P.S. To be fair, I should note that Pasteur's germ theory hadn't come out yet, and when it did Semmelweiss' ideas were accepted. I don't see that as much as an excuse, if any. Semmelweiss had the data to show that his method worked, even if he couldn't explain why. Scientific honesty includes accepting "magic" that clearly works, and figuring out how it works later. Rejecting ideas that you don't understand is stupid, blind pride, and a scientist must be humble.
I think it was Feynmann who said that the greatest scientific discoveries stem not from the word(s) "Eureka!" but "Hmmm, that's funny."
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