I was at a geology meeting a few months ago talking about the Missoula floods - where the ice dams from the continental glaciers would rupture sending huge floods of water into Washington state which carved out huge river channels, created huge hills, etc. All in a day or two (happened repeatedly over thousands of years as the dam would refreeze, rupture, repeat.
When the guy first proposed that these features were from huge floods he was laughed at (in the 1920’s).
There was a guy at the USGS that let this guy on the rope for many years. When the USGS guy finally retired in the 40’s and got his pension, then he came out with his years and years of research that completed the missing puzzle on the catastrophic nature of the geology. He would have been fired if he had gone against the “known science” of geology being slow and steady forces over large lengths of time.
When a politician screws up, he might lose an election. When a scientist screws up, he might lose a grant.
When an engineer screws up, he could lose a city. Who’d you trust?