Sadi Carnot and Paradigm Changes in Physics and Economics
- 1 Polytechnic School of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Abstract
Sadi Carnot entered the Paris Polytechnic School at a very young age. Having been born in 1796, in 1812, he entered that renowned educational institution. He studied mainly physics and economics, spending much of his time visiting industries and studying industrial organization and economics, having become an expert on trade and industry issues in several European countries. The Romanian mathematician and economist Georgescu-Roegen studied mathematics at the University of Bucharest and consolidated his training in statistics in France. He then went on to study economics under the guidance of Joseph Schumpeter, in USA, from whom he was strongly influenced. He obtained his degree in economics under Schumpeter and also became familiar with the ideas of the economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto. This training gave him great skill in applying mathematics to economics. He then adopted a markedly interdisciplinary approach in his studies and gradually moved away from orthodox economics. As his studies progressed, he began to apply the concept of entropy to economics, borrowing it from thermodynamics. For him, economics was now viewed from the perspective of natural sciences such as physics and biology.
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