RADICAL IDEAS

Gerry Wolff

This page is a collection of examples of ideas that gained widespread acceptance but took a lot of time to do it or met a lot of resistance, or both. If you know of other examples (especially in fields outside science), or more information about the examples I have given, please let me know. Please indicate where relevant information can be found (web page links, references to books etc).

Link: Journal of Radical Ideas

Early examples

Thomas Kuhn writes (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, p 150): "Copernicanism made few converts for almost a century after Copernicus' death. Newton's work was not generally accepted, particularly on the Continent, for more than half a century after the Principia appeared. Priestley never accepted the oxygen theory, nor Lord Kelvin the electromagnetic theory, and so on."

The story of Georg Cantor's frustrations in getting his mathematical ideas about infinities accepted is well told by John Barrow in Pi in the Sky.

A landmark paper in immunology

This example is described in The War Within, an excellent book about the immune system by William R Clark. Three researchers, Bruce Glick, Timothy Chang and George Jaap, wrote what was later recognised as a landmark paper in immunology that was rejected as "uninteresting" by the prestigious journal Science. It was finally published in the journal Poultry Science where it languished for some years before its importance was spotted and it became very widely quoted. Poultry Science is, no doubt, an excellent journal in that sphere of interest but it is not a natural home for a landmark paper in immunology.

The theory of continental drift (plate tectonics)

A popular example is Wegener's theory of continental drift - now called 'plate tectonics'. This idea initially met enormous resistance and derision before it became generally accepted - after 50 years! This story is well told on several web pages including Alfred Lothar Wegener: Moving continents.

A relatively full account is provided in Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics: a Revolution in Earth Sciences, Chapter 29 of Revolution in Science by J Bernard Cohen (Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985, pp 446-466).

Apoptosis

Apoptosis - programmed cell death - is now widely accepted as an important mechanism in physiology, including the control of cancer.

Ricki Lewis in "The Dance Of Cell Death" (The Scientist 9(3), 1995, www.the-scientist.com) writes:

"Developmental biologists have long been familiar with cell death in carving a vertebrate's digits and in insect metamorphosis. But today's cell-death community credits a paper by University of Edinburgh researcher Andrew Wyllie and his colleagues as the seminal work in the field (J.F.R. Kerr, A.H. Wyllie, A.R. Currie, British Journal of Cancer 26, 239-57, 1972). They coined the term apoptosis, writing that it plays 'a complementary but opposite role to mitosis in the regulation of animal cell populations.'

"The paper created little excitement initially. 'It was just one of those things in the literature that stayed dormant for 10 to 15 years. Then it was gradually rediscovered and gained recognition as a generally important mechanism,' reports L. Maximilian Buja, chairman of the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston."

Sir Frank Whittle and the jet engine

As is well-known, Sir Frank Whittle faced enormous resistance to his proposals for developing the jet engine. Given that it could have helped to shorten World War II, that resistance is regrettable.

Some of the history may be found at http://www.midlandairmuseum.org.uk/thejet.html.

Andrew Wiles and Fermat's last theorem

Andrew Wiles' proof of Fermat's last theorem is not a case of delayed recognition but it illustrates the difficulties that can stand in the way of developing radical ideas. As described by Simon Sing in his book, Femat's Last Theorem, Andrew Wiles, in the seven years that it took him to complete his proof of Fermat's last theorem, had to produce several relatively trivial publications that were really a distraction from the main project. He felt the need to produce these publications to satisfy relevant authorities that he was not wasting his time or public money.

Francis Crick and the structure of DNA

As described by James Watson in his book, The Double Helix, his partner, Francis Crick, was put under a lot of pressure to stop wasting his time on the project that led to the discovery of the now widely accepted structure for DNA.

David Jewitt and the discovery of the Kuiper belt

With Jane Luu, David Jewitt discovered the first Kuiper belt object in 1992 and subsequently identified dozens of additional belt members in a series of pioneering wide field surveys. In an autobiography (PDF), he says "It was easy [in the late 1980s] to find main-belt asteroids interior to Jupiter but, again and again, we detected nothing at larger distances. With planetary astronomy then at the bottom of the astronomical barrel, the Hawaii telescope time allocation committee soon grew tired of my requests for more observing time. So, under false but necessary pretenses, I obtained time for other projects and then used it for the survey. Similarly, NASA rejected my proposals to fund the work, so I diverted money allocated for other purposes to maintain the SMO survey, possibly illegally. This went on for years."

QUOTES FROM THE EXPERTS (courtesy of Wayne Lundberg in newsgroup alt.inventors)

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."--Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."--Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.

"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."--The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.

"But what...is it good for?"--Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, Commenting on the microchip.

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."--Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment corp., 1977.

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."--Western Union internal memo, 1876.

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"--David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible--A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"--H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."--Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."

"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make."--Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."--Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."--Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this."--Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "post-it" Notepads.

"So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet."'--Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.

"Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools."--1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work.

"You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training."--Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the "unlovable" problem by inventing Nautilus.

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy."--Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."--Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."--Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."--Charles H. Duell. Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction".--Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872.

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon".--Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, 1873.

"640K ought to be enough for anybody."-- Radio Shack 1980.

Last updated: 2006-08-14 (ISO 8601)