Remembering The Bacon Brothers
No, Not Michael & Kevin, Roger & Francis
Everything is better with Bacon — so this article has you times four. Almost everyone knows the younger Bacon… Kevin. Well actually Francis, too. You see everyone is somehow connected to him, to varying degrees. Wait Kevin? Or Francis? Actually… both. Beyond the name, and who can forget Bacon, these two duos have some interesting similarities. Interesting enough to inspire a 3–5 minute article and hopefully help you distinguish them.
One final thought before we jump in. Kevin & Michael are indeed brothers. I am not sure any DNA tests have occurred, but it is commonly accepted. Roger and Francis are not brothers, potentially not related in any meaningful physical way what so ever. Their work, on the other hand, ties them together in more ways than just their surnames.
Roger Bacon
Roger was the older of the science and philosophy Bacon brothers. He was born about 800 years ago, which is as close to an exact date as anyone can decide on. For that matter, no one is all to sure when he died, either.
What we do know is that he composed numerous works, typically called Opus to keep it clear. He was a huge fan of Aristotle, but then who isn’t? And he is the lesser known of the Brothers.
As a reference, Michael is the older of the musical Bacon brothers. No one is sure when he is going to die either… He has also composed numerous works, although they are of the musical variety. He is also the lesser known in his duo. And though I have seen no documentation to prove it, he probably is a big fan of Aristotle. I mean, come on…
Back to Roger. He was a polymath and a man of the church. He is noted for his contribution to the scientific method (a fact that ties him to Francis) and was a huge proponent of natural science. He was into calendars, optics, gunpowder, alchemy, and even linguistics. He was posthumously titled Doctor Mirabilis (which may also be his superhero name) and is often referred to as Fryer Bacon (true, and frickin’ awesome).
Michael will hopefully not be posthumously titled anything any time soon. He hasn’t invented any calendars that I am aware of but he does seem to like to play with language — calling his music Forosoco (folk, rock, soul, country).
Francis Bacon
The younger Bacon is far better known. For example, we know he was born on January 22, 1561. He was not Footloose. In fact, he was really into rules and order.
His systems would connect western thinking for centuries to come. Like his older ‘brother’ he was a ‘servant’ of the church. But his main role was as Lord Chancellor of England.
He would codify the scientific method, essentially create the Napoleonic system of law (still popular in half the world today), and author Novum Organum. He was rumored to be a writer, director, and thespian (Shakespeare). While he looks the role, most historians discount the concept. Which should not be confused with Viscount, which was one of his many titles.
Kevin, for his part, is a writer, a director, and a thespian. Although, he is not Shakespeare either. He is also a singer and songwriter like his older brother. In an odd twist, while Francis has been pulled by popular lore into the world of acting — Kevin was pulled into the world of science. He now widely associated with the Erdos number. Some have taken to calling it the Erdos-Bacon number (duh, everything is better with Bacon). Incidentally, Paul Erdos (the mathematician) has a Bacon number of 5.
Back to Francis. Francis is widely known as the Father of Science. He is a principal figure at the emergence of Romanticism. And is intellectually connected with figures like Whewell, Hobbes, and Coleridge, who intern influenced the likes of Darwin, Babbage, and Mills, who are connected with… well you get the idea.
Kevin widely known as the husband of Kyra Sedgwick, starred in numerous romantic comedies, and is six degrees from everyone in Hollywood.
Speaking of degrees… In a final twist, Francis died of pneumonia studying how to preserve meat. Frozen Bacon…
Thanks for reading! For more on Roger:
For Francis in his own words:
For more from the Bacon Brothers:
