Learn to Recognize Genius and Innovation


What is it about genius that makes it so unpopular? And why does it take the world so much time to catch up to innovation?

These are two questions that every person should ask their selves. These are two pivotal points that stand between the static darkness of ignorance and the future light of great possibilities.

In 1847, Hungarian obstetrician Ignaz Semmelweis published evidence that when doctors washed their hands before examining a patient in the birthing ward, the mortality rate for the women was greatly reduced. No one believed him, in part because he couldn’t technically explain at that time why this was so.

Instead of being hailed as a hero, however, he was ostracized as a fool. After descending into depression when his theories continued to be ignored, he was tragically locked away in an insane asylum, beaten and left to die shortly thereafter.

But Semmelweis had been right…

In the late 1850’s Louis Pasteur was ridiculed and vilified for his claims that air-borne microbes were responsible for putrefaction. The French chemist who would later be known as the Father of Microbiology went on to save countless lives through his pioneering work in germ-related diseases and vaccines, along with inventing a groundbreaking process that would become known as pasteurization.

British surgeon Joseph Lister took Pasteur’s advances and introduced them into the operating room at the end of the 19th century. Though he would become known as the Father of Modern Surgery, many of his colleagues and contemporaries were skeptical of his work in sterilization of surgical instruments and ridiculed him for it.

In the 1940’s, theories put forth by Barbara McClintock, a Connecticut-born Nobel Prize-winning scientist, regarding change and suppression in genetic information, were initially met by such wide skepticism that she actually stopped publishing her work for a period of time. Fortunately for the world, she eventually decided to keep sharing it and ultimately changed science and medicine in the process.

And in 1984 Barry Marshall, an Australian doctor and microbiologist, struggled with skeptics for his claims that certain stomach ailments, including gastritis, were bacteria-induced. So adamantly did he believe in his theory, however, he actually drank a petri dish of bacteria to prove it. The experiment proved to be a success when he developed related gastritis almost immediately, and his theory was vindicated.

Now in the 21st century, if we look around we can see some of these same types of pioneers creating innovations and unveiling discoveries in science, medicine, biotechnology, and other related fields.

Ask yourself as an investor—would I have backed Louis Pasteur if I could have gotten in on the ground floor?

Genius is all around us … Recognize it. Embrace it … Watch it light the way to an incredible future.