Thousands of years of science overturned after 7 years of hardcore research! They must be real smart and stuff.
To set that in context, I'm reminded of a a BBC documentary I saw last year, which unfortunately seems not to be available online, so I'll need to fill in the detail for you - it features a group of British astronomers, astrophysicists, and the like, following their road trip as they visit the places where they worked after leaving university 50 years ago.
Britain's Star Men: Heroes of Astronomy
From the BBC website;
"Four British astronomers celebrate 50 years of work and friendship by going on a road trip to revisit some of the world's greatest observatories. In California, a world leader in observational astronomy at a time when America's space programme was at its height, the astronomers spent their formative years developing friendships that would last a lifetime, and making scientific discoveries that would change the course of history.
Together they represent the most productive period astronomy has ever had. Their journey through the southwestern United States allows them to see once again the places and landscape they explored as young men. Now in their 70s, they share their reflections on a life spent looking at the universe.
Star Men celebrates the history of stargazing: the inventions and discoveries that have enabled us to learn so much about the universe, but more importantly to understand how much more we have yet to discover."
At the time the documentary was made;
One was/is Emeritus Professor of Observational Astronomy at Cambridge
Another - Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics, also at Cambridge
Another - Emeritus Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona
Last - Ira S. Bowen Professor of Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology
Between them, they have over 200 years of experience in their fields
At one point, they're on the balcony of an observatory in the USA, and one relates the story of how, one day, he was out there looking at the weather, judging how it would be for the evening's observations, and a group of tourists below yelled up to him "How did you get up there?".
His reply?
"I worked bloody hard for 15 years"