Discovery and invention controversies
40 entries in the Discovery and Invention Controversies compendium.
Allais effectAlleged pendulum anomaly during solar eclipses, first reported by Maurice Allais.Edwin Howard ArmstrongInventor of FM radio and superheterodyne receiver system.Benveniste affairControversy over high-dilution experiments that seemed to support homeopathy.Jacques BenvenisteFrench immunologist who discovered PAF and sparked the water memory debate.Emile BerlinerInventor of the flat disc record and early helicopter pioneer.Bone WarsA Gilded Age rivalry that unearthed 142 dinosaur species.Carbon nanotubeCarbon nanotubes are nanoscale tubes with remarkable strength and conductivity.Coandă-1910Unconventional sesquiplane with ducted fan, not a jet.Cold fusionHypothesized room-temperature nuclear reaction, controversial since 1989.Controversy over Cantor's theoryCantor's set theory was controversial but later largely accepted.Raymond DamadianAmerican physician who invented the first NMR scanning machine.Lancelot de MoleAustralian engineer whose 1912 tank design was overlooked by British authorities.Dean driveClaimed reactionless drive that violated Newton's third law.Early flying machinesEarly flying machines span legends, kites, rotors, and gliders before 1910.Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell telephone controversyDispute over priority in telephone invention.EmDriveControversial reactionless drive concept refuted by experiments.Energy CatalyzerControversial cold fusion device lacking independent verification.Claims to the first airplane flightMultiple aviators claimed first powered flight, sparking lasting debate.General relativity priority disputeDispute over priority in deriving general relativity field equations.GIFA bitmap format enabling color images and animations on the web.Lyman GilmoreAmerican aviation pioneer who claimed an early steam-powered flight.Gongylonema neoplasticumRoundworm linked to a Nobel Prize later deemed erroneous.Gordon GouldPhysicist who fought thirty years for laser patents.Elisha GrayAmerican electrical engineer and telephone pioneer.GuanahaniFirst New World island sighted by Columbus, location still debated.Controversy over the discovery of HaumeaDispute over credit delayed Haumea's naming as a dwarf planet.Heroic theory of invention and scientific developmentView that inventions stem from unique heroic geniuses.Incandescent light bulbElectric light producing illumination by Joule heating a filament.Innovation ActHouse-passed bill to reduce patent lawsuits, stalled in Senate.Integrated circuitCompact electronic circuits on a semiconductor chip revolutionized modern technology.Invention of radioRadio emerged from theoretical physics into practical wireless communication.Invention of the integrated circuitMultiple inventors contributed to the integrated circuit's creation.Invention of the telephoneMany individuals contributed to the telephone's invention, sparking patent disputes.Vladislav Ivanov (physicist)Soviet physicist who first proposed MRI principles in 1959.Jet engineReaction engine discharging heated gas to produce thrust.JPEGJoint Photographic Experts Group created the dominant image compression standard in 1992.Robert KearnsInventor of the intermittent windshield wiper system.Louis Le PrinceEarly motion-picture pioneer whose disappearance shrouded his legacy.Lempel–Ziv–WelchUniversal lossless compression algorithm published by Welch in 1984.LK-99A purported room-temperature superconductor that proved to be an insulator.
Browse Discovery and invention controversies in the interactive codex →