Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, was an English philosopher and statesman whose works are credited with developing the scientific method.
Bacon has been called the father of empiricism. His works argued that scientific knowledge could be gained purely from inductive reasoning and astute observation of nature. Most importantly, he argued science should operate using a skeptical and methodical approach to help scientists avoid self-deception. Although his specific recommendations concerning this method have fallen by the wayside, his overall idea of the need for a skeptical methodology revolutionized science.
In 1581, Bacon was elected to Parliament, where he served for the next three decades as a reformer who spoke against religious persecution. Bacon was the first recipient of the Queen's counsel designation which he received in 1597 from Elizabeth I. He also served as Attorney General of England and Wales from 1613 to 1617, and as Lord High Chancellor of England from 1617 to 1621.
His political career ended in scandal when he was charged with as many as 23 counts of corruption. Although he acknowledged accepting various gifts, these were common customs in the politics of that era, and scholars believe that the accusations were politically motivated. Even after his fall from grace, however, his philosophical and scientific writing has had a lasting and enormous influence.
Although Bacon was married to a woman, Alice Barnham, there were accounts from contemporaries of him having male lovers, as well as entries in Bacon’s diary that expressed same-sex attractions.