Could Einstein's Revolutionary Ideas Be Published Today?

Thread starter Nereid
Start date Jan 19, 2009
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Einstein

AI Thread Summary

The discussion revolves around the challenges and perceptions surrounding the publication of revolutionary scientific ideas, particularly those that deviate from mainstream theories. It highlights the accessibility of self-publishing through websites and the existence of forums and journals that welcome non-mainstream ideas. Despite this, there is a prevailing belief that groundbreaking theories, akin to General Relativity or Darwin's theory of evolution, struggle to gain recognition in peer-reviewed journals, especially for independent researchers without institutional backing. Participants express skepticism about the likelihood of non-mainstream ideas being taken seriously, noting that many such ideas lack scientific rigor and are often dismissed as "crackpot" theories. The conversation touches on the difficulty of distinguishing between genuinely innovative concepts and flawed ideas, emphasizing that many intelligent individuals read non-mainstream work, yet the majority of published material is deemed scientifically inadequate. The thread also questions the myth that revolutionary ideas cannot be published, suggesting that if a truly significant idea were presented today, it would likely attract attention regardless of its initial platform.

Sep 14, 2009

heldervelez

I'm sure that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Perelman" could not post at arxiv those fundamental papers that proved the Poincaré's Conjecture if by 2002/Nov the rules of publishing were the actual rules.

As he was not affiliated to an institution there was a big problem to submit to a peer-reviewed publication (usually the submition has to be paied) and he was poor.

Actually he remains poor by not accepting the Fields Medal, and most probably will not accept the Millenium Prize, if offered.

As seen, Einstein could not publish today those fundamental papers.
Not even at PF.

Last edited by a moderator: May 4, 2017