I don’t disagree with your main point, but I’ve actually seen Einstein cited as someone who had a long scientific peak. He first transformed physics during the 1905 miracle year and then again in 1915 after completing the theory of general relativity. From what I understand, special relativity was built upon the work of Lorenz and Poincaré, and likely would have been discovered only a little later without Einstein, but general relativity was a staggeringly original achievement. The University of Zurich’s bet paid off more than well when they granted Einstein tenure in 1909. His best work was still in the future.
I agree with you. Einstein published general relativity when he was 38-ish around 1917 or so, over a decade after his miracle year in which he revolutionized or kickstarted several domains in relativity, Brownian motion, and quantum mechanics. Even in the year of publishing general relativity, he basically kickstarted the principle behind lasers.
I mean general relativity is one of the most tested and verified physical theories, and it was practically done all by Einstein himself. It’s a hallmark of a theory. That alone is worth everything, and yet he was also the genesis for several other fields, both before and after general relativity.
Einstein is not a great example for this discussion. Even his “failures” are useful contributions. Many here are missing the point in that it is failures that we should not be afraid of funding, within reason of course. I.e., it’s okay if a promising idea “fails”. It is input to the broader research community and questions.
