That's a bit harsh. To give one counterexample, the Michelson-morley experiment put the figurative nail in the coffin of centuries of speculation about the "lum

That's a bit harsh. To give one counterexample, the Michelson-morley experiment put the figurative nail in the coffin of centuries of speculation about the "luminiferous aether". The experimental apparatus was a table-sized precision carved slab of sandstone floating in a huge vat of mercury, holding the highest precision optical equipment of the day. I suspect it cost rather more than $100 even in the 1880s.