Publisher's Synopsis
At a time of terrifyingly strict censorship by the Church, Roger Bacon risked his life for his belief: that a study of the natural world using observation and exact measurement was the surest foundation for knowledge.;Constantly under threat from the Inquisition, Bacon was banned from writing on science by his Order. Only after the shock discovery that the new Pope was his supporter was he able to petition the supreme authority of the Church. He was granted permission to begin work on his encyclopaedia of knowledge, covering everything from optics to alchemy. Before he could read the introductory volumes, Bacon's protector, Pope Clement IV, died. Bacon was accused of being a schismatic and thrown into solitary confinement for years.;After his death legend transformed Bacon into a mythical sorcerer, Doctor Mirabilis, but it was his intellectual achievements that were truly wonderful. His books were the first flowering of the scientific knowledge that would transform our world.
