---
title: "List of examples of Stigler's law"
chunk: 3/5
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_examples_of_Stigler's_law"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:46:08.081898+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

== G ==
Galileo's paradox: the property of infinite sets was known to Duns Scotus.
Gauss's law: first described by Joseph Louis Lagrange in 1773, over half a century before Gauss.
Gauss's theorem: first proved by Ostrogradsky in 1831.
Gaussian distribution: the normal distribution was introduced by Abraham de Moivre in 1733, but named after Carl Friedrich Gauss who began using it in 1794.
Gaussian elimination: was already in well-known textbooks such as Thomas Simpson's when Gauss in 1809 remarked that he used "common elimination."
Gibbs phenomenon: named for Josiah Willard Gibbs who published in 1901. First discovered by Henry Wilbraham in 1851.
Goodhart's law, with several earlier variations, like Campbell's law.
The Graetz circuit, also known as the diode bridge, was invented and patented in 1896 by Karol Pollak a year before it was published by Leo Graetz.
The Graham escapement is often erroneously credited to English clockmaker George Graham but it was actually invented by astronomer Richard Towneley.
The Gregorian telescope is named after James Gregory, who published it in 1663, but was already known to Bonaventura Cavalieri in 1632 and Marin Mersenne in 1636.
Gresham's law was described by Nicolaus Copernicus in 1519, the year of Thomas Gresham's birth.
Grimm's law, the first systemic sound change to be described, was first noted by Friedrich von Schlegel in 1806 and expanded by Rasmus Rask in 1818 before being extended by, and named after, Jacob Grimm in 1822.
Gröbner basis: the theory was developed by Bruno Buchberger, who named them after his advisor, Wolfgang Gröbner.

== H ==
Halley's Comet was observed by astronomers since at least 240 BC, but named after Edmond Halley who computed its orbit and accurately predicted its return.
Hasse diagrams were used by Henri Gustav Vogt three years before the birth of Helmut Hasse.
Heaviside layer was named for Oliver Heaviside although work by Arthur E. Kennelly preceded Heaviside's proposal by several months.
Hermite polynomials are named after Charles Hermite, though were studied earlier by Laplace and Chebyshev.
Higgs field is named after Peter Higgs but was first theorized by Robert Brout and François Englert, albeit not published before Higgs had submitted his own paper.
Heron's formula is named after Hero of Alexandria but is due to Archimedes.
Hodrick–Prescott filter was popularized in the field of economics in the 1990s by economists Robert J. Hodrick and Nobel Memorial Prize winner Edward C. Prescott. However, it was first proposed much earlier by E. T. Whittaker in 1923.
Hubble's law was derived by Georges Lemaître two years before Edwin Hubble.

== I ==
Ising model was invented by Wilhelm Lenz, but given to his student Ernst Ising to study.

== J ==
Jacobson's organ was first discovered by Frederik Ruysch before 1732.
Jordan's Law (in the sense of sister species often being allopatric): Jordan himself gives Wagner credit for earlier observation of this pattern.

== K ==
Kapteyn's Star catalogued by Jacobus Kapteyn in 1898 was previously catalogued by B. A. Gould in 1873.
Kasiski analysis: invented by Charles Babbage who recorded it in his diary but didn't otherwise publish it.
Kepler's Supernova was first observed by Lodovico delle Colombe several days before Johannes Kepler
Killing form: invented by Élie Cartan
Kort nozzle was developed first by Luigi Stipa (1931) and later by Ludwig Kort (1934)
Kuiper belt: theoretically described by a number of astronomers before Gerard Kuiper; Kuiper theorized that such a belt no longer existed.
Kodály method was conceived and developed for music teaching by Jenő Ádám; a pupil of Kodály.
Kolakoski sequence is named after William Kolakoski who described it in 1965, but Rufus Oldenburger previously discussed it in 1939.
Kronecker product: Johann Georg Zehfuss already in 1858 described the matrix operation we now know as the Kronecker product

== L ==
L'Hôpital's rule to calculate the limit of quotient of functions at a point were both functions converge to 0 (or both converge to infinity) is named after Guillaume de l'Hôpital, but is generally believed to have been discovered by Johann Bernoulli.
Lamarckism is generally used to refer to the idea of inheritance of acquired characteristics or soft inheritance, but the idea predates Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and was not the central part of his theory of transmutation of species.
Laplace–Runge–Lenz vector was first discovered as a conserved quantity by Jakob Hermann and Johann Bernoulli.
Leibniz formula for π was first discovered by 15th-century Indian mathematician Madhava of Sangamagrama, but it is named after Gottfried Leibniz after the latter discovered it independently 300 years later.
Lexis diagram is named for Wilhelm Lexis but was previously theorized by Gustav Zeuner and Otto Brasche.
Lhermitte's sign in neurology, the "barber chair phenomenon" was first described by Pierre Marie and Chatelin. French neurologist Jean Lhermitte published his first report three years later.
The Liebig condenser, which Justus von Liebig popularized, was attributed to Göttling by Liebig himself, but had already been developed independently by Poisonnier, Weigel, and Gadolin.
Liebig's law of the minimum was first developed by Carl Sprengel and only popularized by Justus von Liebig.
Linus's law: named for Linus Torvalds, but actually described by Eric S. Raymond in The Cathedral and the Bazaar.