Here is an interesting footnote from Thomas S Kuhn’s The structure of scientific revolutions:
For the role of reputation, consider the following: Lord Rayleigh, at a time when his reputation was established, submitted to the British Association, a paper on some paradoxes of electrodynamics. His name was inadvertently omitted when the paper was first sent, and the paper itself was at first rejected as the work of some “paradoxer”. Shortly afterwards, with the author’s name in place, the paper was accepted with profuse apologies (R. J. Strutt, 4th Baron Rayleigh, John William Strutt, Third Baron Rayleigh [New York, 1924], p. 228).
On the same page, Kuhn also mentions how sun worship played a key role in Kepler becoming a Copernican!
Tags: Johannes Kepler, Lord Rayleigh, Sun worship
