>[!abstract] >A fictional rule meant to illustrate that "all scientists are blind", based on the accurate history of the discovery that the human genome contains 46 chromosomes and not 48, as discovered by Tijo and Levan in 1956 (Gartler, 2006). >[!abstract] >"It was Leavitt who, some years before, had formulated the Rule of 48. The Rule of 48 was intended as a humorous reminder to scientists, and referred to the massive literature collected in the late 1940's and the 1950's concerning the human chromosome number. > >For years it was stated that men had forty-eight chromosomes in their cells; there were pictures to prove it, and any number of careful studies. In 1953, a group of American researchers announced to the world that the human chromosome number was forty-six. Once more, there were pictures to prove it, and studies to confirm it. But these researchers also went back to reexamine the old pictures, and the old studies — and found only forty-six chromosomes, not forty-eight." (Crichton, 1969, p. 125). ## References - Crichton, M. (1969). The Andromeda Strain. - Gartler, S. M. (2006). The chromosome number in humans: A brief history. _Nature Reviews Genetics_, _7_(8), 655–660. [https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1917](https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1917)