[voxl]

Most research is boring incremental stuff, and very often you will find a dejected or disappointed individual that realizes this. The invention of relativity only made one scientist a household name. I guess everyone else that came before and after were doing nothing at all.

[dylan604]

But it's just par for the course.

Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543)

Sir Isaac Newton (4 January [O.S. 25 December] 1643 – 31 March [O.S. 20 March] 1727)

Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955)

This is obviously a cut down list just to make a point that big ideas don't come around every day. Sometimes, it takes a few hundred years in between.

[reactordev]

I know a few more household names but he's right.

There's a scene in Good Will Hunting where the two professors talk about Will [0] and Sean (Robin Williams) says it's "There's more to life than a fucking Fields medal". Both are correct but there's only a few names in history that will be remembered as "The Greats".

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjXgJ1gneK8