Stacker scoured news articles and other expert sources for examples of commonly taught facts that were later proven false, urban legends that nevertheless made it into the classroom, and historic events that were oversimplified to the point of falsehood.
Though Pluto had been recognized as the ninth and smallest planet in our solar system for decades, its status was downgraded to a dwarf planet in 2006. The discovery of other Kuiper Belt Objects that are roughly the same size as Pluto led to its change in status.
The idea of van Gogh slicing off his ear fits well with the idea of the tortured artist, but unfortunately, this fact isn’t true. In 2009, two German historians released a book that claims that van Gogh lost his ear in a sword fight with artist Paul Gauguin.
Christopher Columbus may have a holiday named after him, but he didn’t actually discover America. Though the explorer did land on several islands in what is now the Bahamas, he never actually set foot on the North American continent.
The German-born physicist was certainly eccentric, but that didn’t make him a bad student. Though teachers might like to tell students that Einstein wasn’t always good at math to encourage them, he was actually always successful in school.