I recall reading about the late Wilhelm Reich.
Many of his theories seem quite bizarre, but some of them leave the reader curious. “Could he have been correct about the power of innate energy sources contained within all of us?
How could that ever be tested to anyone’s scientific satisfaction? It would take lots of time, money and volunteers who may endure side effects not yet studied by medicine.
The fact that he was in effect, shut down and sequestered, away from ‘polite society’ makes you wonder what the other scientists were so concerned with, if indeed Reich was only a “Quack”?
Something similar happened when inventor Nikola Tesla died.
Several groups sent unnamed men to quickly gather all paperwork and equipment from Tesla’s laboratories.
Thomas Edison was one of those who sent collectors.
Edison is often accused of stealing Tesla’s ideas and taking credit/ money for selling those same ideas to corporations, such as Westinghouse Appliances.
There’s an apocryphal anecdote, that Tesla actually assigned all his patents to George Westinghouse.
Then J.P. Morgan notified Westinghouse that, if he didn’t agree to sell out his interests, Morgan would crush him with lawyers—a tactic that is well-established in the early history of Rockefeller railcar oil transportation—if you sell out, you will get rich, if you resist, you will be crushed and get nothing, sign here and we’ll take the gun out of your mouth.
Westinghouse relented to Morgan, and GE was born, according to the lore.
I’ve built several of his blankets.