# What are the Strongest Scientific Consensuses That Turned Out to Be Possibly, or Definitely, Wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** science-math\ **Created:** [September 8, 2026, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-strongest-scientific-consensuses-that-turned-out-to-be-possibly-or-definitely-wrong/1032888 "2026-09-08T00:45:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 12
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2026, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-strongest-scientific-consensuses-that-turned-out-to-be-possibly-or-definitely-wrong/1032888/12 "2026-09-08T13:41:24Z")
> [@jjakucyk](#): > > If you’re looking for the “strongest scientific consensuses” then I would think that requires published and peer-reviewed scientific theories that were widely challenged and stood up to scrutiny until some new discovery proved them wrong. Thank you. Yes, that was what I was thinking of – with there having been a period of real, if mistaken, settled science – in starting the thread. Before doing any research, I recalled that there was a consensus regarding peptic ulcers being caused by stress, replaced in the 1980’s with the cause being a bacterial infection. But these two links show my memory of there being an old-time consensus on the cause of peptic ulcers was mistaken: [Journal of Chronic Diseases, 1967: Causes of Peptic Ulcers](https://www.sciencedirect.com/sdfe/pdf/download/eid/1-s2.0-002196816790015X/first-page-pdf) [Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2011: The ulcer sleuths: The search for the cause of peptic ulcers](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1440-1746.2010.06537.x) --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-strongest-scientific-consensuses-that-turned-out-to-be-possibly-or-definitely-wrong/1032888)._