The Piltdown Man had a long run, 1912-1953. He may have been one of the most persuasive proofs for evolution in those years. I wonder how many people doubted the story, only to be ridiculed as being anti-science.
Many researchers recognized early on that Piltdown didn't fit. Friedrichs and Weidenreich had both, by about 1932, published their research suggesting the lower jaws and molars were that of an orang.
The South African fossils which started showing up in 1924 convinced all but a few diehard Brits that Piltdown just did not fit with the emerging evidence, and it was widely ignored until it was finally disproved.
Probably everyone based on the reaction of evos to skeptics on this forum. An interesting aside is that in the days that the steady state model of the universe was accepted as the latest *scientific* fact, the only ones who had reason to believe the universe had a beginning was what would now be called the *Bible-literalists* and look who was right.
Scientists wanted the steady state to be true so bad, that Einstein messed with his calculations to add a fudge factor to bring them into line with current scientific thinking, instead of trusting his calculations and questioning the current scientific thinking.
Ah, the validity and beauty of science.