"He was really thought of as a kook and a fool for decades by (ahem) serious scientists."
He WAS a kook and a fool.
Thanks for your link in #84 below (I am psychic...;) )
Some scientists tried to supress the publication of Worlds in the 50s and many dissed his works ever since. He was vindicated to some degree in terms of the chaotic nature and rapidity of cosmological change. He was brilliant in many areas. I read Worlds in Collision in high school and compared to my textbooks, the books were a flight of fantasy and possibilities.