PEOPLE WHO WERE RIGHT BUT NOBODY BELIEVED THEM
It happens so many times when some genius people make some statement and indirectly warn others about what may happen pertaining to something in the future. But instead of taking this statement seriously, the public ridiculed and laughed at them. In the end, the genius person who had made the initial statement was proven right. Below is the list of such genius people, and what they said.
1 Alexender Fleming
He was the person who discovered the world’s first antibiotic ‘Penicillin. His research ushered a new era in the medical field. But he also warned about antibiotic-resistant microbes. He spoke of this danger in his Nobel lecture. He said bacteria could become resistant to antibiotics if exposed to non-lethal quantities of the drug, but nobody paid heed. Overprescribing has since led to many antibiotic-resistant strains.
2 Roger Boisjoly
He was an aerodynamicist. In 1986, he rallied his colleagues to stop the planned Challenger launch. He wrote a memo about the faulty design of the solid rocket boosters. The O-rings on the Space Shuttle were not safe in Cold weather. NASA ignored Boisjoly and his colleagues. The launch went ahead, proving his concerns correct. The O-rings failed and the Challenger broke apart, killing all seven crew members.
3 David Bernays & Charles Sawyer.
They were American climbers. In 1962, they traveled to Peru to climb “Glacier 511”. But they discovered the glacier was critically unstable. They reported their findings, but the authorities were outraged. They were arrested and briefly jailed for spreading fear. Eight years later, in 1970, Glacier 511 collapsed wiping out several villages claiming 30,000 lives, it was the deadliest avalanche in history.
4 George Seiber
He was a police psychologist. In 1972, he was hired by the Olympics in Munich. His job was to predict possible threats. Seiber produce 26 predictions. One of them described a plot by Palestinian terrorists, to kidnap Israeli players. The organizers ignored his warning. Due to lax security measures the plot came true. All the kidnapped Israeli players never survived.
5 Harry Markopolos
He was a prominent securities fraud investigator. He was employed by a financial company that competed with Bernie Madoff. From 1999 to 2008, he investigated Madoff’s business. He quickly came to the conclusion that it was a Ponzi scheme. In 2000, 2001, and 2005 Markopolos alerted the Security Exchange Commission (SEC), but the authorities did not show interest. He admitted that he lived in fear for his life until 2008, he was arrested and sentenced to 150 years for fraud.
6 Cofer Black
Black was the director of the counterterrorism center in 2001. On 10th July 2001, Black and his colleagues at the CIA meeting with Condoleezza Rice, warned Rice of a ” spectacular” terrorist attack in coming weeks. Black said multiple and simultaneous attacks are possible. He specifically warned about increasing al-Queda activities. However, the National Security Advisor ignored them. After two months 9/11 happened.
7 The Masaba
The Masaba was a ship that sailed through the same water as the Titanic. Her crew sent out ice warnings to all the vessels in the area. The message reached the Titanic, but not the Captain’s bridge. The radio operator disregarded the warning as unimportant. As a result, the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank.
Waiting for your views on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
2nd May 2023