History WILL repeat itself; in fact the project itself is a reflection of history already repeating itself.
During the earlier "17th-century quest to revolutionize navigation by determining longitude", officially sponsored by the government of Great Britain, the orthodox scientists (who were all wrong) succeeded for decades to stifle the work of the lone genius, a clockmaker named John Harrison, whose work finally proved the solution.
Their efforts against him were so effective that he died before his proofs were recognized and it was his son that had to continue the fight begun by his father. Yet the fight was worth it because in the end it was his father that was proved right and nearly all other competitors, particularly those supported by the official British academy of scientists, that were wrong.
As an interesting aside here; during the effort [to supply the instruments for a ship's captain to know the ship's longitude at any time and at any place at sea] Harrison built a clock (to test his theories) which has all of its parts made of out of wood. It is on display in London still today and still working.
There is a great book about the fight with the British "official" scientists that Harrison had. Its called Longitude: "The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time", by Dava Sobel. Its a small book, but the story is big and has a big warning for today - be very weary of "official", "consenus" and orthodox scientific points of view, they are often more dangerous than the sceptic.
That is a famous competition. Every now and then somebody mentions it, and there was a TV special a decade ago about it.
Same way that poor French doctor who saw the connection between infections and hand washing was ostracized by the medical community and later committed suicide or almost did (forget that minor detail). Divergent thinkers are often excoriated and mocked.