History seems littered with examples of great thinkers that were simply ahead of their time. Their ideas were so ground breaking and/or controversial, that they were dismissed out of hand instead of investigated further. Many times, prevailing elites did not want to accept the consequences and attacked the scientist instead. We can still see this happening in science, although in a more subtle (but still effective) form.

I would say that science and the development thereof seems to broadly have certain laws:

• a new theory is first dismissed/laughed at, then attacked and then accepted as if it was apparently true all the time
• discoveries tend to happen on several moments within a period of 3-10 years. Apparently, following a 'law' that once a discovery is made, subsequent discoveries are inevitable (see Newton's standing on the shoulders of giants)
• (in the last 100-150 years) a new discovery takes 10 years to be fully recognized and another 10 years to find its way to the masses
• if the idea breaks with prevailing thoughts, it can be forgotten for a long time before reappearing again (less likely in our time)

A great little book to see the above in this perspective is Bill Bryson - A short history of nearly everything.