Yeah, these is a general conception of “the great man theory” in science, and in some rare cases it may be true (like some math geniuses), but overall it is very much not true. Science stands on the shoulders of giants, of everyone and all the knowledge that came before that we build upon. So many times has the same exact concept or revelation or discovery happened at almost exactly the same time in different places in the world, because we have just reached the point where that next step is possible.
Which is why I often think it’s a bit sad that so much focus is being put on those small handful that do that final push past the finish line, and not the hundreds, or thousands, who all did a small step towards that finish line without crossing it, who all participated in their own meaningful way, but we never hear about them unless you are deep within that specific field because they didn’t make that final headline. And I think that’s harmful to, not only the layperson’s understanding of science, but to science itself, because we end up putting so much focus on parents and individuality and private research and gain instead of the collaborative effort that it truly is.
Ironic how I read your comment after writing mine, where I admonished patents, not even realizing how relevant it was regarding aviation itself lmao
I didn’t know the history of patents in the development of aviation, and how it harmed it, that’s neat to know