Nope to all the guesses so far, although, some are really good and I think I should have thought the question through a little better.
@Sinitrena: I forgot about William of Ockham. It is a great guess, like him he was an English Franciscan friar but was born decades earlier.
@Darth: Its not Francis Bacon, but lets just say that they shared more than just their passion for science.
