What previous discovery led into the discovery of the controlled fire? the wheel? bow and arrows? Astronomy?
They may not have worn a white overall. But they were scientists in their time.
Several scientific discoveries were found by accident, yes, explainable by previous studies but they didn't rely on them to be found.

It is true that "data pooling" is the essence of humankind, nobody, ever, will be able to know everything. Yet, we can do try to know as much as possible!