I was going to post a criticism along the lines that all the historical examples given by the author were from the 19th Century until I saw you point this out!

I was going to post a criticism along the lines that all the historical examples given by the author were from the 19th Century until I saw you point this out! The date definitely changes my perspective but I still think the essay is a little too waffley - it doesn't to give any actual examples or indications or where the author thinks important scientific problems lie. In fact it kind of begs the question. In response to a concern over whether there are important scientific problems left to solve, it simply lists some historical important scientific breakthroughs. I suppose the point is that breakthroughs are unexpected...