To achieve a major breakthrough, mistakes, and even failures play an essential role.
Even geniuses make mistakes. However, sometimes these mistakes carry a certain significance, such as illuminating a mystery or impacting the thinking of entire fields.
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
Charles Darwin and the controversial theory of evolution.
Charles Darwin achieved an incredible feat by proposing the theory of natural selection in 1859. He argued that all species evolve over time from common ancestors through the process of natural selection. However, over time, in certain fields, Darwin’s doctrine has gradually shown weaknesses, inaccuracies, and insufficient reasoning.
The reason is that when Darwin developed his theory, there were still many aspects of nature that had not been thoroughly explored, and the gaps connecting various stages were too large. These gaps are now being regularly filled by modern science.
In 1866, Austrian biologist and botanist Gregor Mendel completely identified the principles of inheritance of genetic traits. As a result, the theory of natural selection “in Darwin’s style” was shaken by the straightforward and simple experiments Mendel conducted with pea plants.
Darwin’s theory of evolution is controversial and has been removed from the curriculum in many schools due to insufficient evidence to support it.
Mendel’s Three Laws of Inheritance clearly indicate that the characteristics of organisms do not change when passed on to future generations, meaning that species are preserved, and one species cannot transform into another. In contrast, Darwin did not conduct any experiments. All of his conclusions were based on hypotheses and conjectures.
This has led Darwin’s theory of evolution to gradually become a controversial hypothesis, despite being preached as a truth in many places, where students are not allowed to question or critique it. However, if it were possible to critique, one would find too many loopholes in this theory.
Kelvin’s Estimate of the Earth’s Age
William Thomson miscalculated the age of the Earth.
In the 19th century, William Thomson (also known by his British noble title, Baron Kelvin) was the first to use physics to calculate the age of the Earth and the Sun.
To do this, he based his idea on the notion that the Earth began as a molten ball and gradually cooled over time. From there, he attempted to calculate how long it would take for our planet to reach its current thermal gradient.
However, this method yielded inaccurate results, concluding that the Earth was “younger” than it actually is by about 50 times.
Later, scientists pointed out that Thomson’s figures were skewed partly because the phenomenon of radioactivity had not yet been discovered. Radioactive elements in the Earth, such as uranium and thorium, are significant sources of internal heating within our planet.
Pauling’s Triple Helix
Linus Pauling presenting alongside molecular models in 1960.
Francis Crick and James D. Watson are famous for discovering the double helix structure of DNA in 1953, but the two-time Nobel laureate Linus Pauling also proposed his own idea for the structure of DNA.
This theory was later deemed seriously flawed. Instead of the double strands twisting into a helical shape as scientists today have proven to form DNA molecules, Pauling hypothesized a structure with three intertwined strands.
Hoyle’s “Steady State” Theory
Fred Hoyle always believed the universe was in a “steady state”.
Fred Hoyle, a 20th-century astrophysicist, was one of the authors of the once-popular “steady state” theory regarding the universe. This model posits that the universe is in a state that it has always been and will always be.
Even when scientists proved that the universe is expanding, especially after the Big Bang event that occurred 13.8 billion years ago, Hoyle still rejected this idea and remained loyal to the steady state model. He argued that this is how the universe continually creates new matter to maintain its density and state.
Hoyle also vehemently opposed the idea that life began on Earth. Instead, he suggested that it came from space. This theory, called “panspermia”, posits that the seeds of life on our planet may have been brought by comets.
Einstein’s Cosmological Constant
Albert Einstein “twice wrong” with the cosmological constant.
Albert Einstein is undoubtedly one of the greatest minds in human history. But even a genius like Einstein made mistakes on several occasions.
A notable example is in the famous “Einstein equation”, which includes a term that Einstein referred to as the cosmological constant, originally conceived when he believed the universe was static.
After astronomers discovered that the universe is actually expanding, Einstein was extremely frustrated with himself. He quickly removed the “constant” from the equation.
It is said that Einstein referred to the creation of the cosmological constant as his “greatest mistake.” But in reality, Einstein’s true mistake was removing that constant. In other words, he was wrong twice.
The reason is that in 1998, after Einstein’s death, it was discovered that not only is the universe expanding, but this expansion is accelerating over time. To explain why this is happening, scientists once again incorporated the “cosmological constant” into the equations of general relativity and solved the problem.
