- Lived:
- c. 1168–1253 · Suffolk, Oxford, and Lincoln, England
- Tradition:
- Medieval scholasticism; the Oxford school of mathematical natural philosophy
- The Big Idea:
- The universe began as a single point of light unfolding itself by mathematical law — and because nature is built out of geometry, the way to understand it is to measure, calculate, and test.
- In their words:
- "The utility of considering lines, angles and figures is the greatest, since it is impossible to understand natural philosophy without them."
- If you remember one thing:
- A poor boy from Suffolk, nicknamed "big head," bloomed late, learned Greek in his sixties, told the pope no to his face — and sketched the frame that Western experimental science would one day fill in.