Bacon, Francis (politician)

English philosopher, politician, and writer, a founder of modern scientific research. His works include Essays (1597, revised and augmented 1612 and 1625), characterized by pith and brevity; The Advancement of Learning (1605), a seminal work discussing scientific method; Novum Organum (1620), in which he redefined the task of natural science, seeing it as a means of empirical discovery and a method of increasing human power over nature; and The New Atlantis (1626), describing a utopian state in which scientific knowledge is systematically sought and exploited. He was briefly Lord Chancellor in 1618 but lost his post through corruption.