The Resilient Earth: Science, Global Warming and the Fate of Humanity by Simmons Allen & Doug L. Hoffman

Author:Simmons, Allen & Doug L. Hoffman [Simmons, Allen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science, Earth Sciences, Meteorology & Climatology
ISBN: 9781439211540
Publisher: Resilient Earth Press
Published: 2008-10-29T04:00:00+00:00

Illustration 117: Archimedes' screw. Source Chambers's Encyclopedia, 1875.

Ancient Roman historians wrote several biographies about Archimedes' life and works. Unfortunately, only a few copies of Archimedes' own writings survived through the Middle Ages. Those that did were an influential source of ideas for scientists during the Renaissance and Enlightenment. But before the Enlightenment swept over Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, bringing with it the Scientific Revolution, there were many dark times. In the backward lands of Europe following the fall of the Roman Empire, one shining light was a Franciscan Friar named Roger Bacon.

Roger Bacon, also known as Doctor Mirabilis (Latin for “wonderful teacher”), was the most famous cleric of his time. An English philosopher, who placed considerable emphasis on empiricism, he was one of the earliest European advocates of the modern scientific method. He is often considered a modern experimental scientist who emerged 500 years before the Scientific Revolution burst upon the European mind.

Bacon is thought to have been born near Ilchester in Somerset, though he has also been claimed by Bisley in Gloucestershire. His date of birth is uncertain, the only source of information being his statement in the Opus Tertium, written in 1267. In it, he wrote that forty years had passed since he first learned the alphabet. It is generally assumed that this meant 40 years had passed since he matriculated at Oxford at the age of 13, placing his birth around 1214. His family was wealthy, but his parents sided with Henry III against the rebellious English barons and lost nearly all their property. Several members of the family were driven into exile.

Roger pursued his studies at Oxford and Paris, and later became a professor at Oxford. There is no evidence he was ever awarded a doctorate—the title Doctor Mirabilis was bestowed by scholars after his death. His thinking was greatly influenced by his Oxonian masters and friends. Their influence created in him a predilection for languages, physics and the natural sciences. Bacon became an early advocate of experimental science, in an age generally thought to be hostile toward scientific ideas. Later, in Paris, he met the Franciscan Petrus Peregrinus de Maricourt, whose influence led to Bacon entering the Franciscan Order.

In 1256, he became a Franciscan Friar hoping to be assigned to a teaching post, but this was not to be. Instead, his superiors imposed other duties on him. A restless spirit, he was often in trouble with church authorities for his theological writings. In 1260, the Franciscan Order forbade him to publish any work outside of the order without special permission from higher authorities “under pain of losing the book and of fasting several days with only bread and water.”367 Despite these restraints, Bacon managed to leave behind a remarkable legacy of independent thought and inquiry.

Bacon possessed one of the most commanding intellects of his age and made many discoveries. He performed many varied experiments, which were among the earliest instances of true experimental science. His Opus Majus contains treatments of mathematics, optics, alchemy, the manufacture of gunpowder, and the positions and sizes of the celestial bodies.

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