Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount of St. Alban, KC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) is an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist and author.

He serves both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England.

Although his political career ends in disgrace, he remains extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific revolution.

His works establish and popularized deductive methodologies for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method or simply, the scientific method.

His demand for a planned procedure of investigating all things natural marks a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, much of which still surrounds conceptions of proper methodology today.

Bacon is knighted in 1603, created Baron Verulam in 1618, and Viscount St Alban in 1621; as he dies without heirs both peerages become extinct upon his death.