NEGACIONISMO CIENTÍFICO: PRÁTICA ANTIGA E PERSISTENTE AO LONGO DA HISTÓRIA

SCIENTIFIC DENIALISM: AN ANCIENT AND PERSISTENT PRACTICE THROUGHOUT HISTORY. The search for scientific truth has long been the target of denialism, which obstructs progress and demands perseverance from those advocating new discoveries. While subjective preferences in fields such as literature, music, and the arts may lead to favoring works from the past, in science, denialism hampers advancement. This study highlights the persistence of scientific denialism across various fields, from the opposition to the new Gregorian calendar, the denial of Lavoisier’s combustion theory, Berthelot’s rejection of atomism, and resistance to van’t Hoff’s three-dimensional molecular structures, to recent opposition to covid-19 vaccines and the patronage of quackery during the pandemic. These cases, drawn from both universal and national histories, illustrate how such resistance to science has spanned centuries and continues to affect scientific progress.