The discovery of the Hayflick limit led to the incorrect belief that telomere shortening was a central cause of aging.

“and then when it later became established that the limitation of growth the hayflick limit was actually due to shortening of telomeres a very important finding and certainly true people convinced themselves because they thought it was like aging the telomeres were something to do with aging too and it was that way in which a whole new generation of people sort of bought into the hayflick and the telomeres thing as a central cause of the aging process despite all the evidence to the contrary”