Answer
We are indebted to Bacon and Descartes not for new scientific discoveries, but for being the pioneers of a new method of thinking about science and doing scientific experiments-- the scientific method.
These pioneers eschewed single, isolated scientific endeavors, and visualized science as a grand national and international enterprize for human benefit. Bacon discouraged bias; he promoted objective examination of data and results for similarities, differences and trends. He believed that progress was based on making generalizations that were based on unbiased judgments about actual experimental observations..
Work Step by Step
The vision of Bacon and Descartes of science being done by a national and international community of scholars was very persuasive. So powerful was the influence of their ideas that the governments of England and France were persuaded to set up academies of sciences: The Royal Society was started in 1660, and the French Academy of Sciences was set up in 1666. We are indebted to Bacon and Descartes for new ways of thinking about science that culminated in the development of what we now call the scientific method. Furthermore, ideas were largely responsible for the establishment of national scientific societies.
