The insights and breakthroughs of the Scientific Revolution had little or no practical impact on the lives of ordinary people during the early modern era. Nor did most of the scientific thinkers of the age intend that they should. Indeed, they described themselves not as scientists but as natural philosophers, as individuals who sought to contribute to the branch of philosophy concerned with the workings of the universe. Nonetheless, from the late sixteenth century on, the idea that science might have implications for the nature and quality of human life began to gain currency. Francis Bacon, whose work is excerpted below, was an early proponent of the practical application of science. By the eighteenth century, rulers like Peter the Great of Russia, influenced by Enlightenment ideas about the connection between reason and progress, had begun to take active steps to put science in the service of society and the state. As you read the documents included in this feature, reflect on the purpose of scientific inquiry. How might Bacon have defined that purpose? What about Peter the Great?