“In the first half of the 20th century, Francis Bacon served as a heroic figure for people far removed from Renaissance England—and often from Renaissance studies. This admirable book goes some way toward explaining his appeal: Written in the 1950s and unpublished until now, its energy and relevance are undiminished.

” —Professor Bill Sherman, Director of the Warburg Institute, LondonFrancis Bacon was considered the father of the scientific method, with his grand visions of inventing all manner of things to improve the human condition. Government investment in research, he believed, could enable and inspire these inventions.

Now comes an informal biography of Bacon in a new book,The “Crime” of Francis Bacon. It was written in the 1950s by Edgar Kemler, an author and Howard University government professor, but was never published due to Kemler’s death in 1960.

Finally made public through the efforts of the author’s son, it covers Bacon’s ascendance and fall from grace in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Among his numerous writings, Bacon detailed the use of the scientific method to aid in discovery, which fostered experimentation to arrive at conclusions rather than accepting ancient wisdoms at face value.

His interest in establishing government-funded research institutions drove his ambitions to advance his career in the government of England. Bacon eventually achieved the lofty title of Lord Chancellor, but he fell from grace due to scandals involving the illegal acceptance of gifts—even though his staff was at fault, not him personally.

Although the inventions and advances Bacon theorized did not come to pass during his lifetime, his followers continued his pursuits, including the establishment of the Royal Society. The scientific method has led to innumerable discoveries since his death, nearly 400 years ago, although there are still those today who reject scientific rationale.

___________Edgar Kemler was born in 1916 in Baltimore and attended Johns Hopkins University, graduating with a degree in philosophy in 1936. He received a graduate degree in public administration from Harvard University as a Littauer Fellow in 1941.

During this time, he published his first book, The Deflation of American Ideals: A Guide for Ethical New Dealers. With the start of World War II, Kemler became a 90-day wonder; after a shortened training period, he served as a lieutenant junior grade commander of a landing craft infantry in the Mediterranean.

At the end of the war, he married and worked on writing the history of the United States Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk, Virginia. He then moved to Washington, D.

C. , where in 1950 he wrote his second book, The Irreverent Mr.

Mencken, published by Little Brown. During the 1950s, Kemler became a Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine, publishing numerous articles.

He also fathered three children: a daughter in 1951 and twin boys in 1957. In 1957 he joined the faculty of Howard University as an instructor in government and taught until his death in 1960.

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