Asset Rotation: The Demise of Modern Portfolio Theory and the Birth of an Investment Renaissance

CHAPTER 9THE ANATOMY OF CHANGESetting Appropriate Expectations

Andreas Vesalius was a sixteenth-century Belgian anatomist and physician. While perhaps not as well known as many of the other central figures of the Renaissance period, Vesalius’s groundbreaking work in the field of anatomy provided the foundation for our modern-day understanding of the human body.

Vesalius believed that the only reliable resource for developing an in-depth understanding of the human anatomy was through direct hands-on participation in the dissection of a human corpse. At the time, this was a significant break from widely held conventions believing that studying the anatomical structure of animals could provide us with a thorough understanding of our own personal architecture.

In 1543, at the formative age of 28, Andreas Vesalius published his seminal work in what would become one of the most influential books on human anatomy ever written, De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body). With elaborately detailed pictures, Vesalius highlighted what has come to be known as the “anatomical” view of the human body, for the first time recognizing the interconnectivity and form and function of the human anatomical structure.

For years, Vesalius dealt with the mockery of other physicians regarding him as a barber. In 1551, Charles V even went so far as to commission an inquiry into the religious implications of his methods. While the claims against Vesalius’s works were ultimately dismissed, ...