(the-scientist.com): First-stage scientists have to be imprecise, untethered by what’s known at the time, and—sometimes—even inaccurate. Other scientists had tried to craft a periodic table before Dmitry Mendeleyev, but kept restricting it to discovered elements. Mendeleyev was successful because he left empty positions and hypothesized what those elements might look like. First-stage scientists can’t be afraid to make mistakes (Antoine Lavoisier thought “light” and “caloric” were chemical elements), and ignore negative feedback from scientists who pooh-pooh their ideas.
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