Science consists of facts and theories. Facts and theories are born in different ways and are judged by different standards. Facts are supposed to be true or false. They are discovered by observers or experimenters. A scientist who claims to have discovered a fact that turns out to be wrong is judged harshly. One wrong fact is enough to ruin a career.
Theories have an entirely different status. They are free creations of the human mind, intended to describe our understanding of nature. Since our understanding is incomplete, theories are provisional. Theories are tools of understanding, and a tool does not need to be precisely true in order to be useful. Theories are supposed to be more-or-less true, with plenty of room for disagreement. A scientist who invents a theory that turns out to be wrong is judged leniently. Mistakes are tolerated, so long as the culprit is willing to correct them when nature proves them wrong.
Brilliant Blunders, by Mario Livio, is a lively account of five wrong theories proposed by five great scientists during the last two centuries.
One of the mistakes Einstein made is referenced in the book. It is his adoption of a cosmic constant which later he described as the "biggest blunder" of his life. But Einstein being Einstein, it turned out he was right the first time.
On a note closer to home, I don't know if the book mentions this, but I seem to recall another book does, E=mc2, by David Bodanis, about the most famous equation. Bodanis describes how Einstein lost his notes just about the time of his peak productivity, in 1910 or so, and then had to spend two years recreating what he had already done -- two lost years because of his disorganization.
I can relate.
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