4,900-Year-Old Bristlecone Pine Was The World’s Oldest Tree – Scientists Didn’t Know Until A Graduate Student Cut It Down

The tree, known as Prometheus, was cut down to study, with permission from the US Forest Service. The stump of Prometheus in the Wheeler Bristlecone Pine Grove at Great Basin National Park, Nevada. Image credit: James R Bouldin via Wikimedia Commons (public domain) Science isn't always perfect; mistakes are made, occasionally to the detriment of one's subject. But what about inadvertently chopping down what would later turn out to be the world's oldest non-clonal tree? That’s exactly what happened to an unfortunate graduate student named Donald R. Currey back in the summer of 1964, who ended up responsible for the...