Roger Bacon's Experimental Science

Time: 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Location: Chemical Heritage Foundation, 315 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106

Roger Bacon’s essay on natural philosophy, experimental science, and magic, Letter on the Secret Powers of Art and Nature, and on the Invalidity of Magic (ca. 1270s), contains almost all of the alchemical ideas that were later attributed to Bacon in the Elizabethan text, The Mirror of Alchimy, as well as speculative technology, and a detailed discussion of necromancy. In this short work Bacon explained his concept of scientia experimentalis, which he proposed as a way of harnessing natural forces to produce stunning and useful effects. Bacon used alchemy as an extended example of the promise of technology to surpass natural limits. Bacon’s ideas about the power of human art, or technology, are central to his reputation as an alchemist and a necromancer in the late 16th century, and to understanding the complex intellectual connections between medieval natural philosophy, magic, and technology and early modern natural philosophy and alchemy.

Elly Truitt is an assistant professor at Bryn Mawr College and a 2015 CHF fellow. She specializes in medieval history and science and medicine. She received her PhD in the history of science from Harvard University in 2007. Her research interests include medieval technology, the occult sciences, courtly culture, imaginary lands and faraway places, and all aspects of the strange and weird of the medieval world.

About Brown Bag Lectures

Brown Bag Lectures (BBLs) are a series of weekly informal talks on the history of chemistry or related subjects, including the history and social studies of science, technology, and medicine. Based on original research (sometimes still in progress), these talks are given by local scholars for an audience of CHF staff and fellows and interested members of the public.

For more information, please call 215.873.8289 or e-mail bbl@chemheritage.org.