The New Atlantis

"The New Atlantis" by Francis Bacon is a utopian novel published posthumously in 1626. A European crew loses their way in the Pacific and discovers Bensalem, a mythical island where Christian piety meets scientific ambition. At its heart stands Salomon's House, a state-sponsored research institution dedicated to understanding nature's secrets and expanding human knowledge. Through encounters with the island's chaste, enlightened inhabitants, the visitors glimpse Bacon's vision for humanity's future—a society where systematic inquiry and moral virtue combine to achieve "the effecting of all things possible."