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How did Francis Bacon help develop the method of scientific induction?

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Painting by Joseph Aubert of Saint Thomas Aquinas seated with a book, wearing a halo and black and white robes, surrounded by ornate patterns in St. Stephens Church, Jerusalem. — Western philosophy Painting of scholastic philosopher St. Thomas of Aquinas by Joseph Aubert, 1900.

Francis Bacon significantly advanced the scientific method by replacing the prevailing reliance on authority and "fanciful guessing" with a rigorous, empirical approach to induction. In his work Novum Organum, he argued that previous systems failed because they relied on hasty generalizations from insufficient evidence.12

To correct this, Bacon introduced a systematic process of "gradual ascent," which involved three primary steps:

Description: The methodical observation and collection of facts.2
Tabulation: Organizing these facts into three specific "tables of discovery":
- Tables of presence: Cases where a property is found.13
- Tables of absence: Cases that are as similar as possible to the first, but where the property is missing.13
- Tables of degree: Instances where the property varies in intensity.13
Elimination: Using these tables to reject properties not connected to the phenomenon, thereby isolating the true cause or "form" of the subject.12

Bacon emphasized the "greater force of the negative instance," recognizing that a single counterexample is more conclusive in disproving a generalization than many positive instances are in confirming one. While his specific method has since been refined, his advocacy for experience as the foundation of knowledge remains a cornerstone of modern science.132