On BEING WRONG and BEING DEAD WRONG in Science.
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Why do we learn science sequentially topic by topic, more or less the way the subjects developed? Why not forget about all the wrong theories and just start teaching all the right theories as we know them now? For example, forget Newton, start with Einstein. Dispense with points and lines and Euclid. Start with the most general topology and geometry on any space. In fact a friend of mine would like to do just that. Introduce category theory (an underpinning of modern algebra) to children so that they learn the right stuff in the right way. From the beginning.

For me, learning only the "final" theory is a bit boring, even if it were possible in principle. Half the fun for me is in learning the history - the human story, as Barkha Dutt might tell us - of the progress of these ideas.

Besides WRONG theories are not all wrong the same way. Some are truly wrong and are not to be touched again except for occasional historical forays. Other wrong theories may be wrong in principle but are marvelously useful to build things around us.

As an example of the second type of wrong theories, the most fascinating example is Newtonian theories of mechanics and gravitation. In absolute terms, and in principle, Newtonian Mechanics is completely wrong, though to detect that it is wrong one has to do experiments involving very small distances, or very high speeds ( or both ) or with very heavy objects ( like our sun). But still it is THE THEORY to be used to calculate trajectory of the Tomahawk missiles and also to send the Mars orbiter to revolve around a Martian orbit.

On the other hand, there was a theory in the seventeenth century that was a great unifier, in that it gave, over a hundred years, a very successful unified theory of many chemical processes. Unification is a grand old theme in science. In chemical science this theory provided - after almost 2000 years of the theory of Fire, Earth, Air, Water - one of the most important theoretical basis for unification of many experimental facts including the explanation of similarities of the smelting process in the extraction of many different metals such as iron, tin or copper. This - the theory of burning and combustion - was heralded as THE MOST IMPORTANT REVOLUTIONARY THEORY of its time.

And yet, it was wrong. Not only just wrong. But oh SO WRONG, that in another 100 years science and technology would have no use of it in any future work whatsoever.

Newton - a brilliant life- lives on in science on a daily basis.

Stahl - another brilliant life - is truly dead to science.

[PS: Oh Yes. The Name of the Useless. Phlogiston Theory]