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In fact, Columbus grossly underestimated the Earth's circumference because of two calculation errors. [34] The myth that Columbus proved the Earth was round was propagated by authors like Washington Irving in A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus .
Humans did not evolve from either of the living species of chimpanzees (common chimpanzees and bonobos) or any other living species of apes. [174] Humans and chimpanzees did, however, evolve from a common ancestor. [175] [176] This most recent common ancestor of living humans and chimpanzees would have lived between 5 and 8 million years ago. [177]
Common misconceptions are viewpoints or factoids that are often accepted as true, but which are actually false. They generally arise from conventional wisdom (such as old wives' tales), stereotypes, superstitions, fallacies, a misunderstanding of science, or the popularization of pseudoscience.
There has been extensive research into students' informal ideas about science topics, and studies have suggested reported misconceptions vary considerably in terms of properties such as coherence, stability, context-dependence, range of application etc. [4] Misconceptions can be broken down into five basic categories: [5] preconceived notions
Persuasive definition – purporting to use the "true" or "commonly accepted" meaning of a term while, in reality, using an uncommon or altered definition. (cf. the if-by-whiskey fallacy) Ecological fallacy – inferring about the nature of an entity based solely upon aggregate statistics collected for the group to which that entity belongs.
In literary and historical analysis, presentism is a term for the introduction of present-day ideas and perspectives into depictions or interpretations of the past. Some modern historians seek to avoid presentism in their work because they consider it a form of cultural bias, and believe it creates a distorted understanding of their subject matter. [1]
Historian Thomas Hughes (1977) describes the features of Edison's method. In summary, they are: Hughes says, "In formulating problem-solving ideas, he was inventing; in developing inventions, his approach was akin to engineering; and in looking after financing and manufacturing and other post-invention and development activities, he was innovating."
A notable result of Engineering and Scientific errors that occurred in history is the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, which caused a nuclear meltdown in the City of Chernobyl in present-day Ukraine, and is used as a case study in many Engineering/Science research [7]