The picture shows the English Franciscan friar, philosopher and scientist Roger Bacon (1214-1294) in his observatory at the Franciscan monastery, Oxford, England (engraving c. 1867).

Image Source: © Photos.com/ThinkstockImage Source: © Photos.com/Thinkstock

In one of his major works, The Opus Majus, he wrote: “If in other sciences we should arrive at certainty without doubt and truth without error, it behoves us to place the foundations of knowledge in mathematics.”

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