Hi JMS,
Great post you wrote!
Scientists in the past often went against the stream of the time and through patience (or discretion) finally got to be listened to.
Yesterday, a TV channel proposed one theme for the evening: the 79 vesuvius eruption. Pliny the Elder died wanting to satisfy his curiosity (nobody knew the Vesuvius was a volcano). The people had a whole day to run away but many didn't , thinking it would end early or that their Gods wouldn't be so cruel. But Pliny the Younger wrote everything he saw and many of the things he reported were considered unbelievable until the 20th Century. And he was only 16 years old!!

Nowadays, scientists face another hurdle: mainstream theories and satisfying sponsors. Arp is an example; going against the Redshift theory about the expansion of the universe , or Fred Hoyle about the steady state universe. If somebody has a wild idea, it's going to be very difficult to have it accepted by his peers and to proove it if he doesn't have the money for it!

Raoul