A closer look
French psychologist Michel Gauquelin published a controversial study in 1955 claiming that a disproportionate number of champion athletes were born with the planet Mars in specific sectors of the sky, dubbing it the Mars Effect. This single piece of data was paraded around by astrologers for decades as ultimate scientific proof of planetary influence, entirely ignoring the fact that Gauquelin himself explicitly rejected traditional zodiac signs and horoscopes. Later independent researchers completely dismantled his findings by proving the sample sizes were cherry-picked, ruining the only supposedly empirical evidence that your gym obsession is written in the stars rather than just a desperate attempt to boost your dopamine
