45 People Who Were Right All Along But No One Believed Them

While more contemporary thinkers and scientists might face a bit of ridicule for novel ideas, the scientific minds of the past risked a lot worse. Both Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei were threatened by the Catholic church for daring to suggest that, in fact, the Earth was not the center of the universe. Now they have both been completely vindicated by the scientific community. 

Ironically, this “I told you so” story is perhaps the reason why we still know them today. As you can imagine, there were not really that many astronomers in 15th-century Europe. Both Galileo and Copernicus were brought back into more mainstream discussions by 19th-century Protestant writers, who used their stories as examples of the suppressive nature of the Catholic church. 

More tragically, it was not until the 19th century that people started to realize just how much disease and infections are carried by dirty hands. Joseph Lister, a British surgeon was the first to recommend that doctors do the bare minimum of hygiene, like washing their hands and maybe wearing gloves when interacting with a corpse. His critics mocked his ideas and “The Lancet,” the leading medical journal of the time, even issued warnings against his ideas. 

We should all, collectively, thank a number of other medical thinkers of the time who went against the grain and decided to give Joseph Lister’s ideas a shot. Marcus Beck, a consultant surgeon at University College Hospital, made sure to include his ideas in newer editions of medical textbooks.

It doesn't take a genius to realize that a surgeon with clean hands will leave more patients alive. So if you ever think about how romantic it would be to travel to the past, just remember, your doctor would have probably handled a corpse, stitched a wound, eaten lunch, delivered a baby, and who knows what else, before they get around to assisting you. 

Unfortunately, most of the examples here never got to experience vindication and would probably be surprised by just how important their work really was. Stephen Hawking, in “A Brief History of Time,” wrote that Galileo Galilei could be considered one of the most important contributors to modern science of all time. So if you want to commemorate other great minds that were ignored in their time, check out Bored Panda’s other article on “crazy” people who ended up being right all along.