On Thu, 2011-08-11 at 14:33 -0600, Maia Cherney wrote: > Even great scientists sometimes published papers > with wrong analysis.
Absolutely (although I am not sure how high crimes and misdemeanors of Henry VIII absolve more petty criminals of responsibility): http://www.amazon.com/Claudius-Ptolemy-Professor-Robert-Newton/dp/0801819903 >From the review published by TIME: "At least one scientist has come to Ptolemy's defense. Astronomer and Science Historian Owen Gingerich of Harvard admits that the Syntaxis contains "some remarkably fishy numbers." But he is convinced that any deception was honestly motivated, and that Ptolemy, like many a modern-day scientist, merely chose to publish the data that best supported his theories." http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,919182,00.html Time to Retract The Almagest! I never liked being in the center of the Universe anyway, given the possibility of inward gravitational collapse :) -- "Hurry up before we all come back to our senses!" Julian, King of Lemurs
