There is a similar story in The trouble with Physics. I think it was about whether there had been proven to be no infinities in a class of string theory, where the articles cited only proved there weren't any in the low order terms.

As an aside it is an interesting book on how a subject can be dominated by a beguiling theory that isn't easily testable, due to funding and other social issues. Worth reading if we want to avoid the same issues in existential risk reduction research.