Old theories

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

What are some crazy things scientists used to believe?

 

[DrLeftover]

That the Earth, as it appears now, is, more or less, as it always was.

The continents were where they'd always been. There had NEVER been a planet-wide catastrophe, no Great Flood, and so on.

Story time here.

When I was in Grade School, our science books still mentioned "a land bridge" between Africa and South America to explain how similar species existed on both sides of the Atlantic. "Continental Drift" due to Plate Tectonics was simply some hairbrained idea some crazy German weatherman had come up with and was not to be considered "Science".


Oh, well.

 

[Jazzy]

Everyone knows that Sir Isaac Newton was one of the greatest scientists to ever live. He discovered the laws of gravitation, invented calculus and generally made enlightenment more popular than stupidity and madness, which had been topping the charts for most of human history. Even more impressive: He accomplished all of this in his spare time, figuring out gravity, calculus and optics during a single break from university. Newton's main area of interest, and the academic pursuit to which he dedicated the most time, was pants-soiling insanity.

It's estimated that Newton devoted more time to the study of scripture than to science, and he was generally considered a religious nut at a time when everyone took their religion pretty seriously. Newton treated the Bible like Russell Crowe treated newspaper clippings in A Beautiful Mind, poring over it for hours, looking for hidden codes. Newton also spent quite a bit of his time trying to figure out the exact measurements of the Temple of Solomon, which he modestly claimed would allow him to predict the exact date of the apocalypse.

Not all of Newton's scientific beliefs have stood the test of time quite as well as gravity. For instance, he also poured hours and hours of his time into alchemy. In fact, he was so interested in alchemy that it is now believed that alchemy was his main focus, and real science was more of a pastime for him. Unlike mathematics and the laws of physics, Newton wasn't even trying to take alchemy in new and interesting directions, opting instead to pursue theories that had long since been disregarded by people who still believed alchemy was possible. His time as an alchemist was mainly devoted to creating the philosopher's stone, which he believed could transmute other metals into gold and grant human beings immortality.

Source

 

[Platinum]

Bit of an older theory originated in the 16th century, but still funny.