My second favorite article in Physics Today, at the same time hilarious and chilling, was the transcription of a talk by Irving Langmuir of GE Labs in 1953. In

My second favorite article in Physics Today, at the same time hilarious and chilling, was the transcription of a talk by Irving Langmuir of GE Labs in 1953. In it he gives a first person account of just how badly an esteemed scientist can fool himself. Consider it a brilliant example of Feynman's advice that you are the easiest person to fool. Of course, the same psychological process is going on in countless entrepreneurs as they convince themselves that they are on to the next unicorn. Pathological Science: Certain symptoms seen in studies of ‘N rays’ and other elusive phenomena characterize 'the science of things that aren't so.’ [0] https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.881205 https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.881205