There are a lot of interesting "what ifs" that make one wonder just how easy it is for even an intelligent species to attain advanced technology.
Remember, an advanced intellect might be able to understand our science, but is it likely they would have developed it from scratch with some of these handicaps?

What if we were an aquatic species, and it was impossible for us to experiment with fire and electricity? Even knowledge of chemistry would be difficult to acquire if our test tubes, etc had to be continuously sealed to keep water out. Ubiquitous bouyancy and high viscosity would make the concepts of weight, mass and mechanics difficult to develop.

What if we had arisen on a planet perpetually shrouded by clouds? Astronomy would be impossible to do until after we had developed space travel. But it's hard to see how space travel could be invented by a culture with no astronomy.

What if we were a species without eyes? It's not unreasonable, many creatures on this planet rely on other senses than vision.

How much of our science depends on the ability and materials to make lenses for telescopes and microsopes? Glassware for chemistry? Any species not able to do that, for whatever reason, might not develop the way we did at all.

Conversely, what sorts of sciences would be developed by intelligences in these situations? Perhaps they would have a technology completely different from ours. Are technologies "completely different from ours" even possible, or do we just not know any better because of how our own science developed?

Thee are opportunities here for science fiction writers.