Two aspects of the writings of Francis Bacon stand out:
1) He established an approach of using data gathering to develop and test scientific theories. He stressed the importance of inductive logic in generalizing from data to theory and proposed techniques for using further experimentation to look for exceptions to--and refutations of--those theories. The Platonic approach of looking within for knowledge was replaced by the Aristotelian, empirical, approach of looking out into nature for knowledge. Bacon's empirical approach helped to clearly separate science from philosophy.
2) Bacon also had some 'interesting' things to say about the relationship between science and nature. He was attorney general of King James 1 during the time of the witch trials. In speaking of the role of science, he advocated that nature be "hounded in her wanderings and made into a slave". He proposed that nature's secrets should be "tortured from her". His anti-woman, anti-nature stand reflects his culture, but it also reveals the origin of an important aspect of science that is still evident today, that the goal of science is to dominate nature. This goal, however, is more cultural than logical, it is not an inevitable consequence of the scientific method.