Embryo fraud

The quintessential example is Haeckel’s drawings of embryos, analyzed in great detail in this excellent essay. Turtle, bird, and dog embryos look quite similar early in their development. To illustrate this concept, he re-printed one drawing three times, labeled differently for each creature. While this stays true to the core idea, it’s a lie in execution. Today, it would be considered a textbook case of scientific fraud. In other drawings, he took significant artistic license. Compare Haeckel’s drawings of embryos to drawings more faithful to the literal truth.

From, Big Think .com