SEMAINE D'ÉTUDE SUR LE ROLE DY L’ANALYSE ECONOMETRIQUE ETC. 1085
2. THE SCIENTIFIC BASE OF THE ADVANCED COUNTRIES
2.1. The scientific base of the modern age can be appre-
ciated by even a brief review of the recent history of the
advanced countries. Four hundred years ago the generally
accepted view was that the earth was at the centre of the
universe; the position of human beings was unique and
supreme; and the highest sanction of truth was either divine
revelation or abstract logical reasoning in the mind of man. In
the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, there was a com-
plete revolution in the picture of the physical world; the earth
was seen as a small planet moving round the sun; and the
method of empirical observations and experimentation was
gradually established in both physical and life sciences.
2.2. Progress was at first slow in the sixteenth century. A
few selected names may be recalled to indicate the gradual
transformation of ideas. In astronomy, Nicholas Copernicus
(1473-1543) supported the view that the planets including the
earth itself were revolving in orbits round the sun; Tycho Brahe
1546-1601) supplied astronomical observations of unpreced-
anted accuracy to make the next steps possible; JoHANN KEPLER
1571-1630) formulated the descriptive laws of planetary
motion; and GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642) made conscious
propaganda in favour of the new philosophy of the universe.
[n anatomy, ANDREAS VESALIUS (1514-1564) published his
observations on the human body in 1543; in physics, WILLIAM
GILBERT (1544-1603) gave an account of magnetism based on
trustworthy experiments in 1600; in physiology, WILLIAM
HARVEY (1578-1657) described the circulation of the blood in
(628; JoHN NAPIER (1550-1617) supplied a convenient tool for
computation by the use of logarithms; and RENE DESCARTES
(1596-1650), a philosopher, contributed the powerful concepts
of coordinates for geometrical representation and of mathemat-
ical functions. Francis BACON ( 1561-1626), firmly stated that
1 Mahalanobis I - pag. 15
