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Hello, the natural philosopher Francis Bacon heralded the New Age of Science.

The frontispiece of his 1620 edition of the Instoratio Magna depicted a galleon traveling

between the metaphorical pillars of Hercules thought to lie in the Strait of Gibraltar and believed to mark the end of the known world.

The image encapsulated Bacon's desire to sail beyond the limits set by Aristotle and the curriculum of the ancient

universities towards the new continent of science. Bacon imagined practical scientists engaged

in a collaborative effort to expand a knowledge of the natural world.

But it wasn't until the turbulence of the Civil War and Commonwealth years had passed that such

a group of scientists would gather together in London for this purpose and form what became the Royal Society.

Among its early members were Robert Boyle, Robert Hook,

Christopher Wren, and Isaac Newton, who rejected dogma and insisted on practical experimentation and observation. How was the Royal Society for... and that worked, what was it about the way these group of men worked, that allowed each individual

to flourish in his own field, and how successful was the Royal Society in disseminating

the benefits of experimental science.

With me to discuss the Royal Society, Aliza Jardine, Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen

Mary University of London.

Stephen Pumphrey, Senior Lecturer in the History of Science at the University of Lancaster

and Michael Hunter, Professor of History at Birkbeck University of

of London. Stephen Pumphrey in 1626,

Francis Bacon's New Atlantis was published. Can you tell us about Bacon's vision of collaborative institutional

experimental science that was to be so influential later in the century.

Mm. Well, Bacon had a vision which we could call in many ways as a forerunner of modern science.

...