This episode discusses scientific mistakes and blunders which have occurred in the history of science. Mistakes may be based on false information or mistaken assumptions, in which case they are honest mistakes. But if they are based on deliberate misinformation and incompetence, they are downright blunders. We can and should learn from mistakes but blunders are bad news because they have disastrous consequences. If mistakes are based on the wrong assumptions, they are usually be corrected, disproved or dispensed with. Blunders happen because factors external to science (political or religious interference) distort scientific investigations.

Literature:

Robert Youngson, Scientific Blunders. A brief History of How Wrong Scientists Can Sometimes Be (1998).