Throughout history, individuals have been persecuted, criticized, and slandered because they dared to challenge the existing dogma. In many cases, the individuals were scientists who challenged prevailing authority. Rather than listening to the science of discovery, institutions exerted their form of cancel culture. Here we present seven such individuals.
1. William Harvey
For some 1700 years, everyone believed that circulation functioned according to the Greek physician, Galen. His assertion was that blood was created in the liver, flowed in the veins, and carried some spiritual essence he referred to as "pneuma" to all the tissues. As we know today, this was wrong.
William Harvey was a 17th century English physician who challenged the incorrect description of circulation. He was the first to describe circulation to the heart, brain, and body in complete detail. By experimentation, Harvey stated that blood flowed through the arteries from the heart, with veins returning blood to the heart from the tissues. Harvey's book, "On the Motion of the Heart and Blood," was a masterpiece at the time but was still ridiculed. In time, however, the truth won out.
2. Alfred Wegener
Today it is widely accepted in science that the continents move––what is called Continental Drift. Scientists confirmed the existence of these tectonic plates in the 1960s. However, the origins of the theory were developed in the 1920s by Alfred Wegener.
Wegener proposed through his geological and fossil studies that Earth's continents move very slowly. He believed that all the continents originated from one supercontinent, which he called Pangaea. Unfortunately, other scientists treated Wegener with hostility and ridicule. He died on an expedition in 1930 and didn't get to see his theories accepted.
Most other scientists rejected Wegener's theory of continental drift during his lifetime. It was only in the 1960s that continental drift finally became part of mainstream science.
3. Daniel David (D.D.) Palmer
D.D. Palmer was a man ahead of his time, yet he had no formal training, but he had a curious mind and taught himself about the human body. He was also the discoverer of chiropractic.
Palmer, originally born in Canada––not far from my first practice––, moved to the U.S. and delved into spiritual and magnetic healing. By chance, he "fell" into chiropractic when a janitor in his building complained of deafness over 17 years. D.D. found what appeared to be a bone out of place in his neck and adjusted it; the man was cured of his deafness.
D.D. then developed the study of spinal alignment and its effect on nerves. He spoke of innate intelligence or inborn wisdom within the body. For that, he was considered a quack. Interestingly, today in the age of Covid-19, many doctors are speaking of innate immunity.
For his troubles, D.D. was despised, ridiculed and persecuted by the medical community and went to jail in 1905 for "practising medicine "without a license. In reality, he was practising chiropractic. Today chiropractic is widely accepted, so it's a far cry from the early part of the 20th century.
4. Galilei Galileo
Galileo was a brilliant man, born in the 16th century. He was an astute astronomer and mathematician, as well as an inventor. Galileo took the basics of optics and developed the most powerful telescope at the time with which he could view the cosmos.
Galileo's based his discoveries on scientific observations. He discovered four of Jupiter's moons, viewed the planet Neptune, and described sunspots in detail.
The real dilemma for Galileo was when he deduced through his observations that the Copernican theory of heliocentrism––meaning sun-centred––was correct; that the Earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around. The Catholic church held that the Earth was at the centre of the universe.
In time, Galileo ran so afoul of the Catholic Church that he was banished to house arrest for the last eight years of his life. Today no one questions that the sun is the centre of our solar system.
5. Nicola Tesla
Everyone has heard the name Tesla by now, and it's associated with Elon Musk. Tesla was a man right for his time but also ahead of his time. He came to America from Serbia in 1884 and worked for the American inventor Thomas Edison.
Edison was working and promoting his pet electric project, Direct Current (D.C.). This technology had limitations in transmitting electricity over long distances. Tesla discovered something better, Alternating Current (A.C.). Once Tesla proved that A.C. would work, Edison reneged on a bet he made with Tesla that he would pay Tesla a large sum of money if he found a better alternative to D.C. The result was a parting of the ways. Edison––a wily marketer––and others went on to put down Tesla at every opportunity.
Tesla partnered with Westinghouse and provided A.C. current, which became the universal standard in households worldwide. Tesla also conceived the Tesla coil, which revolutionized electronics. He also had some ideas that were considered outlandish by many such as wireless technology. Today, we have that reality.
Unfortunately, Tesla, with so much animosity directed at him, died alone and destitute.
6. Albert Einstein
Einstein is a household name and appears synonymous with the word genius. However, Einstein didn't start that way. In fact, due to ordinary grades and boredom, he left school at age 15 in Germany. He applied to a polytechnical technical school and failed the entrance exam.
So Einstein eventually did get into a Swiss school but failed to earn a Professorship. He ended up working in a patent office in Berne. While there, Einstein started to visualize with thought experiments the workings of the universe and its laws. He developed the theories of Special and General Relativity, and the rest is history.
Even in the scientific community, people criticized Einstein people and were sceptical of his theories because there was no "proof". However, in subsequent years through experimentation, others proved Einstein correct, and the famous E=mc2 equation is the basis for our understanding of the interaction between energy and matter.
7. Dr Vladimir Zelenko
Many have not heard this name, but he was at the forefront of Covid-19 treatment. Dr Zelenko is a family doctor in a small town in the Hudson River Valley of New York State. His village is noteworthy as a Hasidic Jewish community; Dr Zelenko is an orthodox Jew.
In early March 2020, people started to develop the condition known as Covid-19. It was not only spreading rapidly, but Dr Zelenko's patients were getting very sick––he had to do something. The conventional medical care was to do nothing, but if a patient got severe enough, they would go to the hospital. He knew that once in hospital, many were dying.
Dr Zelenko rapidly read research papers and decided on a three-prong approach: Hydroxychloroquine (antimalarial), Azithromycin (antibiotic) and Zinc. His patients started to recover. Of some 1500 patients that he treated, 99.9% survived. However, many vilified Zelenko, especially once President Trump mentioned that Hydroxychloroquine might be of value.
Dr Zelenko's legacy inspired other doctors to engage in early Covid-19 treatment and to devise various protocols. Ironically, outside his country, the treatment protocols are more widely accepted. For his work, Zelenko was nominated for a Nobel Prize.
What may appear radical today often becomes acceptable and mainstream tomorrow and those "radicals" are often ahead of their time.
Yorumlar