roger bacon

 Roger Bacon, byname Doctor Mirabilis (Latin: “Wonderful Teacher”) (born c. 1220, Ilchester, Somerset, or Bisley, Gloucester?, England—died 1292, Oxford?), English Franciscan philosopher and educational reformer who was a major medieval proponent of experimental science. Bacon studied mathematics, astronomy, optics, alchemy, and languages. He was the first European to describe in detail the process of making gunpowder, and he proposed flying machines and motorized ships and carriages. Bacon (as he himself complacently remarked) displayed a prodigious energy and zeal in the pursuit of experimental science; indeed, his studies were talked about everywhere and eventually won him a place in popular literature as a kind of wonder worker. Bacon therefore represents a historically precocious expression of the empirical spirit of experimental science, even though his actual practice of it seems to have been exaggerated.
During this period of confinement Bacon wrote his greatest work: Opus majus (major work), the Opus Majus or Opus Maius, contains treatments of mathematics, optics, alchemy, and astronomy, including theories on the positions and sizes of the celestial bodies. It is divided into seven sections: "The Four General Causes of Human Ignorance" (Causae Erroris) considers the obstacles to real wisdom and truth, "The Affinity of Philosophy with Theology" (Philosophiae cum Theologia Affinitas) concluding that theology (and particularly Holy Scripture) is the foundation of all sciences. ,"On the Usefulness of Grammar" (De Utilitate Grammaticae) contains a study of Bibilical languages, "The Usefulness of Mathematics in Physics" (Mathematicae in Physicis Utilita), "On the Science of Perspective" (De Scientia Perspectivae) The study of optics in part five seems to draw on the works of the Arab writers Kindi and Alhazen, including a discussion of the physiology of eyesight, the anatomy of the eye and the brain, and considers light, distance, position, and size, direct vision, reflected vision, and refraction, mirrors and lenses., "On Experimental Knowledge" (De Scientia Experimentali) It includes a review of alchemy and the manufacture of gunpowder and of the positions and sizes of the celestial bodies, and anticipates later inventions, such as microscopes, telescopes, spectacles, flying machines, hydraulics and steam ships, and "A Philosophy of Morality" (Moralis Philosophia). considers moral philosophy and ethics. In many ways Bacon was ahead of his time. His works mention flying machines, self-driven boats, and an "instrument small in size, which can raise and lower things of almost infinite weight." He studied the heavens. He seems to have studied the refraction (bending) of light under experimental conditions. It was not intended as a complete work but as a "persuasive preamble" (persuasio praeambula), an enormous proposal for a reform of the medieval university curriculum and the establishment of a kind of library or encyclopedia, bringing in experts to compose a collection of definitive texts on these subjects.
 The OPUS MAJUS of Roger Bacon is still used today because Opus  Majus makes a plea for the reform of education, emphasizing the rightful role of the sciences in the university curriculum and the interdependence of the various disciplines.
I choose Opus Majus because it’s one of the most influential scientific and philosophical texts and arguably the high point of medieval knowledge of the physical sciences and also becauseit  is a collection of ideas, an encyclopedia of knowledge embracing all science, including language, logic, optics, mathematics, moral philosophy, and physics. You will learn the usefulness of grammar , the usefulness of mathematics in physics and etc.