Do you know of any other scientists that were severely attacked because they discovered something new and conflicting?

submitted by zyxzevn from (self.AskScience)

Some examples:

Pythagoras sect member

Member of Pythagoras sect proofs that Root 2 is not a fraction.
Video: Root 2 - Numberphile. A

The sect believed that everything was based on some fraction.
He disappeared and was probably killed.

Copernicus

Copernicus discovered that planets were revolving around the sun.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus

The church did not like that at all.

Semmelweis

Semmelweis discovered that washing hands saved lives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis

He could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings, and some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and mocked him for it. In 1865, the increasingly outspoken Semmelweis supposedly suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to an asylum by his colleagues. (Died 14 days later)

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Today Semmelweis would have been banned from FaceBook and lost his job and bank accounts for spreading medical misinformation but it’s still slightly better than getting institutionalized and killed I guess.