From the HUFFINGTON POST:
…John Gurdon’s future success was almost nipped in the bud in 1949 when a schoolmaster at elite Eton College wrote on his report card that pursuing science would be a waste of time.
“His work has been far from satisfactory,” the teacher wrote. “If he can’t learn simple biological facts he would have no chance of doing the work of a specialist, and it would be sheer waste of time, both on his part, and of those who have to teach him.”
After starting out studying classics at Oxford, Gurdon switched to zoology. In 1962, he showed that the DNA from specialized cells of frogs, like skin or intestinal cells, could be used to generate new tadpoles – a breakthrough rewarded Monday with the Nobel Prize for Medicine, which he shared with Japan’s Shinya Yamanaka…
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EDITOR: While studying Economics in the 1950’s at Cal Berkeley, we recall students from South America earning our distinguished professor’s scorn with their contention that Terms of Trade where not fair to developing nations producing commodities. Their generation went on to win Noble Awards for proving their point!
“Experts are experts only as long as we believe in their superiority and make their predictions come true.” Louis Nizer ( I believe). Fits well here.