Zohra Ben Salem, Ayadi Habib Biodiversity and Aquatic Ecosystems UR/11ES72 Research Unit, Department of Life Sciences Research, Sfax Faculty of Sciences, University of Sfax, Street of Soukra Km 3.5 BP 1171-PO Box 3000 Sfax, Tunisia University of Franche-Comte, Chrono-Environnement Laboratory, UMR CNRS 6249 1, Place Leclerc, F-25030 Besançon, France Journal of Coastal Life Medicine 2016; 4(7):52...

Auguste Comte is frequently ridiculed by astronomers for saying that human beings would never be able to know the physical nature and constitution of the stars. His philosophy, however, influenced scientists throughout his lifetime and for over a century after his death. That influence is traced here in the work of three outstanding scientists who spanned, roughly speaking, three successive gen...