Unfortunately this happens all too often in the science world. Incredible discoveries are made and often times the person who originally came up with the idea gets no credit. Many of the people who got the credit, wrongfully so, are now household names and the people who made the original discoveries are lost in time.
1. The Discovery of the Helical Structure of DNA.
So you probably learned about this in your freshman high school biology class. Two guys named Watson and Crick were credited for the discovery of the double helix. This story really frustrates me, as not only were the wrong people given credit, but they stole the data from someone else. That person’s name was Rosalind Franklin, and she was the reason why her colleagues were able to decipher the way DNA is put together. They stole Franklin’s picture of DNA through the use of x-ray crystallography and used it to decipher the structure. Franklin was unable to continue her work as she passed away from cancer. Watson and Crick and her associate Wilkins took all the credit for her research. Additionally, since Rosalind Franklin ended up dying, she was unable to be awarded a Nobel Prize (which Watson, Crick, and Wilkins were awarded) since the Nobel Prize committee does not allow awards to be given posthumously. Talk about getting screwed over, right?
2. The Theory of Evolution.
Charles Darwin is probably one of the most famous biologists and most known by the common public. He is famous for publishing work on concepts such as survival of the fittest and descent with modification. You might have heard of Darwin’s famous paper, called “On the Origin of Species” that depicted his findings while studying in the Galapagos Islands and his travels on his ship the Beagle. However, what you probably didn’t know was that another guy, named Alfred Russel Wallace put forth the same ideas as Darwin in a paper that was published an entire year prior to Darwin’s publishing of "On the Origin of Species." However, since Darwin had good connections, he was able to submit a summary of his work at the same time that Alfred Russel Wallace submitted his entire paper. Clearly Alfred didn't know the right people, and his discovery was overshadowed by Darwin's.
3. Discovery of Heliocentrism.
Contrary to popular belief, Galileo was not the first one to figure out that the Earth was not the center of the universe. This discovery was actually proposed as early as 3rd century BC by Copernicus. However, at the time this was too radical of a point of view and he was immediately discredited. Copernicus' proposal sparked minds of the future to distinguish between geocentrism and heliocentrism. It really is a shame that those in power refused to consider new possibilities if it threatened their own status. Come on guys, really?
4. The Enigma Machine.
This could have been one of the defining moments of the second world war. Alan Turing was able to decipher the German enigma machine which allowed the Allied forces to intercept and decode German messages. He is very rarely given credit for this extremely important discovery. This was mainly due to his being gay, which was responsible for his eventual arrest at age 40. Turing was a great mind who was a pioneer in computer science and software design. He committed suicide following his arrest and left much work unfinished.
5. Electricity.
Since early grade school, everyone is taught that Benjamin Franklin was the first person to discover electricity. You know, that whole kite and a key thing? Well if you believed that, you are mistaken. The first person to actually discover electricity was named William Gilbert. He made this discovery in the year 1600, which was 152 years before Franklin decided to go fly his key kite during a storm.
