In 1620, Francis Bacon published the Novum Organum Scientiarum, in which he formulates the first systematic protocol for producing scientific knowledge through induction: observation of particular phenomena, recording of positive and negative instances, elimination of alternative causes, and progressive generalization toward natural laws. The method reverses the Aristotelian direction of knowledge: where scholasticism deduced consequences from first principles, Bacon proceeds from observed facts toward principles. He introduces the concept of idols (idola) — systematic cognitive biases that distort judgment — as obstacles to be eliminated before beginning any inquiry. The Baconian program of collaborative, cumulative science oriented toward the mastery of nature is the institutional foundation of the Royal Society (founded 1660) and of the experimental method that has structured physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine to this day.