To err is stupid

摘要

Every scientist should be familiar with N-rays, discovered in 1903 by the French physicist Rene Blondlot. These had properties the science of the day couldn't explain, and the physics community's excited speculation won many adherents to Blondlot's claims. These faded quickly when the American physicist Robert Wood visited Blondlot's lab and showed that recording of the N-rays was not the slightest bit changed when he surreptitiously removed what was supposed to be a crucial component of the apparatus.