alt Hacker NewsThe planet Vulcan: a cautionary tale
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Dark matter would be a much better example of a possible modern-day Planet Vulcan. Although I don't think anyone has claimed to directly observe dark matter.
I don't understand what makes this a cautionary tale. Observation didn't quite match theory. An entirely reasonable hypothesis was proposed: an undiscovered planet. Attempts were made to prove it by discovering said planet. They failed. Eventually, a genius came up with a new theory that explained the observation, and a whole lot of other stuff besides.
This all seems like science and scientists getting the job done, a tale of scientific discovery and triumph, not cautionary.
IIRC, there was the Planet X search ~100 years ago. Much later it was pointed out either there was a miscalculation of Neptune's mass or a slight issue with Newton's theory. Since then it we know that Planet X does not exist.
Now we have the search for Planet 9, details for both:
Agreeing with the general point but specifically: proposing a new planet in an era when new planets were being discovered periodically is more conservative than upending all of physics. So people were following Occam’s razor there.