Pluto was discovered because the orbit of Neptune didn’t match predictions, so astronomers decided that there must be a ninth planet out there. It was very close to where the math predicted it would be.

It turned out later that Pluto was much, much smaller than at first thought, and couldn’t be the 9th planet. It then turned out that the mass of Neptune was greater than expected, and the orbit actually matched expectations without the need for a 9th planet.

Midwives did not understand germ theory, but still washed their hands and cleaned the delivery areas for delivery due to tradition.

Fun fact:

A Hungarian doctor tried to combine midwife tradition with his knowledge of modern medicine to get even better results. He required his nurses to clean on a regular basis, and required doctors to wash their hands with a chlorine solution before all medical procedures.

The result was a resounding success, with the complication rate as his facility being better than both the midwives and other doctors. However his methods violated social conventions at the time, so he was shunned from society and considered a disgrace. He died in an insane asylum.

Sort of tangential, but Democritus was right about atoms, but obviously he worked it out in a very different way to how modern scientists did — though we don’t know his exact reasoning.

Even more tangential: Aristotle (and others) were wrong about the four elements making all matter, but they do correspond to the four basic states of matter, which is kind of fun: earth=solid, water=liquid, air=gas, fire=plasma.

The use of copper for health purposes. It’s used in UIDs today and is anti parasitic, anti-bacterial, and anti-viral

The ancient Romans discovered evolution, though it worked a lot differently, with them theorizing we came from fish and that one day some guy with arms and legs burst out of a mother fish. According to the theory, things probably got incredibly awkward at family reunions.

In medieval times, when you had the flu, the prescription was lots of water. Not to flush your system and keep you hydrated as is modern wisdom, but to balance your humors, which is made-up nonsense.

Bloodletting actually has its uses. It’s rare, but a valid treatment. It’s called phlebotomy now, but it’s essentially the same thing.

I don’t remember exactly what the condition was, but I remember my grandfather went through it. Something to do with too much iron.

EDIT:
According to chatgpt, the condition is called hemochromatosis. It matches my grandfather’s description of having high levels of ferritin.

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Not sure if true. But as far as I know acupuncture has been proven to be effective. But you don’t have to hit the magic energy spots you can stick the needles anywhere.