I think this is true, but I would add that the challenge usually came from someone who was thoroughly familiar with the consensus of the time. I think it's impo

I think this is true, but I would add that the challenge usually came from someone who was thoroughly familiar with the consensus of the time. I think it's important to distinguish between healthy scientific scepticism from well informed observers/participants and a general out of hand dismissiveness, an extreme example being climate change. It's very difficult to critically evaluate the claims in many fields without having a good handle on the literature. (To be clear I'm not saying this requires having a PhD in the subject.)