I don't know if this would fit better in Trope Talk or in TRS, but it seems like my question is general enough that it doesn't really work in TRS.

For the various Artistic License tropes, does it really apply if the information that would be required to get it right isn't available (readily or at all) because science hadn't yet marched on?

In particular I'm thinking of Artistic License - Nuclear Physics, where a lot of older stuff was written before there was widespread (or any, due to classified information) knowledge of various issues in nuclear physics.

edited 2nd Jul '12 3:46:38 AM by Nohbody

I'm inclined to think it might still apply. While they used to be Did Not Do Research, simply being falsehoods that are required for the story is the basic purpose of the Artistic License.

The tropes you're looking for are Science Marches On and Technology Marches On. The point is that it's not Artistic License if the author had no way of knowing something at the time he/she wrote the story.

edited 2nd Jul '12 6:38:39 AM by Fighteer

There should be an Artistic license cosmetics subtrope to chemistry. Some of the things they say are in them are almost lethal.

Take that to YKTTW.