I hope the following examples will help someone be a little more open-minded. Sentinels will find fault but hopefully, someone may find value.
Ignash Philipp Semmelweis[A] (German: [ɪˈɡnaːts ˈzɛml̩vaɪs]; Hungarian: Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp; 1 July 1818 – 13 August 1865) was a Hungarian physician of ethnic-German ancestry,[2] now known as an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures. Described as the "saviour of mothers",[2] Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of puerperal fever (also known as "childbed fever") could be drastically cut by the use of hand disinfection in obstetrical clinics. Puerperal fever was common in mid-19th-century hospitals and often fatal. Semmelweis proposed the practice of washing hands with chlorinated lime solutions in 1847 while working in Vienna General Hospital's First Obstetrical Clinic, where doctors' wards had three times the mortality of midwives' wards.[3] He published a book of his findings in Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever.
Despite various publications of results where hand washing reduced mortality to below 1%, Semmelweis's observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time and his ideas were rejected by the medical community. Semmelweis could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings, and some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and mocked him for it. In 1865, Semmelweis suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to an asylum, where he died at age 47 of pyaemia, after being beaten by the guards, only 14 days after he was committed. Semmelweis's practice earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory and Joseph Lister, acting on the French microbiologist's research, practiced and operated, using hygienic methods, with great success.
Gerhard Fischar - Portable Metal Detector
In 1925, Gerhard Fischar invented a portable metal detector. Fischar's model was first sold commercially in 1931 and Fischar was behind the first large-scale production of metal detectors.
According to the experts at A&S Company: "In the late 1920's, Dr. Gerhard Fisher, the founder of Fisher Research Laboratory, was commissioned as a research engineer with the Federal Telegraph Co. and Western Air Express to develop airborne direction finding equipment. He was awarded some of the first patents issued in the field of airborne direction finding by means of radio. In the course of his work, he encountered some strange errors and once he solved these problems, he had the foresight to apply the solution to a completely unrelated field, that of metal and mineral detection.
What if Fischer had not had some research behind him? It might have gone like this:
Scientists:“So, Gary, you are trying to tell us your new invention can detect gold underground?”
Fischer: "Yes, it’s all based on this new science. The simplest form of a metal detector consists of an oscillator producing an alternating current that passes through a coil producing an alternating magnetic field. If a piece of electrically conductive metal is close to the coil, eddy currents will be induced in the metal, and this produces a magnetic field of its own. If another coil is used to measure the magnetic field (acting as a magnetometer), the change in the magnetic field due to the metallic object can be detected.
It’s really quite simple, you see."
Scientists: "Fischer, you are insane and should be locked up. You can’t use electricity to find gold."
There are hundreds of examples if you just go looking.
Someone recently used the Wright brothers as an example. The question was asked,
“What if you were asked to invest in their first flight, would you do it?”
Most in the room said “no” I said “yes”.
I explained: "I always invest in people’s strange ideas. Most never work out. I wish I could have invested in theirs."
