By the Francis Bacon Society
Events Communication from the University of London about 4 Events commemorating Bacon 400 held at the Senate House Library &
the Warburg Institute
“Sir Francis Bacon, 1626-2026
In 2026 we commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of one of the great thinkers of the early modern period, Sir Francis Bacon. As a philosopher, statesman, lawyer, essayist, historian and a champion of modern science, Bacon left his mark. His influence spread far afield, reaching beyond English luminaries like Thoms Hobbes and Robert Hooke to, among others, René Descartes, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Immanuel Kant and Thomas Jefferson. He is still known as ‘the father of empiricism’.
Bacon speaks to the central University of London. His polymathic interests render his activities relevant to most of the Institutes of the School of Advanced Study: Historical Research; Advanced Legal Studies; English Studies; Classical Studies; Philosophy; Languages, Cultures and Societies; and especially the Warburg Institute. In Senate House Library he is well represented by the Durning-Lawrence Library, a collection formed by a renowned Baconian which is remarkable for its many editions of Bacon’s works from around 1600 onwards, and for material pertaining to him. The library of the Francis Bacon Society complements the Durning-Lawrence books. And Bacon’s principles of empirical research reflect what a university is all about, questioning, testing, and pushing the boundaries of knowledge.
SAS and SHL are therefore delighted to commemorate Sir Francis Bacon with four events, all at 5.30 pm:
Tuesday 27 October:
Lecture: How to Make Anything Signify Anything: Sir Frances Bacon and the Cryptographic Renaissance (Bill Sherman, Warburg Institute)
Sir Frances Bacon not only published the first account of cryptography in English but also invented a cipher system of his own that proved to have a remarkable afterlife. Learn about Bacon’s invention through the eyes of the modern world’s greatest maker and breaker of codes, William F. Friedman, whose long and illustrious (if largely secret) career in military cryptanalysis began and ended with the study of Bacon’s so-called ‘biliteral cipher’.
Venue: Warburg Institute
Tuesday 3 November
Seminar: Selling and buying: Sir Francis Bacon in the antiquarian bookshop and modern research library (Robert Harding, Maggs Bros.; Aaron Pratt, Library of Congress; Karen Attar, Senate House Library)
How desirable, academically and commercially, is Baconiana? This seminar examines this question from two historical perspectives: selling on the one hand, and buying and collecting on the other.
Venue: Warburg Institute
Tuesday 10 November
Seminar: ‘Commonly the least correct’?: Opportunities and Oversights in the Editing of Francis Bacon, 1626–2026 (Richard Serjeantson, University of Cambridge)
A reflection upon the (very long) editorial history of the writings of Francis Bacon, covering changing editorial practices across the centuries, the nature and ambitions of the ongoing Oxford Francis Bacon (1996–), ; and the differential nature of editing manuscript and print. Some early Bacon editions will be on display.
Venue: Room 349, Senate House. . Booking is desirable though not essential.
Book here: Lecture: ‘Commonly the least correct’? Editing Bacon.
Tuesday 17 November
From vain philosophy to literate experience: Baconian method and the philosophy of nature (Stephen Clucas, Birkbeck, University of London, and Robert Iliffe, University of Oxford)
A discussion of Bacon’s project to reform human knowledge and establish a new foundation for science put forward in his Advancement of Learning (1605), Novum organum (1620), and other writings, and its epistemological significance.
Venue: Seng Tee Lee Centre, Senate House Library. Booking is desirable though not essential.
Book here: Acquiring knowledge Bacon’s way
All Details here:
In 2026, we commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of one of the great thinkers of the early modern period, Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626).
