Sometimes the impossible takes us a little longer. US school teacher, then geologist J. Harlan Bretz spent as much time as he could 'out in the field'. It was

Sometimes the impossible takes us a little longer. US school teacher, then geologist J. Harlan Bretz spent as much time as he could 'out in the field'. It was as a result of -extensive- observations that he arrived at his 'outrageous' Missoula Floods hypothesis. He spent 40 years defending his interpretation; he remained 'out in the field' most of that time. His critics had spent -very- little time in the field. They knew he was wrong. In 1979, he was awarded Geology's top prize.