[FiatLuxDave]

You are probably thinking of:

"A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it." - Max Planck

[vixen99]

While it's obviously true in some cases that science 'progresses funeral by funeral', some exceptions are noted here as in plate tectonics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_principle