Mistakes in science

History is written by the victors, which also applies to the history of science. In this lecture, however, we will focus on the losers. The history of knowledge is paved with countless mistakes, errors, and follies. Many incorrect scientific theories and ideas were clearly nonsensical even at the time of their inception, but we often encounter concepts that were clever and beautiful, with their only flaw being their inaccuracy. This is precisely the area our lecture will focus on – Frank Wilczek (and Leonard Cohen) refer to these as beautiful losers. Incorrect theories often proved remarkably persistent and influenced the thinking of entire generations. In the process, methods and techniques were refined that continue to be used in other fields. We will focus especially on the physical and chemical sciences, such as the corpuscular theory of gravity, the vortex model of the atom, and incorrect theories related to the cracking of the genetic code.

Who is Petr Slavíček?

Professor Petr Slavíček is a physical chemist and science popularizer. He is a co-author of a world-changing discovery of a new form of energy transfer between liquid molecules, the founder of the Laboratory of Theoretical Photodynamics at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, a laureate of the Neuron Award for Young Scientists in 2016, and recipient of other honors.