Bell's Theorem has (correctly in my opinion) been called the most profound discovery of science. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%27s_theorem https://en.wiki

Bell's Theorem has (correctly in my opinion) been called the most profound discovery of science. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%27s_theorem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%27s_theorem It is our most precise characterization about what's weird about quantum mechanics. John Bell had no competitors and his work (1964) went unappreciated for a very long time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stewart_Bell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stewart_Bell Without him, it is very likely his theorem would have remained undiscovered for many decades. At the least, we would have waited for quantum information theory to pick up steam in late '80s and early '90s (and I don't have a good sense the degree to which he contributed to that). Ultimately no one is irreplaceable in science, but Bell arguably came as close as is possible in the modern era. The best argument against lionizing great men like him is that the property that makes them great -- a lone discovery unlikely to be made without them -- also means their work is often in an unpopular area and so has little impact...until the area gets so popular that it would have been discovered anyways!