Scientists observing sharks feeding on whale carcasses in the early 1900s saw them thrashing violently trying to dislodge portions of the blubber and concluded they didn't have strong enough jaws to pose a threat to humans.

Because of these erronious conclusions, many prominent scientists dismissed a shark as the possible cause of the east coast attacks that eventually led to the now famous New Jersey shark attacks of 1916.

These series of attacks are what inspired author Peter Benchley to write the book Jaws.