Ahead of their time : how radical thinkers have affected science.

We should be more aware of how scientific ideas are being constantly revised. Scientists tend to be conservative and should be more open to radical ideas. Innovation is being stifled as there is an atmosphere of fear in the scientific community. Some scientists, like the maverick Rupert Sheldrake, come up with wacky ideas which are later accepted. To find history's visionaries, who were rejected, like Copernicus, may help others now. Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift was disparaged at first. Darwin was wealthy and free to say anything, but young scientists today depend on patronage and are afraid to step out of line.