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I'd like to ask a similar question from Math.SE for the natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology and allied disciplines).

What are examples of scientific results that were discovered surprisingly late in history? For instance, a paper where all the technology has been available for years, and the theoretical underpinnings necessary are not recent, so in principle the same research could have been conceived and published years ago.

I am particularly interested in actual publications in peer-reviewed journals.

By way of example, I think Gibson assembly would be a good one: It is a simple modification of the standard PCR technique invented in the 70s. I imagine by the end of the 80s polymerases and buffers had been developed to the point that they could handle a simple Gibson assembly, and sequencing to confirm integrity of the product (or alternatively screening a library of products until a correct one is found) would also have been feasible. Whether the scientific community at large would have been more or less receptive to this idea at the time is another matter -- and something I specifically want to disregard for this question (ie. being "late" means late in terms of only technology and theory, not politics, funding and similar non-scientific prerequisites of scientific research).

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  • $\begingroup$ To clarify the scope, you are interested in recent results, say in the last 100 years (peer review was rare before 1900, and only became common in 1950s en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_review#History), and reference to technology suggests "inventions" rather than theoretical or empirical discoveries, is that correct? $\endgroup$
    – Conifold
    Commented Jun 10, 2015 at 19:58
  • $\begingroup$ @Conifold Maybe it will be clearer if I ask like this: "What paper published in prestigious journals like Nature, Science and PNAS could have been published earlier (based on the theory and technology it builds on)?" I am not interested in inventions (unless they were published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals). I am interested in theoretical or empirical discoveries. $\endgroup$
    – Superbest
    Commented Jun 10, 2015 at 21:39
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    $\begingroup$ I dislike this kind of alternative history questions. If something was invented/discovered at a certain moment it is because the circumstances did not allow it otherwise (be it lack of enough people working on it, experimental resources, more prerequisites or anything else). At best we can work with rediscoveries that show that something was done before. $\endgroup$
    – Mauricio
    Commented Jul 6 at 12:19

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More of an engineering feat, but I'd go for the Steam Engine (or at least a Segner Wheel), the basics had been there for about 1500 years (The use of compressed air in pumps, the idea that boiling water produces steam) and had been been used for sort of toys/novelties but the jump to powering machinery wasn't made.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segner_wheel

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One "late" contribution might be the discovery in the late 20th c that Rome's Pantheon, built in the 2nd c AD, was not "replicable" using modern technology and construction principles without the aid of a computer. In other words, the intricacies of design and materials that went into the Pantheon's construction were so rigorously conceived that our civilization's advanced machinery could not emulate the Romans' skill without the invention and addition of computer-aided design.

On the Structure of the Roman Pantheon Robert Mark and Paul Hutchinson The Art Bulletin Vol. 68, No. 1 (Mar., 1986), pp. 24-34

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheon,_Rome

This video does much to explain just how remarkable the construction and design of the Pantheon was...and still is, "even for modern times."

Pantheon: Ancient High Technology on the Next Level

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYgne_mxjUs

ChatGPT addresses the question of the Pantheon's replicability based on contemporary engineering

Question posed to ChatGPT, "Is it true that the precision achieved in the construction of the ancient Roman Pantheon is not replicable today?"

Response: The precision achieved in the construction of the ancient Roman Pantheon is indeed remarkable and has posed challenges to replicate with modern technology, especially in terms of its architectural feats and precision.

Dome Construction: The Pantheon's dome is a perfect hemisphere with a diameter of 43.3 meters (142 feet). The challenge lies in the precision of the dome's curvature and the exactitude required to achieve a true hemisphere, especially using the technology available around 118-125 AD when it was built. The Pantheon's dome remains the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. Modern construction techniques often rely on steel reinforcement or other modern materials to achieve similar spans and structural integrity.

Material Quality: The quality of the Roman concrete used in the Pantheon is another factor. Roman concrete was made from a mix of volcanic ash, lime, and seawater, which formed a durable material that has stood the test of time. The exact composition and methods of mixing and pouring this concrete are not completely understood today, and replicating this exact material composition and quality poses a challenge.

Architectural Precision: The precision in the alignment of the various architectural elements of the Pantheon, such as the columns, the portico, and the dome itself, showcases a level of architectural and engineering skill that was advanced for its time. Achieving such precision with the tools and techniques available to the ancient Romans is impressive and poses a challenge to replicate exactly today.

While modern technology allows for greater precision in some aspects of construction, such as measurement and engineering calculations, the Pantheon's construction remains a testament to the ingenuity and skill of ancient Roman architects and builders. Replicating the exact methods and achieving the same level of precision and durability with modern materials and techniques is a significant challenge, which is why the Pantheon continues to be admired both for its historical significance and its architectural achievements.

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    $\begingroup$ I don't have access to the paper, but do the authors actually say this or is it your interpretation? $\endgroup$
    – hjhjhj57
    Commented Jun 14, 2015 at 6:23
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    $\begingroup$ @MikeHunter You're citing an excellent source; Javier's trying to understand if what you say is purely what the source's information is or your interpretation of the source. Citing a source isn't good if what you say isn't at all what the source says. $\endgroup$
    – HDE 226868 ♦
    Commented Jun 14, 2015 at 16:23
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    $\begingroup$ @HDE226868 I don't agree that interpreting a source is weaker than what the source says. That said, my interpretation is supported by this source but the explicit statement is not in this source. Regardless, the statement stands. $\endgroup$
    – DJohnson
    Commented Jun 14, 2015 at 16:40
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    $\begingroup$ I don't think that qualifies as late discovery, I think it qualifies as a forgotten technology. The Romans knew how to make hydraulic cement, which was not rediscovered until the late 1800s. We've lost a lot of the old technological skills because the elites of the eras did not think them worthy of recording. $\endgroup$
    – TechZen
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 19:12
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    $\begingroup$ We often have to to use computers to produce precise measurements and calculations be because we use precision manufactured linear measuring tools but up to 150 years ago, most precision measurement was done with dividers and transfers of angles. All precision work used virtually no numerical information at all, just mechanically transferred ratios of angles. Probably if you dragged a stone mason from the back beyond of tibet or somewhere where they still use pre-industrial methods, he could figure out how the Romans built the parthenon without computers. $\endgroup$
    – TechZen
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 19:15
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I would say invention of maser/laser happened surprisingly late after Einstein's work on stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation in 1917.

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Don't have recent peer reviewed examples but just for interest there are some odd detours in the history of science.

In biology a famous example is Mendelian genetics which was made in the mid-1800s but utterly unrecognized at the time only to be independently rediscovered by two different researchers circa 1904. It's possible a lot political ugliness of the 20th century might have been blunted if population genetics and thus synthetic Darwinism had got an earlier start.

I've read that relativity could have been deduced from Maxwells equations on electromagnetism but I don't have the source off the top of my head.

The big bang is innate in Newtonian physics. When ask why the universe didn't collapse as his models predicted, Newton said god had made the universe balanced precisely to be stable.

The big bang was evident in Hubble's work, but speculation on it was ignored until Bell labs stumbled into the cosmic background radiation.

Edison, Tesla and other electrical inventors of their day were repeatedly told by scientist that many of the inventions would not work because the primary scientific model for electricity, especially in plasma like Edison and Cathode ray tubes, was seriously flawed. Not sure if that counts as late discovery, as the inventors made things thought impossible which sent scientist scrambling.

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    $\begingroup$ I'm curious. How would an earlier start to "synthetic Darwinism" have blunted "a lot political ugliness of the 20th century"? $\endgroup$
    – Rory Daulton
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 19:46
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    $\begingroup$ A lot of the statements in this answer sound to me like they're oversimplified or based on an incorrect understanding of historical reality. Tesla was in many ways a charlatan, and many of his ideas were impractical. It's a vast oversimplification to say that "the big bang is innate in Newtonian physics." Newtonian physics has trouble formulating a static, stable model of the cosmos. That's very different from saying that people in Newton's era could have inferred the existence of a big bang. Re Hubble, you simply have the sequence of events wrong. Le Maitre was 1927. $\endgroup$
    – user466
    Commented Sep 26, 2015 at 23:48

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