Perennial scientific distortions and their consequences to science teaching: the relationship among electricity, magnetism and heat

Abstract Historical distortions can promote a misunderstanding on science and to bring undesirable consequences to science teaching. In this work, we discuss a historical case study in which the description of a research was conveniently altered during their dissemination. As consequence, a distortion of concepts and procedures persists in history of science. This historical case is an example that to attribute facts, concepts and equations to a historical character implies more than a simple illustration.