The origins of experimental psychology can be traced back to 1796, when the then Astronomer Royal dismissed his assistant for making some seemingly inaccurate measurements. But there is more to the story than meets the eye.
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Mollon, J., Perkins, A. Errors of judgement at Greenwich in 1796. Nature 380, 101–102 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/380101a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/380101a0
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