about [[science]]. This way of thinking is now called the ''[[Baconian method]]''. It is based on looking at the world by making experiments. After watching the results the scientist comes up with an idea to explain what has happened. This idea or [[hypothesis]] is then further tested by more experiments. This way of thinking about science is called inductive methodology. In Bacon's time these methods were linked with [[magic]] including [[hermeticism]] and [[alchemy]]. Alchemy was the study of fire, earth, water and air. Alchemists tried to make [[gold]] from [[lead]].

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
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==Other websites==
{{Sister project links|Francis Bacon}}
*{{NRA|P1110}}
*{{sep entry|francis-bacon|Francis Bacon|Juergen Klein}}
*{{gutenberg author|id=Francis_Bacon|name=Francis Bacon}}
*[http://www.baconsocietyinc.org The Francis Bacon Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503153415/http://www.baconsocietyinc.org/ |date=2019-05-03 }}
*[http://www.earlymoderntexts.com Contains the New Organon, slightly modified for easier reading]
*[https://archive.org/details/cu31924029010219 Francis Bacon of Verulam. Realistic Philosophy and its Age]  (1857) by [[Kuno Fischer]] and [[John Oxenford]] in English
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{{succession box | title=[[Lord High Chancellor]] | before=[[Thomas Egerton, 1st Baron Ellesmere|Sir Thomas Egerton]] | after=In Commission | years=1617–1621}}
{{succession box | title=[[Attorney General of England and Wales]] | before=[[Sir Henry Hobart, 1st Baronet|Henry Hobart]] | after=[[Henry Yelverton (attorney-general)|Henry Yelverton]] | years=1613–1617}}
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{{succession box
  | title = Member of Parliament for [[Taunton (UK Parliament constituency)|Taunton]]
  | years = 1586–1588
  | before = [[Miles Sandys]]
  | after = [[William Aubrey]]
}}
{{succession box
  | title = Member of Parliament for [[Liverpool (UK Parliament constituency)|Liverpool]]
  | years = 1588–1594
  | before = Arthur Atye
  | after = Thomas Gerard
}}
{{succession box
  | title = Member of Parliament for [[Middlesex (UK Parliament constituency)|Middlesex]]
  | years = 1594–1598
  | before = William Fleetwood
  | after = [[John Peyton (soldier)|Sir John Peyton]]
}}
{{s-reg|en}}
{{s-new
 | reason = Title granted by<br /> [[James I of England]]}}
{{s-ttl
 | title = [[Baron Verulam]]
 | years = 1618–1626}}
{{s-non
 | rows= 2
 | reason= Extinct
}}
{{s-new
 | reason = Title granted by<br /> [[James I of England]]}}
{{s-ttl
 | title = [[Viscount St Alban]]
 | years = 1621–1626}}
{{s-end}}

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[[Category:1561 births]]
[[Category:1626 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century philosophers]]
[[Category:17th-century English philosophers]]
[[Category:Attorneys general]]
[[Category:Lord Chancellors]]
[[Category:Spies]]
[[Category:Writers from London]]